Busy month ahead...

WHOOOOSH!! Almost half the year is gone. Waaa… so fast?

So what activities had we (Buddies) done for the first half of the year other than the usual clinic duties, outreach, taking care of the affected children’s educational needs and visiting/calling our HIV clients?

In March I gave a talk to a group of students from ITP, Ipoh. During the same week, we also put up an exhibition booth at Kinta City, Ipoh in conjunction with the International Women’s Day 2010 organised by the Perak Women for Women.

We put up another exhibition booth in May during a conference organised by the Perak Palliative Care Society. During the same weekend, I and 4 other volunteers also took part in a Charity Relay Run held at Ipoh Padang, where each of us had to run 2km.

Also in May, although Buddies were not directly involved, I was invited by virtue of representing Buddies as an NGO, to be in the committee to work together with a few other NGOs under the Sekretariat Pembangunan Wanita & Sosial Negeri, organising awareness campaigns on women and social issues. Our first event was a seminar on domestic violence. More campaigns will be organised, although the next event under this committee has yet to be decided.

So, what’s coming up in July?

I have been invited to give a talk at a university college in Negri Sembilan during a seminar on HIV/AIDS. I have given talks on HIV before, but this time it will be different. The talks that I had been giving so far were more on HIV in general – how it spreads etc. I’d usually just use the slides/powerpoint presentation already prepared by the Malaysian Aids Council (MAC). This time, the organisers have invited reps from the Institute of Medical Research to cover the medical aspects and reps from MAC will be showing their slides on HIV in general. I on the other hand, have been invited to share my experiences in dealing with the HIV infected/affected people. No prepared slides, so I’m in the process of preparing one. I want the audience to look at something else other than just my boring old face during the talk… :-)

The next day, I promised to have a Masters student from American University in Washington DC follow me for a day while I go round doing my voluntary work. She’s in KL for 2 months this summer, and as an independent study for her Uni on the impact of HIV/AIDS on Muslim women, she wants to do as much research as possible while she’s here in Malaysia.

The first Sunday of August, as usual, will be our Family Day (we will have to choose another date in future if the first Sunday of August coincides with fasting month). We have not made the final decision as to the venue of this year’s Family Day although we have shortlisted 3 places. We will have to decide by this month’s Board meeting as by July we will need to make all the necessary arrangements. Chances are in July the Family Day sub-committee will be meeting every week to make sure everything is in order.

We are also planning to start our support service during HIV clinic at Taiping Hospital beginning July. I’ve already got a few volunteers willing to take turns to go there, so we might as well start something soon.

So yeah, July will probably be quite a busy month for me. Never mind, one step at a time. I don’t want to stress myself out, do I? But not to worry, if I do get stressed, I’ve got the Stress Reduction Kit ready…

Busy week ahead

After enjoying myself silly last Saturday on my 17+++ birthday, visiting the place where I spent my teenage years, this week is going to be a rather busy week.

Will be driving to KL early tomorrow morning to attend a seminar on Women, Girls and HIV in Malaysia. The seminar will end by lunch time; but I am a little bit confused as to whether I need to stay on after that. In the earlier email that I got, the tentative programme only mentioned about the seminar. Then a fax came in, and the tentative programme included a “Mesyuarat Jawatankuasa Pasukan Petugas HIV/AIDS Wanita dan Remaja Perempuan”. I remember being called for a meeting before which I couldn’t attend, and so now I’m not sure if I’m supposed to attend this meeting. I hope I don’t have to… at least I can leave KL before office hours end!

On Thursday I have to attend a meeting of the Jawatankuasa Kempen Kesedaran & Pencegahan (for schools) here in Ipoh.

Friday – I got an invitation by the club sponsoring groceries for Sofie’s and Lin’s families, to attend their AGM. It seems they want to acknowledge my contribution in delivering the groceries to the 2 families. But I had already promised to bring Saiful to get his pair of glasses; and to me that is more important, and so I had to turn down the AGM invitation.

Saturday – Our exhibition at a hotel in Ipoh in conjunction with a conference held by the Perak Palliative Care Society. My shift will be in the afternoon so at least I can go to the pasar tani in the morning after missing my Saturday morning routine last week.

