THEY WILL ASK thee as to what they should spend on others. Say: "Whatever of your wealth you spend shall [first] be for your parents, and for the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer; and whatever good you do, verily, God has full knowledge thereof." - Al-Baqarah (2:215)
Malaysia Flag Pictures, Images and Photos

Tuesday 30 December 2008

Goodbye 1429/2008... Hello 1430/2009!

Hi there people! Am back from my break although right now am still suffering from the kendafect syndrome. The symptoms? Tiredness and body aches, especially the calves and the thighs.

What? You've never heard of the kendafect syndrome?! Okay then, it's actually short for "kenduri-after-effects".  :)

My nephew's wedding was held my parent's kampong house here in Ipoh, and so I have been rather busy myself although I am not the mak pengantin. I had expected to get back to my normal mode by now, but looks like I still need a few more days to recharge myself. I know it is this time of the year (school will reopen soon) that my PLHIV clients require help for their children's schooling needs, as a matter of fact a few of them have already contacted me for that. I promised them I'd get back to them by next week.

Anyway, we're already in 1430 Hijrah and it will be 2009 very soon. My wish for 1430 and 2009 is for the world to be more peaceful and for all of us to live in harmony. It doesn't appear to be that way with the latest happenings throughout the world, but I can always hope.

Now, allow me to find the cure to my kendafect syndrome before 2009 arrives. Till then, here's wishing everyone a wonderful and happy year ahead!

Thursday 11 December 2008

Brief Updates

Just some brief updates before I go MIA again...

1. We can't get enough volunteers to take part in the HIV/AIDS exhibition in Taiping this weekend, so we had to opt out of participating. Sigh...

2. Razif finally told his wife about his HIV infection without having to lie. I don't really know yet how his wife took the news but the fact that she agreed to join him for the HAART Workshop next week indicates that she didn't take it too bad after all. I still don't have an idea if she herself has been tested though...

3. Fuzi's second daughter has managed to get her MyKad done without much problems because she got an uncle (Fuzi's late husband's brother - a Malaysian) to go with her to JPN. The first daughter's MyKad application is still facing lots of obstacles because the application was done by Fuzi, a non-Malaysian. The earlier application (done last year) is now cancelled and a new application has to be submitted. Fuzi will now try the same method as the 2nd daughter ie get the uncle to help them. Only problem is, the uncle has to be PAID to do the job. Sigh...

4. I gained 2.5 kgs on Hari Raya Haji. Thank goodness Raya is not every day...

Monday 1 December 2008

Taking a break...

My NGO has a few activities for this month, including a joint exhibition with CASP, an NGO from Penang, in conjunction with World AIDS Day. No, joint is not the right word lah. Let’s just say CASP is organizing everything while Buddies simply ‘menumpang’! Even to just ‘menumpang’, we are finding it hard to get enough volunteers to man our table for the exhibition. The exhibition by the way, will be held at Tesco Taiping on 13th and 14th of December.

There will also be a workshop on HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) organized by the Family Health Association on 20th December whereby we Buddies have been invited to send 20 people (exempted from paying the fees) to include volunteers, caregivers and PLHIVs. While I myself can’t make myself available for the workshop, I need to get people to go – and so far I’ve only got 6 names, and I need to submit the names by this week.

Meanwhile, I have yet to finish the progress report on the sponsored children under our Education Sponsorship for Children programme. Am still waiting for a few more reports to come in before I can finalise things. We have 3 more children (including one HIV infected child) needing education sponsorship beginning next year, so hey, if any of you want to sponsor a child, do email me ya?

Our annual year-end dinner is usually held on weekends, but since Madame Chair here simply cannot make herself available on the weekends, the Board agreed to have it on a weekday instead (was thinking of giving it a miss but the other Board members said “Chair must attend lah!”)

Apa yang Madame Chair busy sangat ni?? Actually I need to reserve my December weekends this year for family matters. The 1st weekend of December will be too near Hari Raya Haji. The 2nd weekend, well, I may still be able to make it on Sunday night, but there’s the exhibition I mentioned above in Taiping and so it will be difficult for the volunteers involved in the exhibition. The 3rd weekend, my family will be in Malacca for a kenduri. And the 4th weekend, the kenduri will be held on my family’s side.

So our annual dinner will be on a Tuesday night (we usually hold our meetings on Tuesday nights).

I did receive an invitation from Unicef to attend a brunch function in Carcosa Seri Negara this coming Thursday, but while I’d love very much to go, I simply had to turn down the invitation. Never been to Carcosa before… and am missing the opportunity to be there… sigh!

With so many things to do, and not knowing which ones to do first, I may need to take a break from blogging for a while…

…which was why I made it a point to attend last Saturday’s blog-bash at The Curve. I’m not going to do a write up on that as you can get all the stories and photos from Matsalo’s, Elviza’s, Pak Idrus’ and Pokku’s. I did bring along my camera, but seeing there were so many paparazzis around (with Mat Salo as the kepala paparazzi), I figured there was no need for me to become a paparazziah… (female version meh!)

I have to say it was a great pleasure meeting up with fellow bloggers – the familiar faces (it was such a pleasant surprise seeing Raden Galoh there – you’re one helluva lady sis!), the not-familiar-faces-but-familiar-names and not forgetting the not-familiar-to-me ones. Imagine Tokasid introducing one guy to us saying “This is Bunga Telur & Bally Shoes”. Aduh, I can’t be calling this guy by that name every time, can I?

It was also a pleasant surprise when someone came and asked for Pi Bani and then she said, “Saya ni pembaca aje.” The fact that a silent reader took the effort to ask for me was flattering enough. I think she’s Bunga Telur’s wife (sorry Bunga Telur, I did ask for your real name but can’t for the life of me remember it right now!)

Thank you to the organizers of the “perhimpunan tanpa permit”, and in case I don’t get enough time or the urge to blog for the next few weeks…

To fellow Muslims, Selamat Hari Raya Haji.
To all Christians, Merry Christmas.

I will try to post something before the year ends…