My Childhood Days in the Kampong

Project 1 The Icebreaker speech by Lynn Tiang:

Good Evening, fellow members and guests.

My name is Lynn Tiang and I am very grateful to be given this opportunity to stand before you to introduce myself. Today, I would like to share with you my CHILDHOOD DAYS IN THE KAMPONG

Any of our friends here do not know what is ‘kampong’ ? Kampong is a Malay word which means village.

I grew up in a small Kampong called Setiawan in Malaysia. Setiawan; origin:Malay, a portmanteau of SetiaKawan, meaning "Loyal Friend".

I was a very adorable little girl when I was young, but I had very boyish personalities. Why do I say so?

I played basketball with boys not girls, because I thought the girls were too weak. I climbed trees to be Tarzan but not Jane. I reared colorful fighting fishes in glass container like other boys; I caught small little black fighting spiders at the back yardand kept them in the match boxes. I could even differentiate the male from female spiders. For fighting game we would prefer male spiders. A male spider has a smaller and narrower abdomen, whereas a female is rounder. I would send my ‘fighting spider’ for games to earn a ‘living’, that was the rubber trees’ seed. Winner gets to collect rubber trees’ seeds. Crystal balls cost us money, hence we used rubber trees’s seeds to barter for crystal balls.

I believe most of us heard about the Angry Bird game which is one of the most popular smartphone games these days. I played ‘Angry Bird’ in early 80s when I was about 8 or 9. I am not kidding! I played Angry Bird game in my era when there was no i-phone or Samsung Galaxy back then.

Do you know how I played ‘Angry Bird’ game without smartphones?

I made my own catapult by using ‘Y’- shaped tree branches with rubber bands. I collected various types of projectile, from wild cherries to pebbles. I practiced the firing techniques at the back yard. Once, I wanted to blast a cuckoo- bird that was making too much noise in the yard. I had my gear ready in hand and there I propelled a small pebble. Guess what?! I chased off the cuckoo-bird but the next moment I heard someone shouting and dashing out with a huge rattan cane. Reason being I had shattered my neighbor’s window!!

Another favorite game that I used to play was the Combat Game. All our military gears were man-made. Each of us would have our own man-made wooden rifle and pistol. We used wild cherries as bullets. We made our own hand-grenades using soft clay, and also liquid grenades by filling plastic bags with water. We separated into 2 teams to begin our combat game. One was the army and the other was the intruder. The army team would use their parent’s motorbike helmet decorated with leaves and converted into military helmet. The intruders used their own clothes as face masks.

In the evening, neighbors’ children would gather at one’s neighborhood living hall to watch our favorite TV program –Ultra-man, the Japanese hero that most of the kids would love. In those days, not every family could afford to own a TV, children would go to neighbor’s house for their favorite show. I myself have 6 siblings, with a few more neighbors’ children sit in line; the small tiny living room was jammed packed like a mini cinema.

In those days we seldom had the chance to buy toys, the junks and the natural resources were our toys. We don’t see kampong childhood games in the sky-scraper city anymore, children play computerized games. Children are bogged down with school curriculum and home tuition. I consider myself lucky because I have unforgettable Kampong childhood experiences. I miss those Kampong childhood days.

Toastmaster of the Evening.