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Sunday 26 October 2008

My program last Saturday...

I left home before 7 am on Saturday morning to head to KL. Oh OK, not KL. I was going to Mutiara Damansara.

As I approached Rawang, my phone rang. It was the general ring tone, which meant the caller’s number was not stored in my hand phone. When I answered the call, the voice at the other end didn’t sound too clear, somehow I was the one who spoke louder when by right I should have asked the caller to speak louder. It was me who couldn’t hear her well, not the other way round!

The caller was Jee, younger sister of Rose, whose story was the first of my clients’ I posted on my blog. 2 of Rose’s sisters, who became closer to her towards the final weeks of Rose’s life, eventually treated me as a family friend after Rose’s death.

Why did Jee call? I will save that story for my next posting.

For now let me just tell you why I went to Mutiara Damansara on Saturday. I was there to attend this…


It was the Unicef Malaysia Media Workshop on Children and AIDS.

Last week we received a fax from Unicef Malaysia – not to invite us to send participants for the workshop (it was meant for the media, particularly journalists/reporters), but to send a representative for a special session meant for reporters to meet with doctors and caregivers. I saw it as a good opportunity to introduce Buddies and what we do, and a good opportunity for networking as well. And so I went to represent Buddies.

Being on unfamiliar territory (Mutiara Damansara) I actually had to go 2 rounds to find Royale Bintang, the hotel where the event was held. I could find the Curve quite easily based on the map I printed out earlier, but where on earth was Royale Bintang? I had actually passed it the first round but couldn’t see the name of that hotel. I thought there’d be a different parking entrance for the hotel and the Curve! (Hello… ini orang bawak kereta plate A lah… Perak plate… so I had every excuse to be peghak ok?)

I still managed to get to the function on time. Other than myself representing Buddies, we had 2 doctors from the ID clinic of Sg Buloh Hospital and one representative from PT Foundation. The session was to enable us to network with the media and pitch stories regarding our work for children and families living with HIV.

It was a very informal session really – after a brief introduction of ourselves, it was more of a Q&A session for the reporters/journalists who attended the workshop. And then during the break, the reporters/journalists were given the opportunity to approach any one of us personally to ask more details.

It was a good session, really. I had to answer various questions from various reporters. I gave out quite a number of brochures and name cards, in exchange for their name cards – but by the time I got home and browsed through the name cards that I got, I couldn’t for the life of me match the cards to the many faces I saw during the session! But not to worry, if they do call me for follow up stories, all they have to do is introduce themselves…

There was another session after the break, and although I was invited to stay for lunch, I had already promised to meet up with someone at 12 pm – without having to drive elsewhere.

I promised to meet up with this guy…


That’s our Buddy Bear posing with my friend, Huggy Bear!

Yes, I had lunch with Kerp and Pinky (that’s Pinky’s hand in the picture – nice to have finally met you Pinky!).

No, I didn’t give the Buddy Bear to him – the handmade bears are only meant for HIV infected kids, remember? I just lent it to him to pose for a photo. (Hilang macho la bro!!!)

We lepak-ed for a while but I didn’t want to leave too late as I was anticipating heavy traffic heading north due to the long weekend.

OK, in my next posting I will tell why Jee called me in the morning. I got another call from her today with some updates, so stay tuned…


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Komen Pak Malim, kucing ray yg alim.

Kalau pergi ke Kayu Ara
Singgah sebentar berjumpa kera
Kalau pergi ke Mutiara Damansara
Tengok kucing sedang sengsara.

(Pak Malim sengsara sebab Pi Bani tak bawa ikan sadin dlm tin, kata ikan patin).

Kak Teh said...

Pi Bani, masa dolu2 kakk teh dok cover functions macam ni laa. Kalau masih ada di sana mesti jumpa dengan Pi Bani...insyaallah satu hari kita akan jumpa dan kita akan bawa sardin dalam tin untuk Pak Malim.

Pi Bani said...

Pak Malim:

Pak Malim pesan letak sadin depan pintu
Tapi tak bagitau pintu yang mana satu.

Jadi untuk memendekkan cerita
Pi Bani tinggalkan sadin depan pintu kereta!

Pi Bani said...

Kak Teh:
OK, lain kali bila kita jumpa, kita umpan Pak Malim dengan sardin dalam tin - suruh dia datang! (Tapi kalau banyak benar kucing yang datang, macam mana nak kenal Pak Malim ek?)

Kak Teh said...

ish pi bani ni pun, berapa ekork kucin yang pandai berpantun? Kita dok situ, kita pantun laa, sapa yang menjawab , dia tu lah Pak Malim!

Pi Bani said...

Ya tak ya juga, Kak Teh memang geliga...

p/s
Am now imagining, kita dok situ berpantun dengan kucing

Oh what a scene, kata Pi Bani sambil menahan nak bersin!

Anonymous said...

Komen Pak Malim, kucing ray yg alim.

Kak Teh, terima kasih, terima kasih, kata Pak Malim sambil memegang daun selasih, kerana sudi membawa sardin dlm tin utk saya, kata Pak Malim sambil menyapu kaya. Hanya dgn membayangkannya, sudah membuat saya berasa kenyang, kata Pak Malim yg kena ganyang.

Pi Bani, how very rude of me, kata Pak Malim sambil makan mee. Saya sebok sangat dgn sardin dlm tin dan ikan patin, lupa nak ucap 'Welcome', kata Pak Malim sambil memakai Lancome. Saya tidak tinggal di Mutiara Damansara, tetapi di lokasi lain yg agak dekat, kata Pak Malim sambil memakai kain pelekat.

Nak kenal mana satu Pak Malim. Di dahinya ada tanda 'M'. M is for Malim, kata kucing ray yg alim.

IBU said...

Kak Pi ...

Alahai... ter miss lagi! Next time kalau u ada plan kat Mutiara Damansara ni bisik2 la kat I. Kita pun nak lepak sama juga!

Pi Bani said...

Pak Malim:
Pagi ni ada kucing kat luar rumah saya, kata Pi Bani sambil tengok gambar buaya. Intai juga kot kot Pak Malim, mana tau sampai ke mari cari ikan sardin, kata Pi Bani sambil buat muka sadin. Kucing tu pun macam pandai pantun, cerita Pi Bani dengan penuh santun. Setiap ayatnya berakhir dengan miau, miau, tambah Pi Bani yang turut sama mengiau.

Pak Malim kah itu? tanya Pi Bani sambil buka pintu...

Pi Bani said...

Ibu:
Ingat kot Ibu busy, maklum banyak kali jenguk rumah Ibu penuh sawang... ;)

InsyaAllah, lain kali (entah bila pulak lah tu) kalau I pergi and ada masa untuk lepak, kita boleh lepak sama-sama.

Kak Teh said...

oi, pi bani, sudahlah, kan kak teh dah jerkah.

Pi Bani said...

Kak Teh:
Dengan Pi Bani jangan mula mengarut, mulalah dia melalut-lalut.

Mat Salo said...

Woi! Pi Mutiara Kerp (Curve=Kerp, get it?) tak ajak er? Pi, next do is scheduled, also at the Kerp- sorry, Curve - since you already know where it is.

Pencil in November 29 please. Clear your calendar. Besok boleh lipat baju.. Chegu Penang mai turun. A bash to end all bashes. Jangan kene bash sudah le. Make a point please, ya Pi...

Pi Bani said...

Mat Salo:
Dah tanya Kerp (dia kurang curve sikit tu pasal panggil Kerp...) kot kot you were around but our friend kata you were probably tengah berkhidmat untuk nusa dan bangsa at the swamp.

29 November? Ada big program ke? Dah dapat permit? ;)