Mercy Volunteer Induction Program

On Sept 13, we attended Mercy volunteer induction Program in Hospital UKM which is held 3 times per year. The purpose of the program is to let the interested people who want to join Mercy to be more understanding about the concept of being a volunteer, the code of conduct, and also Mercy Malaysia Organization.

There were many people from all walks of life who joined the induction program with varies purposes eg helping people, contribute back to society, because of friends and etc. 

Mercy Malaysia  was began in 1999 and the founder is Dr. Jemilah Mahmood who is an obsterician and gynecologist. Mercy Malaysia provides many volunteer training opportunities such as BSL training, relief mission training and emergency response unit trainings. 

In the program, we were taught about the preparation of pre-mission, mission and post mission. There are certain guidelines that we need to follow. We were also discussing about each code of conduct of being a volunteer. 

The whole session ended at 2pm. 

The program is a doorstep for us to join a humanitarian mission. We hope we can undergo the trainings and help out in the future. 

Opening Ceremony of Mini Library in HUKM

Like what Kin Luoi has written in the last post, we have helped to set up a mini library in the cancer ward (4D) in HUKM. On the same day, we have been invited to the opening ceremony on 10th of September (Wednesday) by Dr. Bubbles. 

Before I start to talk about the opening ceremony, I shall not forget to give credit to Kin Luoi. She went to help on the day before (Yup, just her alone) because Su Fang and I went to Singapore. They have added on books on the bookshelf and decorated the mini library with meaningful quotes. This made the library much more complete than before. 

#1 Arranging the books 

#2 Busy with decorations

Since the ceremony was going to start at 9am, we went early to offer our help. End up, there was nothing much to do because everything has been set up. There were many invited guests which included Yang Berbahagia Sr. Tuan Hasan Jamil, the President of Royal Institution of Surveyors Malaysia (RISM), and Encik Adli Muhamad, the representative from HUKM. The representative from media such as Utusan Malaysia and TV Al-Hijrah were also there. According to Dr. Bubbles, RISM has donated RM26,000 which was used to build the mini library and established the doctor clowning visiting program in HUKM for one year. 

The opening ceremony started on time after the invited guests have arrived at the hall. The emcee of the day was Dr. Shy, one of the committees of Red Bubbles. The ceremony started with speech from Encik Adli Muhamad, followed by Dr. Bubbles and Sr. Tuan Hasan Jamil. Next session was the ribbon-cutting and Sr. Tuan Hasan Jamil was invited to sign on the board. Finally, the ceremony ended with the goodies bags distribution to the children in ward 4D.

#3 Poster of Red Bubbles

#4 We need your donation!

#5 Waiting for the opening ceremony 

 #6 Discussion about protocol

 #7 Speech by Dr. Shy

 #8 Speech by Sr. Tuan Hasan Jamil 

 #9 Speech by Dr. Bubbles

 #10 Speech by Encik Adli Muhamad

#11 Signature by Sr. Tuan Hasan Jamil

#12 Ribbon-cutting session

 #13 Goodies bag distribution session 

Since I was in charged to take photographs for our project, I followed the team to distribute the goodies bags around the ward. To be frank, I felt sad and bothered because the children are so young and they looked so different compared to normal children of their age. They looked vulnerable and weak especially after chemotherapy session. Not to forget about their parents, they looked exhausted because they are busy taking care of their children regardless day or night. While the only thing I can do is pray to god and hope the children can recover from their illnesses as soon as possible. 

#14 No matter how busy we are, selfie will always in our to-do-list

 #15 Start from the left, Dr. Bubbles, Dr. Shy, Mean, SuFang, Kin Luoi, and Dr. Lafy

#16 They are creative in organizing event, and also in posting for photography

As a small reminder, Red Bubbles is a non-profit organization and their mission is is to bring smiles and laughter to seriously ill children in hospitals and other healthcare settings through regular clowning visits. They have tried their best to achieve it and make the children feel better. Here, I urge everyone to donate to Red bubble and make a difference in the life of a child. Finally, let's hope and pray for the sick children.

Setting Up a Library!

Before talking about the library project, let’s talk about Red Bubbles Organization. Red Bubbles is a non-profit organization established in 2011 by Mr Iskandar Syah Ismail a.k.a Dr Bubbles. He is a certified clown doctor and has been joining hospital clowning in many countries. Red Bubbles’ mission is to bring smiles and laughter to seriously ill children in hospitals and other healthcare settings through regular clowning visits. I never doubt about the power of humour and we share the same ideas with Red Bubbles. With numerous emails, calls and messages I send to Dr Bubbles, finally we get his reply and have a chance to sit down and talk with him.

Other than doing hospital clowning, Mr Iskandar also involves in library set up project. He invited us to volunteer in his recent library project in HUKM (Hospital UKM) which will be set in a children cancer ward. Without any hesitations, YES is our answer.