Sunday – the exhibition is still on until afternoon but I have already left it to my vice-chairman to handle the exhibition (since he’s the coordinator for public awareness programmes). I and 4 other volunteers will be taking part in a charity run. Yep, we will be running 2km each for charity. And as my own personal run-up to the charity run, last Saturday I volunteered to play volleyball in a Under-60s vs Under 16s game at my alma-mater. After the volleyball game ended, I was just trying to “lepas gian” hitting some balls with the hockey stick. As I was about to return the hockey stick, I was pulled in to play hockey as well (in a much smaller field and in a much shorter time).

The good thing is, I still feel okay after the 2 games, and so I think I should be doing okay for the 2 km run. I know I can walk 2 km, so worse comes to worse, I’ll walk!

So looks like I only have Wednesday free this week…

Busy week ahead

The Perak Women for Women Association (PWW) will be organising a list of activities in Jaya Jusco, Ipoh from 8th to 14th March in conjunction with International Women’s Day 2010.

Activities include information and awareness booths, health screening, blood donation drive, performances etc by various groups and organisations. Buddies too have been invited to set up our booth… in fact I was asked if Buddies would like to perform anything. Performance? I told the lady we didn’t want to spoil the whole event!!

Setting up an exhibition booth would be great, but we simply don’t have the manpower to man the booth the whole week. Understanding our situation, PWW agreed to provide us with a booth from 11th to 14th March.

Frankly, even for just 4 days I knew it wouldn’t be so easy to get enough people to man the booth. After all, the exhibition is supposed to be from 10 am right to 10 pm. So we drew up 3 shifts per day: 10am – 2pm, 2pm – 6pm and 6pm to 10pm. I suggested that the Thursday and Friday day shifts be taken up by those with flexi working hours… or the pensioners. So yep, managed to get one or two volunteers for each shift.

Monday 8th March - Although we’re only taking part from 11th to 14th, I do intend to attend the launch of the International Women’s Day celebration on Monday. Other than lending my support to PWW’s activity, I would like to have a look at the exhibition space, so it will be easier for me to decide which posters to set up at our booth later.

Tuesday 9th March - I will be giving a talk on HIV/AIDS at hai sayang’s college… hehehe…

Wednesday 10th March – Nothing confirmed yet, but I’ve heard angin-angin that I may be invited by the women’s wing of a political party to join their discussion on matters pertaining to problems faced by women. Somebody recommended my name as I deal directly with HIV women. I’m not sure yet if it’s on though… if it’s not, then Wednesday can at least be my rest day…

Thursday 11th March – My shift for the exhibition will be from 2pm to 6pm, together with another senior volunteer. But I still have to go for a short while in the morning to set up the booth before going back to my office, as the 2 volunteers on the morning shift are both quite new.

Friday 12th March – Again I will be taking the 2pm – 6pm shift, this time with a trainee volunteer.

Saturday 13th March – My off day from the exhibition as I plan to attend a blogger’s wedding in Kelana Jaya.

Sunday 14th March – Back to the exhibition… this time I will be taking the 10am – 2pm shift.

So yeah, busy week ahead. I just hope I can take the heat… with the kind of hot weather we’re getting now…

A few more activities for the year...

We're already into the last 2 months of the year. How time flies. Thank goodness at the beginning of the year I didn't set any new year resolutions for myself. Otherwise I bet I haven't fulfilled it yet and the new year resolution would have to be "renewed" when the next new year comes!

I don't usually set any new year resolutions for myself. To me if I need to make some changes for myself, I don't have to wait for a new year to do so. BUT I do have a target for next year. What target? Not saying it yet, will only tell you when the time comes.

We still have a few more activities for this year. In three weeks time, an Ipoh International Friendship Night will be organised with the purpose of bringing together foreigners working or staying in or around Ipoh to meet, and to familiarise them with the various community associations and programmes available here. In line with that, the organisers will also organise an exhibition and craft fair in order for NGOs and charitable organisations to showcase their services, programmes and/or handicrafts.

Buddies have been invited to participate in the exhibition, and since it will only take not more than 3 hours, I don't have to worry about getting enough volunteers to take turns to man our booth. 2 or 3 people should suffice, although I hope more volunteers will be able to join us. I haven't asked around yet, as I want to wait for the organisers to come back to me with the final programme before I start contacting the other volunteers.

