Saturday, June 23, 2012

Sehari Feeling YB Di Kampung Orang Asli

You know you've made it in life when people show more concern for your weight gain rather than the unfortunate living condition of the orang asli. Suck it,Aishwarya Rai.

Kalau nak diikutkan status penduduk Malaysia, orang asli ialah golongan yang paling layak digelar bumiputera. Thay have been living in this country since forever. It is sad that we, fellow Malaysians know so little about them.

Sebelum lawatan ini, memang i myself stereotyped orang asli as people who lives in the jungle,sumpit binatang etc. Little that i know those days are long gone. They are actually a community yang struggling to keep up with urbanisation. Dulu orang asli ni bebas nak bercucuk tanam kat mana yang dia suka. Now, semua tanah ada geran, dengan sawit plantation being set up around their area. Justeru diorang punya sources jadi limited. In a way, they are actually forced to keep up with modernisation.

And judging from what we saw, they are definitely struggling to keep up with the rest of us. Most of them education level paling tinggi tahap secondary school, dan rata-rata student tahun 5 cuma hafal sifir up to sifir 4. Some cant even spell their own name, which is really sad.

Given the short time spent there, i know that we cant do much difference pun. But we tried to contribute something jugak for them. On the last day there,waktu pagi di spent dengan penyerahan sumbangan dan sesi ber-bonding dengan orang kampung.




Bila sembang-sembang dengan mereka ni baru kita sedar yang masyarakat orang asli ni sebenarnya dieksploitasi oleh banyak pihak dari parti politik hinggalah ke tokeh estate. Tak tau apa masalah dengan diorang punya meter bekalan air, tapi bil air orang asli adalah lagi mahal dari bil air di Penang. 

Ada yang tunggu masa nak kena potong. Kalau kena potong jawabnya memang minum air sungai yang penuh pampers bayi. Most of the women work in an estate nearby, earning average 300 ringgit per month. Pengangkutan pergi balik kerja ialah trak pikap yang disumbat berpuluh orang di belakangnya. Layanan yang lebih hina dari pekerja asing.

Kebanyakan mereka dah di convert to Islam. Tapi yang mengislamkan orang asli ni tak buat follow up. Jadi banyak yang islam tapi tak pernah sembahyang pun and tak tau basic agama. Dahlah basic agama tak diajar dengan lengkap, lepastu dengan kesempitan wang lagi..kalau mubaligh Kristian datang tolong memang sah-sah ramai murtad. Time tu baru kau nak menggelupur salahkan dakyah kristianisasi. Pelik jugak duit zakat banyak-banyak ke mana hala dia.

Lepas serahkan goodie bag dan beras plan seterusnya ialah nak buat informal motivational session with the school kids. Tapi memandangkan banyak masa lagi, kitorang satu group lepak dekat pondok depan rumah Pak Dolah.


One thing about orang asli is, they might not have much. Tapi once they accept you in their kampung they'll give you the best treatment they can offer. Ada satu rumah tu siap bagi kitorang souvenir. Sanggup dia selongkar rumah carik apa barang perhiasan yang dia boleh bagi. 

-sorang satu dapat. Terharu ;)

Yang isteri Pak Dolah pulak siap bentangkan tikar atas pondok untuk kami berbaring-baring. Siap dengan bantal. -____-" Segan gila hoi tak pasal menyusahkan bini Tok Batin.


Tak cukup dengan tikar bantal, hidang pisang pulak.



Dan air kelapa.


Dah macam bercuti kat Hawaii baring-baring menikmati angin sepoi-sepoi language sementara menunggu pukul 4 untuk aktiviti bersama kanak-kanak sekolah. Sambil tu mengasah semangat kesukanan dengan bermain gusti lengan lawan anak Pak Dolah.


We were expecting around 20 kids only sekali dekat 60 orang datang. Rasa nak pitam sekejap.


-antara yang paling awal sampai.

