pelf-ism is contagious

I have been meaning to write about the Turtle Rock Fundraising Concert but as usual, things popped up and I had to put it aside But the concert was a BLAST < -- I know I am repeating myself :))

So, yeah, the teachers from the International School of Kuala Lumpur (ISKL) organized a fun-filled concert on Saturday, 25 November. The two-hour mid-day session was held at the ISKL, Ampang campus. It was designed for families and most of the games organized were for kids - how thoughtful of them.

When we arrived about an hour before the event commenced, we put up photographs and posters to promote turtle conservation awareness as well as the week-long Volunteer Program. The photos that were put up were actually photos submitted for the Photography Competition by SEATRU volunteers.

There was this violent whacking game that the kids (and some parents) kept coming back for. Paper mache which resembled faces of animals were made and hung from the ceiling. And by using a plastic bat, the blindfolded person had three chances to whack down an animal and whatever sweets that fell out of the paper mache belonged to the whacker. You should have seen how violent some kids were. Even after the paper mache fell onto the groud, they continued whacking it until all the content in its stomach were exposed.

Besides the violent game, there were other milder ones, which obviously catered for younger kids, like this “pin the tail on the turtle” game. The kids were quite smart in that they actually used their fingers to feel the outline of the turtle and then pinned the tail at the “correct” place! I’m not sure what the prize was, if there was one, but this game sure was one of the popular ones with a lot of kids queueing up to try their luck

There was also a painting corner where students tried their hands at painting drawings that were prepared earlier.

And then there was also a face-painting corner. Older students painted the kids’ face (and arms) with turtles and what-nots. And the kids then went around the school parading their new body art

Besides those paintings and games, a lot of food and drinks were sold to raise funds for the turtle projects. There were cakes and buns..

… And cookies and brownies.. And drinks..

… And satay.. What do you call satay in English? Are they called “satay” too? These were catered from outside because these guys didn’t look like they were students in an international school. And they looked very professional too

And check out these cute turtle buns! How could anybody actually eat them?!

And the best part was actually the LIVE performance throughout the 2-hour concert! The student-band, Mookies, and the teacher-band, Benchmarx, played some very nice songs and provided almost non-stop music! The only time the bands weren’t playing was during the 45-minute turtle presentation given by my Supervisor.

And check out these masterpieces prepared by the students. I just couldn’t resist the temptation to take pictures of them. The students were probably not older than 12 years old and yet they knew that the turtles needed to be saved. They knew that plastic bags kill turtles and that we shouldn’t eat turtle eggs. But do our politicians know that?! *sigh*

And in the evening, there was a separate function, for the adults, which was held at the Nu Skool Club in Hotel Melia opposite Berjaya Times Square. There were also lots of music, lots of drinking and lots of dancing and everybody looked like they enjoyed themselves.

More pictures here and here (open in new windows).

All in all, it was a very successful concert and in only one day, they managed to raised over RM 8,000 for our turtle projects! Aren’t these people simply amazing?

My Supervisor and I were actually very happy with how the concert turned out to be despite it being a two-hour day-time function. In fact, after the event, we thought that it was a very good idea to just have it for a few short hours compared to stretching the event over for a day or two - and that’s when our attention divert and the event wouldn’t look so jam-packed.

But at the end of it, we were also quite disappointed that so few of SEATRU’s ex-volunteers turned up to support the fundraising event. It was supposed to be a fun-filled event FOR the turtles but despite numerous email reminders, only a handful of over 200 volunteers attended the mid-day event and only ONE volunteer attended the evening concert - Mei Mei.

And then we all wondered: Whatever happened to our volunteers? Whatever happened to those people who said they have turned into turtle-lovers after participating in the Volunteer Program? Whatever happened to those people who claimed that they are staunch SEATRU supporters and whatever happened to those people whom we depended on for support?