Rock Up! 08: A review

Try living with more than 15 people in a single-storey house, sharing a bedroom with 6 teenage boys. Well, that’s exactly what the boys at Agathians Shelter have to live with everyday. There are altogether 30 boys sharing 5 bedrooms in two separate rented single-storey houses. Some are orphaned, abandoned and came from broken families. With seven people involved in the shelter’s administration, and 26 others who help maintain the home, only three full time workers are able to act as caretakers for the children due to lack of funds.

Realizing the needs of these young boys, a group of 14 young adults decided to host a charity fundraising event to help Agathians Shelter raise RM100,000 to construct their new home; a more conducive one, which offers more comfort and security. The organizers too have been kind enough to provide the boys with weekly 1.5 hour lessons in traditional percussions and recently, dance, totally F.O.C. by professional percussionists and dance instructors. The boys’ overwhelming skills convinced the organizers to feature them at the event.

Hosted by Juliana Ibrahim , Prem and May & Choy Wan, Rock Up! opened with performances by upcoming local acts including Diplomats of Drum (whose member Ravinderjit Singh is the shelter’s percussions instructor). After the officiating of the event by Jabatan Kebajikan Malaysia VVIP Datin Norizan Azizan and a speech by Mr Siva from Agathians Shelter, the talented boys gave a tub-thumping percussions performance, which receive massive applause from the floor.

Throughout the event, the audience was entertained by our tasty local performers like Zalila Lee, Seven, Liang, Juwita Suwito, Furniture, Frequency Cannon, Couple, Transient Vortex and a few others, a skit by Harith Iskander and friends, and fashion shows by PurpleDotz Boutique, NafNaf and CK Jeans. But too bad the venue didn’t compliment the bands due to its inadequate acoustics.

Agathians Shelter received generous donations from Jerasia Fashion Sdn Bhd, Pacmee Sdn Bhd and Datuk Yap Fung Kong. Other donations were through Rock Up! T-shirt sales, raffle purchases and auctioned clothes by NafNaf and CK Jeans. Regardless of the poor turn up, Rock Up! 2008 was decently organized. Oh well, there’s always next time.

Wanna do your part for charity? You can still donate directly to Agathians Shelter bank accounts: MBB (114160965371) or CIMB (12480066571528) or HONG LEONG (16050008991). Or purchase your Rock Up! 2008 t-shirt for only RM25 at www.rockup2008.blogspot.com. Various sizes available. For more info go to www.agathians.org

Text & Photo Dhiya I.