When we first stepped in the empty room, there had been a lot of furniture and books outside. Dr Bubbles introduced us his friend Mr Latfy who is an architect and also the library designer. Without wasting any time, we quickly offered our helps in assembling all the Ikea furniture. Mean is very skilful and knows well about all the instructions in furniture assembly. Meanwhile, there were two contractors doing wallpaper installation in the room. The theme of the library is underwater world which was designed by Mr Latfy. The wallpaper lives up the room and is very pleasing.

#1. Before library set up
The empty room before library set up

Su Fang and the materials for the library

#2. Furniture assembly
We were busy assembling the tables and stools, while the workers were setting up the book racks

Done with the tables and stools for kids :)

The book racks

#3. Underwater world's wallpaper installation
Stickers to live up the library!

After finished assembling all the furniture, we help to sort out and arrange the books. The variety of the books is wide and fascinating. There are comics, literatures, novels, fictions, magazines and educational teaching books. The hospital staffs and the nurses even come over and kept praising the huge change of the little small room. After the whole day work, the library almost finished being set up and just left a little works to finish on the coming Monday.

#4. Books arrangement
Arranging the books that were bought/ donated by the publishers

Arranging the furniture

Look what have we found! Dr Bubbles graphic books by Mr. Iskandar and Mr. Latfy!

#5. And finally... Ta-da...! Present to you the library! 

#6. Group photo (from left: Kin Luoi, Mr. Lafty, Mr. Iskandar, Mean, Su Fang)

It’s such a pleasure to help out in such a meaningful project. I really admire the passion of Dr Bubbles and his friend in accomplishing their dreams and passionately doing the things that contribute back to the society.

We are looking forward for more projects to join in Red Bubbles in the near future! 

Bukit Pelindung, Kuantan

Bukit Pelindung is a reserved forest near Teluk Cempedak, Kuantan. It offers several hiking trails which include a tarred jogging track all the way up to the hill top, or two other jungle trekking trails that lead to Teluk Cempedak beach from halfway of the hill. Since we opt for a more adventurous track, and we would really love to see the sea view from the hill, we followed the tarred road until half way, then turned into the woods, which we found two jungle trekking trails. 

It was a really quiet day. I was with Mean and her younger brother, standing at the entrance of Bukit Pelindung, amidst the housing area, which is very similar to Bukit Saga and Bukit Gasing at this point. We hiked our way up on the tarred road, while capturing some photos of pretty little flowers along the way. Chatting with Mean and her brother about their experiences on this hill, they told me this was the venue for their school's sport activity- "merentas desa" during secondary school years. Mean told me with grin, on how she was dying, forcing herself to run up this steep hill. This reminded me of my times during National Service, when I was 17 years old. Time really flies, all the teenage dreams, laughter, and fun, were left behind now. Almost 10 years already. Good old days, I supposed.     

Mean wanted to show how steep the road was

After half an hour, we reached the halfway of the hill. There was a resting bower and a map board on several trails leading to different destinations. Here, both of us bid goodbye to Mean's brother, since he was rushing home for some chores, while both of us started the jungle trekking. 

Everything was good in the beginning, not until I found some white papers writing some scriptures, hanging on the trees along the trail. I tried to ignore those papers, without telling Mean this. Unfortunately, the sky was getting darker, and we heard thunder. 

"Is that a thunder?" Mean asked.

"No, keep going." I answered. Yes, I cheated her, I want her to focus on the route, since she would be panicked easily.  

"Run, or walk faster, I heard something from the wood." Mean said.

"Don't be nervous, it's normal to hear something in the wood. Fallen leaves, perhaps." 

Now, in front of us, two paths to be chosen. The first thing that came up in my mind, the poem "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost. It was exactly like the poem:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

:

:

:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Feeling undecided, we kept looking up and down. Trying to remember the simplified map that we have seen just now, which was not really useful in this situation. 

"Wow, this really looked like the poem that we have learnt in secondary school." 

"I remember the poet chose the path that was less traveled by."

"But sorry Robert Frost, we are timid little girls. Let's go with the one with more traveled by." 

We walked really fast in the wood, then I tripped and injured my ankle, since I was wearing Mean's shoes and it were slight big for my size. Luckily, the injury was minor. We continued the journey together, to another diverged paths again. This time, we saw a signage "walking trail", pointed to the right path. We followed it, but the path was getting shady, and looked less trampled. Mean started to worry, and she suggested to walk back. 

"No, don't worry, I believe it can lead to the way out, since it had signage just now. We can't give up."

"But it looked like a wrong way."

"Let's go a bit further, okay?"

After 15 minutes, we saw sparks of lights through the trees. It was the sea. The trail now led to the stairs, which allowed us to walk down to the beach. Again, we saw some white papers jumbled up on the stair, Mean picked it up and it was the scripture. Frantically, she threw it away. We guess some people went there for prayers, or some accidents may have happened there before. 

Of course we did not forget our mission too. A lot of rubbish was seen at the bridge, since it may be a good spot for a rest or picnic. We started to clean the area up before heading home.

Some murals that we saw in the wood

Cleaning up the area

Look at all the rubbish!

 Our destination

The track from the wood

Teluk Cempedak

Lastly, a selfie!