Sunday 26 July 2009
RIP Yasmin Ahmad.
Yasmin Ahmad has been my icon ever since I watched "Sepet".
She passed away does hit me, and sadden me badly.
Why izzit the good human being gone so quickly???!!!!!!!
man..this is unbelievable.
No fancy logo, elaborate launch event or speeches by Ministers. Yasmin taught us to be a nation beyond race and background. Yasmin is the original 1Malaysia.
RIP Yasmin Ahmad.
May you rest in peace, and your soul will be with us forever.....
She passed away does hit me, and sadden me badly.
Why izzit the good human being gone so quickly???!!!!!!!
man..this is unbelievable.
No fancy logo, elaborate launch event or speeches by Ministers. Yasmin taught us to be a nation beyond race and background. Yasmin is the original 1Malaysia.
RIP Yasmin Ahmad.
May you rest in peace, and your soul will be with us forever.....
Sunday 12 July 2009
Thank you! Thank you!
The fundraiser event was a success for Rumah Nur Salam. We had raised more than what we expected. For those who had made it to event, a big 'Thank you!' and thanks for your contribution.
And for those who had supported the event (sponsor/volunteer etc), I am very grateful and happy being part/working with you all. You know who you are. Thank you very much!
Finally, soon the kids will have a school and a safe place to go. Yippeeee....
Kak Tini and Kak Dinz, you gals ROCK!
And for those who had supported the event (sponsor/volunteer etc), I am very grateful and happy being part/working with you all. You know who you are. Thank you very much!
Finally, soon the kids will have a school and a safe place to go. Yippeeee....
Kak Tini and Kak Dinz, you gals ROCK!
Saturday 11 July 2009
A note by Dr. Hartini, the founder of Rumah Nur Salam.
ONE MORE TIME
I have to give a 2 minute speech tonight at the fundraiser..you know the one @ Carlos, Pavillion? The one I hope most of you are coming too?
Funny, coincidental things happen when you've beein involved in NurSalam- things ( I call them little miracles or 'nods from God' ) just fall into place and things that were seemingly difficult or hard to do just work out in time,faith and with patience. The fundraiser tonight is , I believe, another little 'nod from God 'that we're doing something right-so many friends, family, strangers, friends of friends have pitched in,once again to make sure that we raise funds for our educational centre and ensure that all children have the opportunity to go to school..even if it is a primary school education for now!
The UN Convention non the Rights of the Child says in Articles 28 and 29th of every child's right to free and equal primary school education. Yet here and many countries abroad, many are denied this inherent right because they have no proper or complete documents or in our case, no Malaysian documents.
So many inherent rights that many of us take for granted...the right to an identity, the right to be a child, the right to a nationality, to access to health and free education..yet many, many will never have these rights given.
I digress again..sorry..but true story to drive my point home...
Yesterday a family dropped by our centre about lunch time. The father had been involved in a motorcycle accident, felll and cracked his head. Painful, painful, ordeal but he's fine even if he did have only 3 days of medical leave. He was afraid of losing his job but he was even more afriad not to come to our centre because he wanted to amke sure that his almost 6 year old stateless son could enrol in our school.
You know, the school we haven't built?
I told him that we hadn't built it yet and in the meantime, there were 12 other stateless children from our centre who had just enrolled in a refugee centre to have some kind of educational services- Tuesday to friday, 12- 4pm. The commute was long -almost an hour there and another hour ( or more, depending on traffic) back.
The commute was too far for the parents to send and pick up their son everyday, so could he please stay with us on the days when there were school. I am struck by the fact that the child is so young- too young to be separated from the family for 4 days every week, but the child and parents are insistent. He wants to go to school, he tells me. He's big and he is fine staying with us.
Almost 3 years ago, my friends, family, strangers and supporters believed that I had to help the children in Chow Kit and helped me raise the deposit to build our centre that is NurSalam today. Again, now,old friends, new friends, supporters, family, strangers and supporters, rally once again to make sure that we build this school ( and other schools) so that all children, not just the children in Chow Kit, or NurSalam, but all children have access to education. They said then, we couldn't pull it off but we did, and again now, some naysayers say we won't pull this of, but I believe we will.
How can we not, with this much outpouring of love and support and faith?
Thank you all so much for you consistent love and support. To the team ( you know who you are..too many to name), on behalf of all the children and staff, we thank you for your tireless and thankless effort and the wonderful event that will happen tonight.
Am so scared I'll botch up my speech tonight and start bawling, so I thank you all now!
