I am pleased to report to Ansara the complete success of the 3rd Edition of the Ansara Cambodia Korban Nusantara 2011 which was held on the first day of Aidil Adha Sunday 6th November 2011 in the Province of Kampong Thom in Cambodia.
A total of 10 cows contributed by members of Ansara were sacrificed on that day. The korban was personally witnessed by myself and Sdr Ghazali Md Noor ( Ansara Seremban batch 1975-79) in 3 different villages in Kampong Thom which is about 120km north east of Phnom Penh on the road to Siem Reap.
Some of the photographs of the Korban Nusantara 2011 will be uploaded into the new Ansara website together with this report.
Ghazali and myself arrived in Phnom Penh airport early Saturday morning 5th November 2011. We were personally received at the airport by Dr Sos Mousine who is the Deputy Minister In-Charge of Islamic Affairs and who is also the President of the Islamic Medical Association of Cambodia (IMAC) who facilitated our quick Immigration and Customs clearance.
On the same flight with us were some members from the Global Peace Malaysia (GPM) and EzyQurban who came to Cambodia also for the korban.
Dr Sos Mousine drove us around in Phnom Penh. We visited the Orphanage for Muslim boys in Phnom Penh managed by IMAC. We also visited the Hostel for Muslim female students in Phnom Penh which was donated by Muslimehelfen (Muslim Aid International of Germany) managed by IMAC and CAMSA (Cambodian Muslim Students Association).
The Orphanage for Muslim boys and the Hostel for the Muslim girls in Phnom Penh certainly need some extra funding to improve their living condition. They also would appreciate some new or good reconditioned computers to help them in their studies. The computers that they are using now certainly need to be replaced with new ones.
One month before I left for Phnom Penh, I have managed to obtain 5 sets of very good reconditioned computers donated by Institut Pendidikan Guru, Kampus Bahasa Melayu, Lembah Pantai, Kuala Lumpur through the efforts of Sdr Syed Zainal Abidin bin Syed Ahmad who is from Ansara Seremban Pioneer Batch.
Sdr Ahmad Ridzuan bin Abdul Talib, the IT expert at the Institut Pendidikan Guru, cleaned up the 5 sets of computers, updated them with new components at his own expense, reformat, and installed Windows XP, Microsoft Office, some games, etc. and personally sent the 5 computers to my house in the middle of the night nicely packed ready for shipment.
However, I have already reserved and promised the 5 sets of computers for the secondary school muslim students in Kampong Thom in the ‘adik angkat’ project.
The ‘adik angkat’ project is another objective of my Cambodia trip in which 21 UiTM students accompanied and supervised by 2 UiTM lecturers went to Kampong Thom on the Wednesday 9th and Thursday 10th November 2011 to meet and get to know about 60 secondary school muslim students, unpack and set up the 5 computers and teach them in the hope that the UiTM students will be able to communicate, teach and guide the Cambodian students using emails and Skype.
So, any computers that can be donated to the Orphanage for Muslim boys and also to the Hostel for Muslim girls in Phnom Penh will be very much appreciated. Some other extra funding to help improve their living condition and probably some form of adoption will also be very much appreciated. Many photos of the Orphanage and Hostel can be viewed upon request.
I managed to interview a 20 year old muslim female 2nd year University student living in the hostel. She spoke English adequately. Her University fees costing USD450.00 per year is sponsored by an organisation in Qatar. Her accommodation in the Hostel is free, sponsored by Muslim Aid International of Germany and managed by IMAC and CAMSA.
However, she still had to work part-time at an NGO to pay for her food, transport, phone and internet. Her father has passed away and her mother living in a village outside of Phnom Penh is not able to sponsor her. She appeared very determined to succeed in life, Alhamdulillah. And we should give her all the encouragement and support she needs. And this also goes for all the other 50 muslim females at the hostels and more than 60 Muslim boys at the orphanage.
After all these visits on the Saturday 5th November, Ghazali and myself spent the night at the Malaysian owned Holiday Villa Hotel in the middle of Phnom Penh managed by an exMalaysian army officer Captain Charles from Penang who entertained and brought us ‘jalan-jalan’ around Phnom Penh after dinner.
Very early the next morning after breakfast on Sunday 6th November, Dr Sos Mousine came and took us to the Phnom Penh Mosque for Aidil Adha prayer where we met many Malaysians and other Muslims from Cambodia, Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc.
Surprisingly, about 40% of the Khutbah Sembahyang Raya Aidil Adha in the Phnom Penh mosque was given in Bahasa Melayu and the signboard at the front of the mosque was written in Bahasa Melayu!. I felt like I was praying in a mosque somewhere in Kedah!
After the Aidil Adha prayer, we checked out of the hotel and left for a village in Kampong Thom about 120km away towards Siem Reap driven by an aid of Dr Sos Mousine by the name of Zulkiflie who spoke very fluent Bahasa Indonesia because he has an Engineering Degree from the Gajah Mahda University in Yogjakarta sponsored by Islamic Development Bank (IDB).
We arrived in the village where the local people there were waiting for us with the cows for the Korban. We were welcomed by very friendly people there, who showed us around and took photos of the cows for Korban. We then proceeded to the nearby mosque where the initial 6 cows were sacrificed. Photos of this event submitted to Ansara website.
We went for Zohor prayer at the nearby mosque. Had a delicious champa curry lunch with the village elders at the family house of Dr Mousine. We then proceed to another village for the korban of another 3 cows where we met the Global Peace Malaysia (GPM) people giving rice and korban meat to the villages in quite a big majlis with tents and loudspeakers.
Finally, we went to another nearby village for the korban of the final 10th cow where we also officially handed over 4 wells (perigi) with handpumps donated to the villages sponsored by members of the Ansara Seremban Pioneer batch 1972-76. The wells that we donated were simple but a much better version because it is clean, sealed and less likely to be contaminated.
After the Korban and the handing over the Perigi we proceeded to Siem Reap which was another 160km away for the night. The next morning Ghazali, Zulkiflie and myself went on a 90 minute boat ride to visit the floating village on the famous Tonle Sap.
We then spent the rest of the day touring the world famous ancient capital of Angkor including Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom, Bayon, Baphuon and many other ancient sites. Angkor is truly incredible and awesome.
We flew off from Siem Reap back to Kuala Lumpur early the next morning Tuesday 8th November 2011. Mission Accomplished.
This mission to Cambodia has 4 main objectives, namely:
1)Korban Nusantara 2011 which was conducted very successfully;
2)Handing over of 4 wells (perigi) for the villagers donated by Ansara Seremban Pioneers;
3)Project 'adik angkat' between UiTM students and Kampong Thom students;
4)Handing over of 5 computers to the Kampong Thom students.
A separate full report of this ‘adik angkat’ project and the handing over of the computers will be ready in due time, insyaAllah.
It is hoped that with these regular efforts, we will be able to assist our Cambodian muslims brothers and sisters to improve their social, academic and economic standing in the long term.
Thank you
Dr Mohd Halim Abu Bakar
Vice President ANSARA
Monday 14th November 2011
