Yesterday, we had our annual Wesak Fair! It was held at a park within the same community as our Kechara departments and gompa.

I have asked one of my students to do a little write-up for the blog… and have added some pictures below the article. Do take a look at another one of our fun Kechara events!

Tsem Rinpoche

Since 2009, Kechara has held an annual Kechara Wesak Fair. In 2009 it was held in the morning, in 2010 it was held in the evening, and this year in 2011, the fair lasted from 9AM till 9PM!

Celebrated this year on 7 May, 10 days prior to the actual Wesak Day, as with all of Kechara’s loud, fun and exciting events – this fair was no exception!

Yesterday, there were altogether 18 stalls; 12 of which were under Kechara House (KH) and the other 6 were from other Kechara departments (KSK, KD/KSA, KIM, KMP, KAS and Tsem Ladrang).

There were approximately 100 people (including Kechara staff) who volunteered for the event. Some of them came the night before to set up the basics, such as lighting, fans, tables, backdrops etc. And the following day, many of them came as early as 8AM to set up their booths!

Each booth was clearly set up with a lot of pre-planning, thought and love that (together with a great selection of DJ-ed music) created a jovial, fun and festive atmosphere.

Despite the scorching heat, which required good sunblock and a nice pair of shades (!), many people came to enjoy the huge selection of food and drinks, play with the animals at the Kechara Animal Sanctuary tent, watch the entertainment and shop around.

Apart from the departmental stalls, there were massages available, a 2nd-hand goods stall (selling clothes amongst other colourful things), Dzambala bathing, health screening, a grocery stall, an orchid stall and a games section which was very popular to both the adults and children!

Kechara full-time staff invited their friends, family and colleagues to volunteer at the event. This tight-knit side of Kecharians complimented perfectly the huge community of people where the majority were new faces. It was a huge delight to see our community neighbours who brought their kids along to enjoy a nice day out at the Fair.

I was personally very impressed with the amount of effort put in by the organization’s side. They seemed to have covered all bases: it was highly entertaining, openly interactive, and it had the available information for those who were looking to know more about Buddhism.

It was the type of healthy fun which allowed you to learn how you could do more for the community and for your own spiritual growth, without being in a stuffy air-con room with a stack of sign-up sheets in front of you. You were also able to make donations by buying products which Kecharians had themselves produced, such as the highly-anticipated greeting cards (by KSK), Dharma books (by KMP), gorgeous jewelery (by KD) etc.

One of my friends commented:

“Kechara Organization is not the same as the other charity organizations’ I’ve seen. They don’t just ask for money, but create modern and creative ways to connect with different types of people. When people donate, they can see where their money is going, because they produce tangible products. It is a refreshing break from the typical, commercial charity side that I’ve previously seen.”

At the end of the day, I asked 8 different people how they found their Wesak fair experience to be, and this is what they said:

Adelyn Lim (co-owner of BoatHouse; restaurant and bar):

“I volunteered at KAS today, and although it was hot it was overall a very good day! 8 animals were adopted into homes today: 1 cocker spaniel, 2 mix breed adult dogs, 2 mix breed puppies (from a pet rescue) and 3 kittens.”

Adrian Wee (self-employed):

“I am volunteering at the KAS booth today, to play, have fun and take photos with the dogs… hehe just kidding! I have been here since 8AM to help set up the place and to sell T-shirts with Rinpoche’s dog, Mumu, on it to help raise funds for KAS.”

Alex Tan (self-employed):

“I am here today to help with the Manjushri Kids Class (MKC) games booth. We made close to RM400 for MKC by selling games coupon! Kids had a lot of fun playing Guitar Hero, Street Fighter and car racing games.”

Eric Choong (Fashion designer):

“It’s a very hot day today! Even so, Kecharians push on and can still have fun. There are many new faces this year, many families with children and many young faces.”

Philip Koo (auditor at KPMG):

“I have been here since 6pm, and it’s very hot! I can’t imagine what it was like at 12PM! The food was very good, and Mr Leong’s fried rice was delicious – he’s a good cook! It was fun to play on the Guitar Hero too.”

Kien Wong:

“I volunteered at the KH registration counter today, as well as helping KP and KD too. I also helped to sell coupons and ushered those who wanted to see the KC Gallery. This year’s fair event was much more smooth. There were no problems encountered and we saw many new faces, and more of our neighbours. I liked that.”

Ethan Chu (former fashion stylist, currently a KC full-time staff):

“I was tour guide at the KC Gallery today. I talked to many new people and it was good to see how many people I gave tours for were very interested in Kechara and asked great questions. I think that our neighbours really liked the event. A LOT of people just happened to stumble upon our Wesak Fair – I’m happy that they got to participated in some way.”

Yap Yoke Fui (former accountant, currently Liaison to Tsem Rinpoche and Treasurer of KH):

“As part of the organizing committee for Kechara’s Wesak Fair, I rejoice when I saw many new faces. I am very impressed with the team spirit for today, and the effort that everyone has put in to make this day a success. Gim Lee even slept overnight to make sure that a water offering and serkym was done in the morning for today’s smooth event. Tat Ming was also the first one here to open early. I’m happy to see such personal initiative from the Kecharian’s side. This year we have had more stalls than the previous, and this year more people participated! We look forward to next year’s Wesak Fair already!”

What made the day even more special was how 18 orphans from House of Joy came to join in the fun!

Supported by a Christian priest, House of Joy has provided shelter, love and care for hundreds of orphans over the past 20 years. They are currently housing 60 orphans, some of whom haven’t got any parents, some of whom are the child of a single parent and some of whom are mentally-disabled.