I know I am forgetting names...but please know you have my gratitude and love and many thaks!
See you tonight...
Love and blessings,
Tini
I have to give a 2 minute speech tonight at the fundraiser..you know the one @ Carlos, Pavillion? The one I hope most of you are coming too?
Funny, coincidental things happen when you've beein involved in NurSalam- things ( I call them little miracles or 'nods from God' ) just fall into place and things that were seemingly difficult or hard to do just work out in time,faith and with patience. The fundraiser tonight is , I believe, another little 'nod from God 'that we're doing something right-so many friends, family, strangers, friends of friends have pitched in,once again to make sure that we raise funds for our educational centre and ensure that all children have the opportunity to go to school..even if it is a primary school education for now!
The UN Convention non the Rights of the Child says in Articles 28 and 29th of every child's right to free and equal primary school education. Yet here and many countries abroad, many are denied this inherent right because they have no proper or complete documents or in our case, no Malaysian documents.
So many inherent rights that many of us take for granted...the right to an identity, the right to be a child, the right to a nationality, to access to health and free education..yet many, many will never have these rights given.
I digress again..sorry..but true story to drive my point home...
Yesterday a family dropped by our centre about lunch time. The father had been involved in a motorcycle accident, felll and cracked his head. Painful, painful, ordeal but he's fine even if he did have only 3 days of medical leave. He was afraid of losing his job but he was even more afriad not to come to our centre because he wanted to amke sure that his almost 6 year old stateless son could enrol in our school.
You know, the school we haven't built?
I told him that we hadn't built it yet and in the meantime, there were 12 other stateless children from our centre who had just enrolled in a refugee centre to have some kind of educational services- Tuesday to friday, 12- 4pm. The commute was long -almost an hour there and another hour ( or more, depending on traffic) back.
The commute was too far for the parents to send and pick up their son everyday, so could he please stay with us on the days when there were school. I am struck by the fact that the child is so young- too young to be separated from the family for 4 days every week, but the child and parents are insistent. He wants to go to school, he tells me. He's big and he is fine staying with us.
Almost 3 years ago, my friends, family, strangers and supporters believed that I had to help the children in Chow Kit and helped me raise the deposit to build our centre that is NurSalam today. Again, now,old friends, new friends, supporters, family, strangers and supporters, rally once again to make sure that we build this school ( and other schools) so that all children, not just the children in Chow Kit, or NurSalam, but all children have access to education. They said then, we couldn't pull it off but we did, and again now, some naysayers say we won't pull this of, but I believe we will.
How can we not, with this much outpouring of love and support and faith?
Thank you all so much for you consistent love and support. To the team ( you know who you are..too many to name), on behalf of all the children and staff, we thank you for your tireless and thankless effort and the wonderful event that will happen tonight.
Am so scared I'll botch up my speech tonight and start bawling, so I thank you all now!
I know I am forgetting names...but please know you have my gratitude and love and many thaks!
See you tonight...
Love and blessings,
Tini
Tuesday 7 July 2009
A note by Dina Zaman.
yesterday i had lunch with an old friend whom i have not seen in THREE years. he's a busy man, and i get myself into all sorts of things.
during lunch, he asked me te following questions. our conversation revolved around Nursalam.
"Are they Muslims?"
"Not all but more often than not, yes."
"They can't be Malay. Sure China. Busuk-busuk pun budak Myanmar."
"Eh, budak Rohingya tu budak Islam tau. Stateless you know?"
"Ya... but the majority of the kids yang troubled ni... they can't be Malay. Malays don't do things like this. Malay parents will never allow their kids to be street kids."
I was speechless. What made him, and yes, many people in Malaysia think that the Malays are not capable of child trafficking, prostitution, drug abuse and so forth? I know we have been indoctrinated from young that we are a superior race but er... we too have failings too. Unfortunately.
Of course I squawked at him like this harried mother hen.
The truth is, I get asked this all the time. And while I hate being racial, it IS very embarrassing for me to answer why we Malays who are Muslims and are better than everyone else have serious social problems. One time Big asked me this, "You Muslims say you are better than us. You pray five times a day, you don't drink alcohol, you don't eat pork or have premarital sex, but how come the ones who ask me for coffee money are the Malays? The kids you work with who have problems are mostly Malay?"
I really have no answer. One, not all Malays or CHinese, oh f-it not all Malaysians are guilty of social ills. But more often than not, and maybe because we Malays/Muslims tend to have many children, we have the rabbit DNA in us, I think, er, the problem is amplified and magnified. However, for many Malays, we live in a bubble. We actually believe this is other people's (non-Malays) problems.
