date | time: Saturday 17 July 2010 | 9.00 am

Kampung Gelam
The area known as Kampong Gelam (KG) extends beyond the beaten paths of Bussorah, Baghdad and Arab Streets. We would like to invite participants to experience (through perhaps a little imagination) what KG was like when we were growing up there. Given its unique history and background, Kampong Gelam is much more than a ‘Malay area’. Unlike Geylang Serai or Kampung Ubi, Kampung Gelam was once a cosmopolitan settlement of Muslims from diverse
ethnicity fused by a common faith and way of life. It was Singapore’s earliest Muslim Quarter. Aspects of social and cultural life (people, trades) will be key in the tour.

Hidayah Amin was born and grew up in Gedung Kuning. She is the author of Gedung Kuning: Memories of a Malay Childhood (Singapore Heritage Society, 2010). Hidayah was educated in Singapore, France and the United States of
America. She was a Fulbright Scholar at Lehigh University and had interned pro-bono for six months at the United Nations Headquarters after her graduate studies. Like Hemingway, Hidayah believes in writing to express and not to
impress.

Born and bred in Kampong Gelam, Khir Johari rediscovered his roots while living in Silicon Valley. A mathematics educator by training and a foodie by birth, Khir gets a kick from getting kids excited about learning mathematics and wouldn’t mind cheese tasting in class to teach the concept of percentage and angles in a circle. He is currently on an extended sabbatical, which allows pursuits like trying to figure out what would make the ideal ‘Rendang Quartet’.

Flyer: Kampong Gelam: A Walk Through History. A walking tour with Hidayah Amin & Khir Johari