MySkills Foundation organized a Ponggal Celebration with the theme of Eco-Friendly this year where we built “Pachai Panthal” which is made from bamboo sticks and palm leaves as for the “green” concept. It was a successful event, as there were no Plastic usage for the entire event.
MySkills family such as board of directors, students , staffs and volunteers were very excited to celebrate this event with our Donors, Partners , Supporters, Parents, and all walks of life. The event was graced with the presence of 9 schoolsthat include SJK (T) Kerling, SJK ( T) Kuala Kubu Bharu, SJK Tan Sri Manikkavasagam , SJK ( T) Kalumpang, SJK ( T) Ladang Escot, SJK ( T) Ladang Changkat Asa and SJK ( C) Kalumpang to participate the event. Nearly 800 people attended the event altogether.
The very first event began with the Ponggal Competition which 13 Pongal teams all provided with pots, firewood, sugarcane, milk rice, sugar . Our judges were moving excitedly with the scoring sheet to score the participants performance. After the earnest fire-fanning, everyone was clapping over the boiling over of milk with shouts of “Ponggalo ponggal”. The Emcee then shared the significance of Pongal celebration and gratitude towards mother nature. The Ponggal in our campus is also a great significance of our gratitude to all our stakeholders.
To give a kick start for the celebration, the Sebastian Dance Academy Group performed Tamil ethnic dances such as karagatham, mayilattam, and many more Tamil cultural dances. This has attracted the spectators and they were entertained with the dance performance.
Adding great value to the event, our Guest of Honour YB M Kulasegaran and his beloved wife had joined us in the midst of the celebration. He was very happy to be present in this event with us.
Farmers most valued asset and sacred animal is the cow. We had the privilege to have a small procession around the campus with two cows.
It was most enjoyed time of the day as we organise varios competition for Myskills students and also for school students to participate. We had Colouring, Dancing and traditional games like Kolam, Eating Sugar Cane, Tying Thoranam, Uri Adithal ( Pot Breaking ). This is to empower that our kids to not forget their roots.
We humbly served a truly authentic veg banana leaf indian meal to hungry stomachs of those who joined our Pongal celebration. We made sure the concept of zero waste is practiced not only during our daily activities but also on our special events. We collected the banana leaves and food waste to be used as compost for the farming in our campus.
Last but not least, we concluded our evening with a movie session “Tent Kottai” ( Open air movie screening) at our field. The students were very happy as they watched a comedy movie titled “Zombie”. They could not stop laughing while having fun and memorable time together with scrumptious dinner.
We would like to wish our utmost gratitude to everyone who made our event impactful and memorable. See you all again for the next event!