The thing is, once all explanations are done, then these people want to help ONLY the Muslim/Malay kids in Nursalam. That also raises my blood pressure. These are children.
And here's another thing about ngo work that drives me around the bend.
The Snoot Factor.
Met Mr Prada a week back. stumped him for money la. Hey he spends RM10,000 on SHIRTS.
"Who'll be there."
"You know Sue. You also know Tini's sisters."
"Yeah yeah but that's an older crowd. Who'll be there."
"A mixture of friends, media, volunteers etc etc etc."
"Oh. Maybe I'll come with my friends.You can also send the letter to my P.A and ask for a proper donation."
"THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU."
"Don't forget you're emceeing at my wedding kay?"
I got a call from the PA. Mr Prada wanted to buy ONLY ONE TICKET and I COULD PASS THE TICKET TO ANYONE.
ONE TICKET ONLY!!!!!/
I howled at his secretary. Eh your boss damn kedekut la. Baik tak payah beli tiket! I BUY THE TICKETS MYSELF. Kedekut punya budak. Beli baju 10 ribu boleh, nak datang event beli tiket se je? Taik betul adik sedara aku ni. Mung cakak kak dia apa Tuhan bagi Tuhan boleh tarik balik! Aku nok kabo mok dia karang. Haji Bakhil betul.
The poor secretary kept quiet.
Haiyo mak hot you. (Cekak pinggang) Ok mak nak mekap. Nak gi kerja ni.
I am speechless to read this! sigh
during lunch, he asked me te following questions. our conversation revolved around Nursalam.
"Are they Muslims?"
"Not all but more often than not, yes."
"They can't be Malay. Sure China. Busuk-busuk pun budak Myanmar."
"Eh, budak Rohingya tu budak Islam tau. Stateless you know?"
"Ya... but the majority of the kids yang troubled ni... they can't be Malay. Malays don't do things like this. Malay parents will never allow their kids to be street kids."
I was speechless. What made him, and yes, many people in Malaysia think that the Malays are not capable of child trafficking, prostitution, drug abuse and so forth? I know we have been indoctrinated from young that we are a superior race but er... we too have failings too. Unfortunately.
Of course I squawked at him like this harried mother hen.
The truth is, I get asked this all the time. And while I hate being racial, it IS very embarrassing for me to answer why we Malays who are Muslims and are better than everyone else have serious social problems. One time Big asked me this, "You Muslims say you are better than us. You pray five times a day, you don't drink alcohol, you don't eat pork or have premarital sex, but how come the ones who ask me for coffee money are the Malays? The kids you work with who have problems are mostly Malay?"
I really have no answer. One, not all Malays or CHinese, oh f-it not all Malaysians are guilty of social ills. But more often than not, and maybe because we Malays/Muslims tend to have many children, we have the rabbit DNA in us, I think, er, the problem is amplified and magnified. However, for many Malays, we live in a bubble. We actually believe this is other people's (non-Malays) problems.
The thing is, once all explanations are done, then these people want to help ONLY the Muslim/Malay kids in Nursalam. That also raises my blood pressure. These are children.
And here's another thing about ngo work that drives me around the bend.
The Snoot Factor.
Met Mr Prada a week back. stumped him for money la. Hey he spends RM10,000 on SHIRTS.
"Who'll be there."
"You know Sue. You also know Tini's sisters."
"Yeah yeah but that's an older crowd. Who'll be there."
"A mixture of friends, media, volunteers etc etc etc."
"Oh. Maybe I'll come with my friends.You can also send the letter to my P.A and ask for a proper donation."
"THANK YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUU."
"Don't forget you're emceeing at my wedding kay?"
I got a call from the PA. Mr Prada wanted to buy ONLY ONE TICKET and I COULD PASS THE TICKET TO ANYONE.
ONE TICKET ONLY!!!!!/
I howled at his secretary. Eh your boss damn kedekut la. Baik tak payah beli tiket! I BUY THE TICKETS MYSELF. Kedekut punya budak. Beli baju 10 ribu boleh, nak datang event beli tiket se je? Taik betul adik sedara aku ni. Mung cakak kak dia apa Tuhan bagi Tuhan boleh tarik balik! Aku nok kabo mok dia karang. Haji Bakhil betul.
The poor secretary kept quiet.
Haiyo mak hot you. (Cekak pinggang) Ok mak nak mekap. Nak gi kerja ni.
I am speechless to read this! sigh
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