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NEWS FEATURES
<LEFT photo: a child being greeted with a warm welcome and a 'Bindi' being put on the forehead at the SCVP event. Jayesh Gudka
Doing It For The Kids
MALAYSIA
This April I was lucky enough to spend my annual leave with a family in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and even luckier, I was able to share in some of the Mahavir Jayanti activities with the local Jain community. When I say Jain community I really mean a cluster of families who live within a stone's throw of each other in the major Indian settlement area, Bangsar Baru. I visited the new temple which would be the centre point of the weekend, with various artis and congregations planned. I had a tasty MalayGurati mix-style dinner with one of the community leaders and Jain Spirit supporter, Mr. Dipak Damani. His family, the Vrajlal Premchand Damani family, would be the hosts of the weekend's proceedings and on 21 April his house was the hub of the preparations for the coming events. It was packed full with people of all ages. In the front room the men and young ones filled bags with sweets and drinks for the children from a nearby orphanage that the group would be taking out to the movies on Saturday, 23rd. The back of the house was a little noisier with the wives and mothers catching up with the recent gossip whilst making ladhus and other treats for the big day! Dipakbhai informed me that after the children watched the movie, they would all take part in an attempt to break the world record for the longest piece of cotton candy! Although I couldn't be there on the day it was wonderful to get a snap shot of just some of the great work Jain groups are doing all over the world.
REBECCA HOH- News Editor
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