A Day in the Life
My name is Nurul and I am ten years old. I live in a kampung, that is our word for village, on the east coast of Malaysia. My kampung is surrounded by coconut palms and rubber trees, and if I walk ten minutes down the red dirt road, I reach the sea. The water is warm all year round because Malaysia sits right near the equator. I think that is something special.
Every morning my mother cooks nasi lemak for breakfast. It is rice steamed in coconut milk with a little pandan leaf tucked inside, which makes it smell sweet and fragrant. She serves it on a banana leaf with fried anchovies, roasted peanuts, sliced cucumber, a hard-boiled egg, and sambal, a chili paste that is bright red and so spicy it makes my nose tingle. Nasi lemak is the food that every Malay person loves. If you came to visit me, it is the first thing I would give you to eat.
After breakfast I put on my school uniform, a white blouse and a blue skirt, and walk to school with my friends. We pass the small mosque where my father prays five times a day. The mosque has a green dome and a loudspeaker on the minaret. Our teacher is strict about homework but she also lets us do art on Fridays, and that is my favorite. I like to draw the hornbills that live in the rainforest near our village. They are huge black and white birds with orange beaks that curve like a crescent moon. Have you ever seen a bird with a beak bigger than its own head?
In the afternoon when it rains, and it rains almost every afternoon here, hard and sudden, drumming on the tin roof, I sit with my grandmother and she teaches me how to fold ketupat, which are little diamond-shaped pouches woven from coconut palm leaves. You stuff rice inside and boil them, and the rice takes the shape of the pouch. We make hundreds of them for Hari Raya, the celebration at the end of Ramadan, when the whole kampung comes alive with food and family.
My father works at a rubber plantation. Every morning before dawn, he scores thin lines into the bark of rubber trees and a white sap called latex drips into small cups tied to the trunks. It takes hours to collect. The latex smells sharp and clean, like something between rain and fresh-cut grass. He says rubber from Malaysia goes all over the world, to make tires, gloves, and things I have never seen.
On weekends my family sometimes drives to the night market. The stalls are lit with bare bulbs and the air is thick with smoke from grills cooking satay, skewers of chicken marinated in turmeric and lemongrass, charred over coconut shell coals. The satay man fans the flames with a piece of cardboard and the sparks fly up into the dark. We dip the skewers in peanut sauce and eat them standing up.
What food would you cook for me if I visited your home?
My family is Malay. We have lived in this land for hundreds of years. We speak Bahasa Melayu, we gather for prayers, and we take care of our neighbors. My grandmother says that being Malay means your heart is always close to your family and your feet are always close to the earth. I think she is right.
Fun Facts
- Malaysia is home to one of the oldest tropical rainforests on Earth, about 130 million years old, and it contains more species of trees in a single acre than many entire countries have.
- Nasi lemak is so beloved in Malaysia that it is considered the unofficial national dish. Street vendors wrap it in banana leaves and sell it for breakfast from roadside stalls all over the country.
- The durian fruit, which grows throughout Malaysia, is called the “king of fruits.” It has a spiky shell and a smell so strong that it is banned on public buses and in many hotels, but Malay people say the creamy flesh inside tastes like custard.
- Batik fabric is a traditional Malay art form, hot wax is drawn onto cloth in detailed patterns, then the cloth is dipped in dye. The wax resists the color, creating beautiful designs of flowers, birds, and waves.
- Malaysian hornbills are so important to the cultures of Borneo that the state of Sarawak is called “Land of the Hornbills.” Some species have wingspans over five feet wide.
How to Pray for the Malay
- Pray that Malay families who gather for Hari Raya and Friday prayers would have the chance to hear about Jesus, the God who invites everyone to His table.
- Pray for Malay children growing up in kampungs across Malaysia, that God would place people in their lives who can share His love with them in their own language.
- Pray that the complete Malay Bible would reach more homes and that families would be free to read it and talk about it together without fear.
How Kids Can Help
- Pray: The next time it rains, let the sound of the raindrops remind you to pray for Malay kids like Nurul who hear that same rain drumming on their tin roofs every afternoon.
- Learn: Try to find a picture of a hornbill or a durian fruit and learn one new thing about Malaysia to share at dinner.
- Share: Tell a friend or your Sunday school class about the Malay people, many people do not know they are one of the largest unreached groups in Southeast Asia.
- Give: Ask your parents about supporting ministries that share the Bible and the love of Jesus with Malay-speaking people in Malaysia.
Scripture to Remember
“The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” (Psalm 24:1, ESV)