A beautiful lady named Lesley is currently heading the home, and according to Yek Yee, they are unfortunately not very well supported by the public.

Grace Leong (a Kechara volunteer and owner of Grace Salon) personally sponsored RM1,000 worth of Wesak Fair coupons and invited the kids to buy and eat whatever they want! 18 of these kids came in a van, bought lots of food and spent the majority of the evening at the playground, eventually heading home just before 7PM.

They were very well-behaved and beautiful children who played and made friends with the other children at the playground.

Like Yoke Fui, I cannot wait for next year’s Wesak Fair!

At least, for now, there is the actual Wesak Day on the 17th to look forward to. There will be a children’s Buddhist baptism and refuge-taking ceremony held at Kechara House, and prior to that Kechara will have the entire center court (and side courts!) for their road show! This will be at Sunway Pyramid from the 13th-17th. I can’t wait to see what exciting things are in store for the public! Hope to see you all there!

Khong Jean Mei

People talking inside the Ladrang booth.

Blessed water, mani pills and a beautiful bling-bling Buddha Shakyamuni statue.

Shin (far right) explaining to some people the benefits and use of blessed water.

An interactive section of the Ladrang booth where people can surf the blog!

Joy explaining to someone about the blog…

Fun and useful products that my students designed: a frosted, air-tight mug with a paranormal design, recyclable/reusable bag, calendar and a notepad!

It was a dog’s day out too!

The green colour that has becoming synonymous of KAS were on all of their products!

These dogs were all adopted….

One of the Kechara kids helping out at the KAS booth.

KAS’s booth (top right) extended to the middle of the park! Some of the volunteers wanted to sit under a tree with their dogs…

KMP (left-side) and KIM shared a booth together.

They had buntings which show-cased their older works (left) and newer ones. The greeting cards was on sale for the first time yesterday!

These are the highly-anticipated greeting cards!! There are two collections: Kecharian Life and Cool Kecharians. They come in a box of 22 cards – A LOT of hard work was put into producing these greeting cards, and the outcome was very, very good.

KMP were selling their books. Writers, Jamie Khoo and David Lai, were there too if people wanted to see their books.

KIM was next to KMP selling different and fun items such as T-shirts, water bottles, key-chains and electronics.

Some of the young faces that were there at KIM’s booth..

KIM hanging out their… dirty laundry hehe just kidding.

KIM even sold the monkeys which were used as props for one of the greeting cards scenes to fundraise for the next project…

Next to KIM was KD and KSA…

They brought out their beautiful collection of jewelry that were all made and designed in-house!

Grace showing someone one of the more traditional malas that KD has made.

E-division’s Wah Ying’s husband happy with his monkey purchase!

Next to KD/KSA is KSK’s booth!

Albert reading KSK’s latest leaflet on what they do.

Although it was warm that day, people had fans, sunglasses and umbrellas to keep their cool!

JP Thong getting an aromatherapy massage while KSK’s Vice-President Julia Tan and her son, William, looks on.

JP enjoying his massage… hehe

Cookies being sold, and the proceeds went to KSK.

On the other side of the park, there was a booth with traditional Chinese massages…

… and next to that was the 2nd-hand booth with lots of clothes for sale!

Becky Yap from KD helps to sell clothes on behalf of KH.

Dry groceries were sold… and they even had a Mother’s Day special!

Three men at the massage booth… would you accept massages from them?? Hehe

Opposite the massage booth is the registration counter.

The Vice-President of KH dares to take on a massage…

In the middle of the entire park (and in front of the registration counter) is the Dzambala bathing area.

Next to the massage booth is a booth selling plants. Most of the orchids were sold by the end of the day!

All on the other side of the park was a row of booths selling food and drinks!

Delicious goodies like cakes, cookies, cupcakes, kaya were sold

The famous yew-char-koay (fried bread sticks)

Rice with dishes were eaten by those who were very hungry for lunch and dinner.

Like last year, this pizza van was a popular hit yet again!

This rojak stall is apparently a local popular van!

These cold fruits sold like hot cakes! It cooled people down on a hot day.

These cold fruits sold like hot cakes! One of the kids enjoying the children section, where there were games and colouring sheets of paper.

The children from House of Joy are happy to arrive at the fair!

At the park were the typical playground fixtures. Here Nadia, daughter of Nicholas Yu is on the slide with Edward (left; Kechara kid) and Josephine (right, Nicholas’s wife).

18 kids from the orphanage House of Joy came to join in the fun.

There was a capoeira performance…

… where they later asked Kecharians to join in….

Treasurer of KH, Yoke Fui, learning how to capoeira!

Traditional Brazilian instruments were played to created the music that accompanied the capoeira.

Father and son learning how to play one of the instruments…

Young Kecharians in front of the Dzambala bathing area.

Su An Ngeow (another young Kecharian) getting a health screening by Dr Jiang.

After the capoeira, was Bian Lian. A face-changing performance from Sichuan, China. This is one of the performers waiting to start…

The fair from an aerial view…

Another aerial view shot…

… it took up the entire park!

After the Bian-Lian performance was a magician. In this performance his swallowed an entire long balloon!

The entire balloon is within his body… what a funny illusion.

Some people found it very hard to accept!

The crowd was overall very amused…

After the fair, the hardworking KSK team went straight to KSK on Jln Imbi to host an MGIF event. This is after 13 hours under the sun, they still carried on with their weekly Saturday night rounds.

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