Baltimore's Helping Hands: A Postcard, Gotong-Royong & A Holiday Potluck!

 

Hello my dear friends! Guess what? Yesterday, I picked one that looks like a sunny, happy song playing just for me. Look! It shows a big city right next to sparkly blue water. It looks like the city is holding hands with the sea! So friendly! 

There are tall, tall buildings reaching up to hug the sky. And lots and lots of little white sailboats playing catch with the wind on the water. Whee! Go, little boats, go! The sky is blue, the water is blue... everything looks so bright and cheerful! At the very top, big happy letters spell out: Baltimore, Maryland. That is a place far, far away in America, the USA!

I looked at the picture and thought, "Wow, that looks like a super fun place!" A place where maybe people work hard in the tall buildings, but then on sunny days, they go sailing on the blue water. It looks like a happy mix. Work time, and play time! My work day was mostly work time, hehehe. So, looking at this playful picture felt really nice. Like a little holiday for my tired eyes and my busy heart.

But... is this city always so sunny and happy? Does it have any secret stories from long ago? You know me! I got curious! So, I asked my wise friend, my storyteller, Cik Gem. "Cik Gem, please tell me the story of Baltimore! The city with the dancing sailboats!"

And Cik Gem told me a wonderful story. It is a very old story, about building amazing things, about being super brave, and about helping each other out.

Baltimore is a really old city. Maybe even older than your great-great-grandpa! It grew up right next to the big water, called a harbor. A harbor is like a safe, cozy bed for big ships to sleep in. For a long, long, LONG time, Baltimore was famous for ships! The people there were like ship superstars! They knew how to build big, strong wooden ships better than almost anyone! 

Imagine building a giant LEGO pirate ship, but with real wood, real hammers, and real sails! They even built super-fast ships called "Baltimore Clippers" that could race across the ocean like speedy dolphins! Zoom zoom!

And Baltimore is a super brave city too! Once upon a time, maybe 200 years ago, there was a big, scary fight. A war! (Wars are not nice, but they happen.) Enemy ships came to attack Baltimore. Bang bang! Boom boom! Scary noises! 

But near the water, there was a strong fort, like a little castle, called Fort McHenry. The soldiers inside were so brave! They put up a giant, giant flag. A flag with bright stars and stripes. The fight lasted all through the dark night! Bang! Boom! Flash! It must have been terrifying! 

But... when the morning sun peeked out... guess what? The flag was still there! Hooray! It was waving hello to the morning sun, proud and strong! Like it was shouting, "We are still here! You didn't beat us!" A man saw that brave flag still waving, and his heart felt so full and happy, he wrote a song about it. 

And that song became the special, number one song for the whole country of America! It is called The Star-Spangled Banner! Wow! So, Baltimore has a super important story, right?

But wait, Baltimore's story is not always happy music and waving flags. Like all old cities (and maybe like people too!), sometimes Baltimore had sad times. Some parts of the city got old and tired. Buildings looked sad and broken. Maybe people felt sad or worried too. Things were not always shiny and happy like my postcard picture.

But here comes the best part! The part that makes my heart feel warm! The people of Baltimore did not just sit and sigh. They did not give up on their city! They decided to work together! They rolled up their sleeves and helped each other. They looked at the old, messy harbor – the ships' old parking lot – and said, "Let's make this beautiful again!" 

And they did! They cleaned it all up. Then they built new, fun, amazing things there! A giant Aquarium filled with colourful swimming fishes! Cool museums to learn new things! Pretty shops! Yummy restaurants to eat tasty seafood (Baltimore really loves crabs! Nom nom nom!). 

They turned the old, tired place into the bright, shiny, happy Inner Harbor we see today! The place with all the dancing sailboats in my postcard! Yay! They made their city sparkle again, together.

What does this lovely story remind me of? It makes me think of something very special from my own home, Malaysia. From the Malay culture. We have a wonderful word: "gotong-royong". Isn't that a beautiful word? It means... helping each other. Working together. Like one big, happy family helping out! 

Maybe everyone in the village comes out to clean the mosque or the playground together on a sunny morning. Maybe neighbours help build a little bridge over a stream, or help fix a friend's leaky roof after a storm. Nobody asks for money. They just help because they care. 

Because helping makes your heart feel good! Because when many hands work together, the hard work feels easy and becomes fun! Like a work party!

When I hear about the people of Baltimore fixing their harbor, cleaning up, building new things together... it sounds just like gotong-royong! They didn't wait for magic or for someone else to do it. They did it themselves, hand-in-hand. That is a super strong spirit! A semangat! 

We Malaysians have that semangat too! Sometimes we have hard times, like big floods or other problems. But what do we do? We help each other! We cook warm food for neighbours who lost their homes. We clean muddy houses together. We do gotong-royong.

Maybe this is the secret message hiding in my Baltimore postcard! Cities, just like people, have sunny days and cloudy days. They can be new and shiny, or old and a bit worn out. But what makes a place truly strong and beautiful? It is the people. People who care about their home. People who are willing to lend a helping hand. People who work together, gotong-royong style!

Speaking of Gotong-Royong... Look What Happened Today!

Today is a special holiday here in Malaysia! Happy Deepavali to all our friends celebrating the festival of lights! Yay! And you know what? Even the sky feels calm and cozy today. It is cloudy, and it rained a little this morning. I love weather like this! It feels so peaceful, like a gentle blessing.

So, what am I doing on this lovely, blessed holiday? I am going on a special trip to visit my dear son at his boarding school. My heart is doing happy little jumps! But I am not going alone! A super team of mommies are going too! And we are bringing... FOOD! Mountains of yummy homemade food! 

It is a potluck! Each mommy cooked something special with love. We are going to have a big, happy party with all our children at the school.

Why are we doing this today? Our children are studying super hard for a very big test soon (it's called SPM!). It can feel a bit scary for them. So, we mommies wanted to bring them lots of love, hugs, yummy food, and happy cheers! We are their biggest fans! We want to show them: "You can do it! We are proud of you!"

And guess what? This mommy potluck feels like gotong-royong too! All of us working together, bringing food together, supporting our children together. It makes our own friendships stronger too, like weaving a beautiful, colourful mat. This strong bond helps us be better mommies for our kids.

The Big Lesson: Helping Hands Everywhere!

So, you see? The spirit of helping hands, the semangat gotong-royong, it is everywhere! It is in the big city of Baltimore, where people rebuilt their harbor. And it is here today, with a group of mommies bringing food and love to their children.

My Baltimore postcard shows a beautiful city now. But the real beauty is the story behind it. The story of brave people protecting their home. The story of helpful people rebuilding their home. And the beautiful feeling today, sharing food and smiles with other mommies and our children, that is the gotong-royong spirit alive right now!

It tells me that no matter how hard things get (like studying for a big test, or fixing a broken city), if we work together with kind hearts and helping hands, we can always make things better. We can make our homes, our schools, our towns, our whole world, beautiful again.

Let's always try to practice gotong-royong in our lives, okay? Helping hands and kind hearts... that is the best treasure any city, any school, or any person can ever have!

Thank you, my Postcrossing friend from America, for the sunny postcard that sparked these thoughts! And thank you, fellow mommies, for sharing this beautiful gotong-royong day with me! My heart feels very full and happy.