I took a group of standard 5 students. Basically takde buat apa pun,just sharing session tanya cita-cita masing-masing dan tunjuk pada diorang yang tak mustahil sebenarnya berangan masuk universiti. Banyak bantuan disediakan untuk anak orang asli kalau diorang nak sambung belajar tapi masalahnya kanak-kanak ni kurang dorongan. Sebab rata-rata makbapak pun tak habis sekolah. Jadi kepada kaunselor-kaunselor yang nak mengubah nasib anak bangsa,sila apply untuk bertugas di sekolah orang asli.




I have never given any motivational talk whatsoever jadi sedikit cuak di situ haha. Susah ok nak handle budak-budak sekolah ni semua nak tarik perhatian dahlah attention span masing-masing tahan 30 saat je, syabas kepada guru-guru sekolah yang berjaya menahan diri dari melempang anak-anak kecil ini.

At the end of the day i know that we didnt do much. 3-4 hari dekat kampung orang asli ni is hardly enough untuk membuat perubahan yang signifikan. I really hope those who work in Jabatan Hal Ehwal Orang Asli berusaha keras untuk tolong mereka ni. Dan ketua-ketua agama Islam pun harap dapat beri lebih perhatian pada masyarakat orang asli.




Bila dengar ada yang bercita-cita nak jadi pilot, doctor, cikgu  macam sedih pulak bila mengenangkan takde support system yang bagus untuk mereka ni and the fact that we didnt do much to help them. 

We were suppose to teach something to this community and turned out they are the one giving us so many life lessons. And for that, i will be forever grateful.

Friday, June 22, 2012

Kampung Kenang dalam Kenangan


Baru pulang dari trip ke kampung orang asli. Sungguh exhausted tapi it was a great experience. We stayed at   Riverside Resort in Kuala Kangsar. Clearly people nowadays use the term 'resort' losely. Resort Sungai Perak in Kuala Kangsar is a shithole. If distance wasn't an issue i would've stayed at Opah's.

My generous college decided to checked us in dormitories. I dont have problem with the stay-in-a-kepam-room-with-12-other-dudes living condition. It wasn't ideal,but i'll try my best to adapt. But as soon as somebody found a human poop in a drainage hole in the toilet i know i need to get out of that hell STAT.

-the horror

And due to the genius ventilation concept, the dorm transforms into a sauna at night. Nak bukak tingkap ada nyamuk pulak so pilih la nak mati kena malaria atau heat stroke. Awal pagi esok semua orang berpakat upgrade ke bilik deluxe walaupun kena bayar seratus lebih sorang.Walaupun bilik deluxe di 'resort' ini pun agak mengecewakan at least ada aircond dan tiada tinja manusia bersepah di dalam bilik airnya.

Thanks for nothing, kolej kesayanganku. Next time kalau ada field trip takpayah susah-susah booking dorm, bagi je students suratkhabar sorang satu buat alas tidur bawah jambatan.

Malamnya semua orang bizi mempacking barang-barang untuk didermakan kepada orang asli pada hari terakhir lawatan nanti.

-stationaries

-setelah dibungkus di dalam gift bag belen kenduri kahwin

 -beg untuk isi gula,garam,sabun,minyak,teh,biskut. 

-harga beg je dah 2 hengget setengah.Inilah akibat bila terlalu awal war-warkan sponsor 1000 ringgit

-handwash untuk diberi semasa health promotion. Juga disponsor oleh salah seorang ahli group.

We were divided into 5 groups untuk survey 3 buah kampung orang asli- Kampung Kenang,Langkor and Asap. Kampung Kenang is the least ulu one, and im lucky to be stationed there. Lagi 2 kampung tu jauh ke dalam, jalan nak masuk pun sedikit horror.

-jambatan masuk ke Kg Kenang. Sedikit usang di situ.

-basic amenities seperti elektrik dan air pun ada 

Disebabkan Kg Kenang tak ulu sangat maka ia adalah yang paling maju antara ketiga-tiga kampung tersebut. Sekolah dan surau pun ada kat kampung ni. Most of the houses adalah rumah batu yang dibina kerajaan. Tapi masih ada lagi yang tinggal dalam rumah kayu.


-tangga depan rumah yang usang

Semua rumah-rumah kayu ini adalah sungguh daif. Lantai memang macam nak roboh. Kalau jenis yang tergedik suka melompat-lompat atas rumah memang tak digalakkan naik. 