On 1st December, we plan to have our Fellowship Night (for our volunteers) at our centre. Usually we'd have the year-end dinner held at a restaurant somewhere... and there was one year we had a Deeparaya Night... but since it's getting very difficult to get as many volunteers to gather at the same time, this year we're combining the Raya/Deepa/Christmas/Year End dinner at the center with some fun activities planned. I do hope most of the volunteers can attend this time.

Then the first Sunday of December, if things go according to plan, for the first time we're organising something on our own for the World AIDS Day (usually even if we do participate in something, we'd just tumpang sekaki whatever other organisations had planned). And our plan for this year is to have an HIV Awareness Programme at an Orang Asli Village.

Other than all the above, I must remember to get in touch with the HIV families whose children are sponsored under our Education Sponsorship for Children. I will need to get the updates on the children's progress in school, after which I will need to send the reports to the various sponsors and start collecting the sponsorship amount for next year.

And oh, I'd better not wait till the very last minute to arrange for the back-to-school shopping for the children!

That means there will more calls and house visits for me to do within these 2 months...

My trip to Kedah...

Yep, I was in Kedah yesterday. Merbok, to be exact. My school alumni had been invited by Tuan Hj Romli Bakar, better known as Paksu, the orang kuat behind the setting up of Kelab Pendidikan, Sukan dan Kebajikan, Kg Bujang; to join a camp they were organising at tebing Sg Merbok, Kg Batu Besi; called Perkhemahan Perpaduan Kanak-kanak Antara Kaum.

As mentioned in one of my earlier posting, I was going to bring along Saiful and Ika with me for the trip.

After a few exchanges of emails amongst a few of my alumni members, I agreed to meet up with Kak Shahid, a senior of mine, at MRSM Merbok, before going to the camp site together.

I left home as early as 6.35 am, equipped with my new toy, a GPS, heading north using the state road to fetch Sofie's kids. Oh they were ready when I got there, not 2 of them, but 3 of them. Sofie's second son, Azman (who was earlier at his school hostel when I asked the children if they wanted to follow me) wanted to join me for the trip too. Sofie felt better that way too, as she didn't want me to be burdened with the task of having to look after the kids. Azman can look after his younger siblings.

Of course we still had our concerns. Ika, the youngest, is known to have "car-sick" problems. Sofie made sure she took her ubat muntah before the trip, and told me the girl would need to take another of the pills before I started my trip home.

We got in the PLUS expressway via Kuala Kangsar, and yep, as expected, before long Ika was already dizzy. We told her to sleep. Good thing Azman joined the trip. He's quite a chatty boy, telling me about all his "adventures", so at least I had someone in the car to keep me awake.

Confident of the route with the assistance of my GPS (I had earlier set the speed warning to shut up after continuously irritating me during my earlier "test run" in town - telling me "you're over the speed limit, please drive carefully" when I was going 60 kmh at a 70 kmh road!), we reached MRSM Merbok at about 9.20 am. Earlier, on the way to MRSM, I did notice a small junction, with the sign "Kg Sg Batu Besi", the kampong where the activities were supposed to be held. But since I had promised Kak Shahid to meet up in front of MRSM, I drove straight to MRSM, which was just nearby anyway.

But when I called up Kak Shahid, she was still in Alor Star (baru nak tutup gate!) and would need another 40 minutes or so to get to Merbok. Since Bee, another friend cum second cousin from KL had just called to inform me she was almost there, I told Kak Shahid I might as well go straight to the camp site. After all, I saw the signboard earlier, so I didn't have to worry about Kg Batu Besi not listed in my GPS map.

So yep, pusing balik to the road where I saw the junction heading to the camp site, and on the way, Bee called again, saying she was in front of MRSM. Duh, I thought she was heading straight to the camp site. So, I waited for her by the roadside, and we went into the junction heading to Kg Sg Batu Besi together. Waaah... I was glad I didn't wash my car earlier.... it was jalan tanah merah...

Anyway, the moment we saw tents, banners, stalls etc, we knew we had reached the camp site.

Met up with Paksu, and he introduced us to Hafiz, his ex-student who benefited from his tuition programme, who is now heading another similar run outfit in Kg Belau nearby. We were also introduced to a group of Canadians, who joined the camp.

