HhmMm

BAKSIS Part II

11 June 2007

Was awaken by the noisy cocks and bursting bladder. Waking up early in the morning in a kampong is always refreshing esp when I flung wide the wooden windows open and daylight floods into the dark room. One breath of fresh air is never enough. I would be still at the window for minutes as my roomie continue to sleep til the last minute.

            Anyway I just stayed in bed with my bursting bladders and the non-stop call of natural alarm clocks. I wasn’t willing to get up from bed, coz it just seem so unnatural for me to wake up so early. Hehe.

12 June 2007

Happy day for mom and Mina. Equally a superb one for me.

This is the highlight and a story in detail.

            Catching lalas with pals. Thank God for Mr Ong and his boat. I truly love the sea. We jumped in and started to hunt for lalas. The challenge was to chopstick lalas with your toes! Ai Tee and Pik San were the champs. With determination and lots of failures and lost lalas, finally I succeeded.

            I was holding a heavy little net of lalas caught by the gang. The strong current swept me past the boat I wanted to hang on. My feet can’t touch the ground when I was completely submerged.

            I thought “Oops, I’m in danger!!” and I thought of letting go the few kilos of friends’ hard work so that I can swim to my own safety, against the current. But “No! If I survive this drown, they’ll kill me.” Seriously, this was my thought. Hehe. I spunned around in the water and noticed many far faces looking at me. Then I found what I was looking for! A friend swimming towards me.

            The sight of Yee Ling hurrying towards me in her little life jacket was like a bright light. I decided that the lalas would not be sacrificed. With my might, I swam towards her. Imagine swimming with your right fist weighing 100 tonnes. With one final plunge, the weight of the damn lalas took my head and shoulders into the rushing waters.

            I closed my eyes, held my breath, raised my left hand… praying that Yee Ling grab me in time before I decided to let go of those heavy lalas. And she did! She got my hands and helped me to stand on shallow waters.

            GLAD. This all happened in a few seconds but I must admit I was frightened for a while. Tho I know that I am a swimmer, won’t drown dat easily.

            Thanks Yee Ling, for you weren’t merely helping me, but you saved all the lalas and me! Aww, a girl in floating jacket saving a swimmer. The lesson is, there are so much that you can’t do alone. Thank God.

            Opps continue. Unca Ong took us to the seaside which is beautiful beyond words. I ran across the beach and jumped in, no hesitations. Hermits, crabs, starfish, baby octopus, we caught and touched them. The baby octopus got angry and squirted black liquid. Then of course, we let them go again.

            Dark and tired, we went back happy and satisfied.

            Final night is Cultural Night. Ying, Kok and auntie came. Finally had some opportunities to take pictures with them and to speak to Ying. Sigh, truly hope that she will break the cycle of poverty in her family…. Bless them.

13 June 2007

Our farewell morning to Kg Fikri… but where’s my mak angkat? I walked around the house and the farm and the ponds but she was nowhere to be found!! Where is she?

Soon I knew she went to the hospital.

I didn’t bid her farewell. I left without a proper thanks to her…. My mak angkat.

Off to KB! The land of Ghee Seong!

7 June 2007

1050am

The first night passed with a lot of reflections. The first thought was… I forfeited the comfort of my own home for this ?!

I’m at Kg Fikri, Setiu doing Baktisiswa.

Sabrina and I are assigned to stay with the Chua family.

My life is blessed tremendously that I practically had a cultural shock here. Things I describe here is truly beyond your understanding and imagination.

1.         First hour shock. A doorless bathroom. A room with no door isn’t even a complete room! I strategize how to bath ‘carefully’ with the use of sarong. It feels so insecure…

2.         First

noon

shock. No fan… My Baksis friends can testify how the sun and heat burn skins and dehydrate functional system.

3.         First night shock. The whole foster house has a lot of members but only 2 pendaflour lights for the whole house plus a yellow porch light. It’s dim. Bedroom is pitch dark. I gotta prepare and pack myself before the sun vanishes from the horizon.

To add sorrow to my soul, I found out that Sabrina and I are the only ones. It would be fun if everyone experience the same thing as we do but my pals have better necessities, ie fan (air conds are luxury), bathroom with doors (water heater is a luxury), and of course, lamps and lights. How often have we taken these bare necessities for granted?

O gosh… why me? I felt God answer back, why not you, my blessed dear?

I’m a spoilt brat, don’t you know, God? I lived in luxury all my life!

Reflecting.. It just so happened that today’s bible devotion is on being thankful. I dunno what to give thanks for, seriously…Sabrina never complain. Soon lying in the dark stuffy room, I gave thanks for the starry night and the food and the humble Chua family. For my life and the golden experience God placed before me.

9 June 2007

The Chua family. Traditional fishermen.

Hokkien… so I spoke Malay with this Chinese family.

They are so dark that people asked me if they are pure Chinese?

Humble and simple people.

Auntie cooked the best food for us, that she can. She’s around 60 years old. I remembered the story of rich men giving golds but Jesus commended the widow who gave the 2 copper coins, all that she had.

The family gave us the only fan available.

Auntie always asked us to be careful, prepared food even tho I told her we wont be back for meals, stuffed our tummies excessively…

The son, Kok, showed us crab catching on the first day. Fixed our rods and allowed us to fish in his own pond the second day. Climbed high up coconut trees for our Nyior Muda on the third day.

Other Chuas are basically shy… I think I am not wrong if I say they felt inferior. They shy away from us.

The youngest daughter Ying is doing STPM, and she demonstrated cultural grace and sweetness, and showed example of an obedient child.

This young cucu age 3 named King… addressed Sabrina as “awek ah King”. He’s our playmate.

God bless the Chua family…

It wasn’t their fault that they are poor and still struggling in this cycle of poverty.

They have so little, yet so much…

I wonder if they are happy, coz they certainly do not look sad.

I admit that I am still very uncomfortable, even I regard myself as highly adaptive to situations. But… something is working in this heart of mine.

10 June 2007

1030pm

I am shocked and so touched when I returned to my room after village BBQ and found that Kok installed a new light. They only had 2 lights in the house house and now they purposely get one for us? After all, today I started to emphatize with them. I am now writing in my bedroom with lights.

Today hehe, I seized the chance to go over to Huey Yoke’s foster house to bath. They have 3 bathrooms and warmly invited me over for a little comfort. I noted the pendaflour light, the door and the shower. My heart, which was actually falling apart piece by piece, finally broke. And I started to cry in the bathroom… I felt for them, this Chua family. I appreciate their hardship and lifestyle. I realize God is teaching me a valuable lesson.

Throughout the night and BBQ, if I am alone to my thoughts, I’ll feel sad and down coz I wanna do something for them. I’ll automatically think of them and I always wonder if they are happy. Yeah, I have a burden for them, but guess I can’t do much.