 On our last day i had a chance to go to the other kampung. Walaupun certain rumah di Kampung Kenang agak daif, Kampung Langkor lagi teruk. Elektrik pun takde weh. Dahlah jalan masuk kampung ala-ala ekspedisi 4 wheel drive. Suddenly the shiteous dormroom back at our resort doesnt seem so bad.

-penuh bendera parti politik. harap pihak berkenaan boleh sediakan elektrik. Bendera bukan boleh buat rumah terang.



Basically what we do in these kampung ialah health survey and data collection. Tanya soalan from questionnaires yang dah diprepare minggu sebelumnya. And we also do some physical examinations like ambik blood pressure,measure body fat,peak flow, dan basics like height and weight.



And we also conducted special studies on TB and worm infection among orang asli. Jadi lepas dah siap questionnaires dan physical examinations, kena buat health education pulak. So bagi la sedikit briefing tentang TB dan jangkitan cacing kepada orang-orang asli ni.

-untuk health promotion ni we give them posters,pamphlets dan handwash. ipad cuma untuk tunjuk slides pasal cacing,bukan untuk disedekah.


-di rumah Tok Batin (Pak Dolah), mendengar penerangan beliau tentang sumpit.

-anak bongsu Pak Dolah yang excited terlebih ketika demonstrasi teknik hand washing yang betul


Anak Pak Dolah ni peramah sikit compare dengan anak-anak orang asli yang lain. Kebanyakan anak orang asli super pemalu terutama sekali yang perempuan. 

-orang tak suruh pun dia check mata,terlebih semangat sendiri volunteer ni.

Budak kecik lain kena umpan dengan gula-gula baru nak datang dekat. Now i know why molesters lure kids with candies -____-" It actually works.


-yang ni habis 5 ketul gula-gula baru nak bergambar. Retis sangat perangai.

Bersambung lagi di update akan datang. Tak larat nak upload gambar banyak benor,lepastu nak kena basuh baju kotor stok seminggu terkepam dalam beg.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Orang Asli, Here We Come

Minggu ini stress gila. Kalau minggu lepas ialah minggu emo, minggu ni emo dia kali lapanblas. Dahlah kau banyak nak kena pikir untuk projek survey orang asli ni lepastu ada pulak sekor dua dalam kumpulan yang perangai tak semenggah sampai tak terjumpa kosa kata carutan yang mampu untuk menggambarkan sikap binawe yang dipaparkan.

Tu yang meroyan dalam twitter tuh. Nak cakap depan-depan nanti mengguris perasaan pulak habis terjejas semangat teamwork, tapi makin kau simpan makin menjadi-jadi dia punya perangai ambik kesempatan tu. Last night i was so angry until i couldnt sleep. Last-last ambik air sembahyang baru chill sikit. Tapi ambik air sembahyang je la, dasar pemalas bukan nak sembayang sunat ke hape
-___-"

But im sure things will get better after this. Once you hit rock bottom, you can go nowhere but up. And me, unable to contain my emotion was the rock bottom. From now on i'll try my best to make this whole thing work. Besides, the group leader is my housemate keji la pulak nak biar housemate terkapai-kapai aku kelemasan ambik kau ter-karaoke nampak benar lama tak menziarahi RedBox.

Sepanjang minggu dihabiskan membuat ini;

-presentation after presentation after presentation ulang lapanplohkali *muntah kuning*

Just sebab nak perfect kan our set of questionnaires. Lepastu lecturer A kata kena buat ni, lecturer B kata takpayah lepastu esoknya lecturer A tanya eh mana yang aku suruh buat semalam lepastu kau rasa nak tampar muka orang sebelah sebab nak tampar lecturer tak berkat pulak. Masuk kali ke 3 present memang rasa nak tikam semua orang.

So disebabkan sekarang dah complete questionnaire tu maka bolehlah bersiap untuk ke kampung orang asli hari Ahad ni. 5 hari dekat Sg Siput with minimal mobile phone coverage. Minggu depan belog mungkin akan diupdate melalui isyarat asap.