The morning games for the camp participants (the children had been camping there since Friday) were about to start, so I handed "my kids" over to Hafiz so they could join the activity as well. The morning activity was held at a nearby mangrove swamp (complete with pelantar and all).

After a while, Kak Shahid called to inform me she had arrived at the camp site. Bee and I decided to walk back to the camp to meet up with her.

We were then brought by Paksu to a cool and shady area as he wanted to explain to us in details about his activities, his plans, etc. Quite a number of my alumni members had been giving cash donations for the running of his place, and so Paksu wanted to make sure he gave us in detail what he had done with the money and what else he intended to do.

It was during the discussions that another call came in on my hand phone. It was Lyana (yep, bini Pak Usop) asking me where I was. She had just arrived at the camp site and was trying to look out for me. I went to look for her, and although I was tercangak-bangak at first, I finally saw the easily recognizable Pak Usop, and so had no second thoughts about which one was Lyana...

So yeah, I finally met up with Lyana and the gang (of course, Emil & Odin were there too!).

I took them to join us listening to Paksu's "briefing".

The man wearing the white kopiah is Paksu.

Apparently while I got up to look for Lyana, my friends were telling Paksu about my involvement with HIV families. Coincidentally, Paksu is planning for some sort of HIV awareness programme some time next year, and upon hearing about my involvement in HIV cases, was hoping I'd be able to help him out. I left him my name card (my NGO name card, not my business card).

Paksu then told us to follow Hafiz who would be showing us their 2 centers, one in Kg Bujang and the other in Kg Belau, both located not too far from the place (but not within walking distance lah, we'd still have to take the cars). Lyana and gang followed us too. My kids followed in my friend's car, while I joined Lyana.

First we went to Kg Bujang, Paksu's house, also used as club center...

Hey, scare-crows now wear helmets, do they?

Then off we went to Kg Belau, where we dropped off a boot full of books, contributed by my alumni members.

At Kg Belau...

There was no tuition on yesterday, but these 2 ayam kampong probably were not informed about it...

And there was even a mini-museum at the Kg Belau center.

Notice the batu giling? Well, Saiful started handling the batu giling, and the way he was holding it, I somehow sensed he knew how to use it properly.

"Tau guna ke?" I asked.

"Tau! Pernah guna kat rumah Mak Yang," he replied.

Ahh... if there was a pertandingan giling rempah between me and the boy, he'd win hands down! My rempah giling would probably end up falling off the sides of the batu giling...

After Kg Belau, we headed back to the camp site. There were supposed to be other activities in the afternoon.

After saying goodbye to Lyana who had to attend a neighbour's kenduri, we had our lunch, prepared by the kampong folks. Then off for prayers at the surau.

Some games were supposed to start at 2 pm, but for one reason or another, it didn't start until about 3.30 pm. My kids were getting restless, they were just so eager to jump into the river. Ika dah tukar baju, asking me to hold her towel for her. So I sangkut the towel on my left shoulder. Saiful took off his jeans (he was already wearing his trackbottom underneath) and asked me to hold his jeans for him. So I sangkut the jeans on my right shoulder.

While waiting for the games to start, saw this guy selambaly walking by...

See the arrow? That's a snake he's holding. Bet if he had found it on Friday, the girls would have had second thoughts about sleeping in the tents!

The games finally started off with the giant terompah game for the children...

Then the pertandingan mendayung perahu for the adults. The YB was there to flag off the race, and he was supposed to be brought to the starting point in a boat. My alumni members, by virtue of being the organisers guests, were also invited for the short boat ride. And Pi being Pi, suka adventure, naturally accepted the offer - got onto the boat, without life jackets whatsoever despite not knowing how to swim! So yep, there was this makcik, with a camera bergantung kat tengkuk, towel sangkut kat bahu kiri and jeans sangkut kat bahu kanan, joining the YB on the boat. And my kids, upon seeing their makcik getting in the boat, quickly jumped in too! I wasn't too worried about the boys, as they were good swimmers. But I was quite concerned about Ika, who claims she can swim if the water is up to her knees... :-)

Participants of the mendayung perahu race getting ready...

The YB starting the race...

Scene of the race from inside our boat...

