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)
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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…

10 comments:

Kak Teh said...

Selamat hari raya Haji Pi Bani dan maaf zahir dan batin sekiranya ada terkasar bahasa tersalah kata, tersilap taip, kata kak teh sambil sedut paip.

Take a rest - you've earned it.
pssst, i dare not copy the word verification here...!

Unknown said...

Huiii jadual! Penuh! Tensyen saya baca! :D
Somehow that Bunga Telur and Bally Shoes reminds me of form 2 literature lah hehe ;)
Have your well deserved rest from blogging. But don't make it forever ya hehe...

Anonymous said...

Komen Pak Malim kucing ray yg alim.

Selamat menyambut Hari Raya Korban, kata Pak Malim sambil memakai serban. Seronok baca pasal perjumpaan dgn blogger, kata Pak Malim sambil memeluk naga. Insya Allah, suatu hari kita akan berjumpa, kata Pak Malim sambil meminum air kelapa.

Pi Bani said...

Kak Teh,
Sejak bila pandai sedut paip? tanya Pi Bani sambil menaip. ;)
And oh, you dare not copy the word verification? Awatnya? Mencarut ka??


Akmal,
Janganlah tension... nanti BP naik pulak kan? Tengoklah nanti, bila dah ada lapang sikit, I'll start blogging balik. Silap haribulan, kalau ada BERITA PANAS, belum sempat apa lagi I dah blog kot...


Pak Malim,
Nasib baik kucing tak termasuk binatang korban kan? kata Pi Bani sambil makan. Pak Malim sendiri bila nak jadi blogger? tanya Pi Bani sambil kunyah daun pegaga. Takkan asyik nak mengomen aje, kata Pi Bani sambil mengeja.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

whoaa...you're giving a miss on an opportunity to dine at Carcosa? maybe its time i join Buddies too la kak Pi, and i can be your KL rep...kihkihhh...

have a good break.

Anonymous said...

Lagi2 Komen Pak Malim kucing ray yg alim.

Ya, saya amat bernasib baik, kata Pak Malim sambil menuju ke Janda Baik, kerana tidak termasuk dlm senarai binatang korban, kata Pak Malim sambil memakai serban. Lagipun, saya kurus, kata Pak Malim sambil memegang berus. Jadi kalu nak makan saya pun, tak kenyang, kata Pak Malim yg kena ganyang.

Pi Bani said...

Kerp,
Engko nak join Buddies just to go to the makan-makan invitations ke? ;)


Pak Malim,
Kalau kurus takpe, kata Pi Bani sambil baca paper. Boleh buat sup tulang, kata Pi Bani sambil memegang helang.

Mat Cendana said...

I've been going around to all the blogs mentioned by Mat Salo and Elviza about the recent gathering in KL.

I wasn't there and can't seem to get enough of knowing what the people present have to say. It's a bit disappointing that you aren't writing a post about it. Guess I'll just have to make do with the bit that you had mentioned.

Pi Bani said...

Mat Cendana,
Sorry to have disappointed you but after reading all the other writeups on the blog bash, I simply can't think of anything else to add.

All I can say is that it was a pleasure meeting the other bloggers and I do hope to meet you too one fine day.

Daphne Ling said...

Hi Kak Pi,

Have a nice break! Hope you come back stonger and more garang...

Muahaha!

Just kidding lar...