After the mendayung perahu race was the much awaited pertandingan menangkap itik. At first the race was meant only for the adults as the organisers were concerned about the safety of the children in the waters, but finally they gave in to the requests of the children. Of course, they put nettings around a certain area that's not too deep, and to prevent the ducks from escaping to the deeper side of the river.

Both Azman and Saiful went to register for this, but they only allowed Azman to take part as Saiful was rather small and they were concerned about his safety.

The ducks in the water, still oblivious to whatever was going to happen next...

Then came big splashes of water when the adults started jumping in the water to catch them...

Then came the children's turn... with even more participants!

Saiful, although not a participant, but tempted by the waters, jumped right in to join the other boys. I saw the satisfaction on their faces upon getting all wet in the water! But they were both later complaining, "Masin betul air dia!!" They probably thought it would be air tawar since it was SUNGAI Merbok; not knowing that the river was at a kuala, directly meeting the sea.

Ika was the only one still to fulfill her intention of jumping in the river. She would have probably jumped in too if there were any girls amongst the participants, but nope they were all boys!

After that there was a pertandingan memukul bantal for the adults...

While Azman and Saiful were able to take care of themselves, I took the opportunity to bring Ika to another end of the place where the waters were not too muddy (due to too many people splashing around at the area) and not too deep as well so she could at least berendam for a while in the river.

By 5.15 pm, although the games were not over yet, I rounded up my kids, telling them to change as we needed to head home. I didn't want to go home too late. Their mother may get worried. Heck, my mother would get worried too if I got home so late!

The kids were so tired, they all slept within minutes of getting into the car. We reached the Gunung Semanggol R&R at about 6.40 pm, so I decided to stop for makan-makan and wait for Maghrib.

We made a move from Gunung Semanggol at 7.30 pm, by then the kids were wide awake and were chatting away. Amazingly, even Ika, the one who usually gets car-sick, was also so chirpy. I guess she only gets car-sick if she travels during day-time.

Taking the Kuala Kangsar exit, I finally managed to deliver the kids to their doorstep at 8.30pm. They did invite me to come in but it was getting too late. I promised I'd visit them later after I get their photos printed.

And I myself finally reached home a few minutes after 9 pm...

Oh btw, can anyone guess what "kabat" means?

Activities, activities...

Our monthly meeting last Tuesday night ended much later than usual. In addition to the normal admin matters we usually discuss during Board Meetings, this time we also included clients progress report in the agenda.

Prolonging the meeting even further were discussions on upcoming activities. What activities?

Well, first and foremost we had to discuss our participation in ICAAP in Bali this year. Originally only 8 of us confirmed our participation. Only recently, another volunteer, who's a PLHIV himself, indicated his interest. Because he indicated his interest rather late, after we had utilised our approved budget for ICAAP, I helped him apply for scholarship from the Congress organisers, failing which he is encouraged to apply for MAC scholarship. However, in case he doesn't get any scholarship, we had to discuss other options as well - including subsidizing his costs to attend the Congress. We are depending on him to spearhead the Peer Support Group which we are in the process of setting up, as such the experience at ICAAP will definitely be good for him.

Another activity we discussed is our Annual Family Day scheduled on the first Sunday of August. After discussing a few options, we decided to organise this year's event at a stud farm near Ipoh. I was informed that the view there is magnificent. However, the farm is not open to the public and as such we needed to write in to get special permission from the management of the farm to organise our event there. One of our volunteers had already informally spoken to one of the management, so now we need to formally hand in a letter to request permission.

The last activity discussed is the coming soon Buddies Retreat in Cameron Highlands which will be in June, next weekend to be exact. My, my... we seemed to discuss our activities backwards, didn't we? ICAAP will only be in August... the Family Day even earlier on the first Sunday of August... and the last item discussed is to be held just next week.

But first up, this Sunday, I will be attending a workshop on "Hak Wanita Dalam Perundangan Islam" jointly organised by Sisters in Islam and the Perak Women for Women Association (PWW). Since the workshop is only open to a limited number of participants, when a lady from PWW called me up to offer me a place (fully sponsored), it was an opportunity hard to say no to. Besides, the topic may be very helpful in carrying out my voluntary work for some of the PLHIV women.