Lepastu dah masuk kampung orang haruslah kena fikir nak bagi hadiah apa untuk diorang sebagai ole-ole. Pihak kolej yang super pemurah bagi bajet setiap rumah 10 ringgit. 10 ringgit? Zaman sekarang 10 hengget kau beli topap bergayut dengan awek kerja kilang duduk Balik Pulau 30 menet dah habis. Jadi nak tak nak kena tambah duit sendiri.

Ketua group murah hati nak sponsor beras, for the whole kampung. But still, we are short of cash. jadi haruslah call seorang hamba Allah yang disayangi terus beliau derma 1000ringgit. To that special hamba Allah, i love you. And im sure those orang asli love you too.

Maka bertapak lah kami ke Tesco untuk membeli-belah.

-stationaries for orang asli kids

-gula and beras. people were staring at us mesti ingat kitorang nak meniaga kuih raya -__-"

And we'll buy more tomorrow. Tak boleh nak beli banyak-banyak kereta i mini tak mampu nak mengangkut. Bukan mini cooper, tapi literally mini.

They have to call the security guard dekat checkout counter sebab akak kaunter tak koser nak kira satu-satu. 


-Haaa camno nak sumbat ni camno?

I hope everything will run smoothly. Masalahnya sebab semua benda were informed to us at the very last minute. Kalau bagitau awal-awal maybe we can get even more sponsor dan mungkin boleh come up with 30 kilo beras for every house.Sebab our Prof said orang asli ni setiap hari makan ubi kayu. beras mampu makan waktu keraian je itupun kongsi satu kampung sekampit. Tak ke sedih tu woih? Every group member also chipped in their own money plus sumbangan makbapak. So sebagai treasurer kelas, i would like to thank all my classmates for contributing. Lets do our best, kalau tak dapat data yang bagus pun at least we go there and contribute something for their community. 


Yang Menjalankan Tugas,
Bendahari III

Saturday, June 9, 2012

Minggu Emo: Snow White Dan Duda Kaki Botol

This whole week kinda sucks. Started my Public Health rotation which turned out to be Statistics 2.0. Belajar balik subjek statistic yang telah lama ditinggalkan sejak zaman A Level tapi dengan lebih mendalam dan juga melibatkan proses merekod data dengan menggunakan software yang sungguh tahi. To top it all off, setiap hari lecture super bosan 9 pagi hingga 4 petang.

And now we are in the process of developing questionnaires for our orang asli survey/research. Will be spending 5 days at an orang asli village somewhere in Perak T______T. Nak buat questionnaire ni satu hal jugak nak kena group meeting di luar waktu kelas. First meeting was at Mc Donalds sampai dekat pukul 12 malam.


Sibuk bincang pasal BMI,blood pressure orang asli padahal diri sendiri tengah melantak ayam goreng Mc Donalds. Super hypocrite,i know.

Minggu depan ni tak tau la lagi berapa kali nak buat group meeting malam-malam buta macamni. Kalau pagi takde kelas takpe lah jugak. Having to spend so much time doing things you have very little interest in is really depressing.

Lepastu tadi konon nak mengurangkan stress pergi tengok cerita Snow White and The Huntsman.


The movie sucks,big time. It was really awful i'd rather be in a group meeting discussing about my questionnaires than having to watch it again. The scene with the white deer in an enchanted forest or something- that was cheesy.

That is not the worst part of the movie. 2 words- Kristen Stewart. Bitch cant act. Even the horses in this movie display better acting skills. This is her ONLY expression throughout the movie;


You cant tell whether she is excited, feeling romantic, sad or just constipated. With that one facial expression she manage to convince a whole town to go against the super-gorgeous but extremely bitchy queen played by Charlize Theron. If your country is falling apart and your only hope lies in someone like Kristen Stewart, you are pretty much effed up. Believe it or not she led the whole army to war, a pretty ballsy move for someone who was nearly killed by a man with a bad haircut (those who have watched will know what im talking about)

Prestasi yang lebih teruk dari lakonan Neelofa dalam Cerekarama minggu lepas menyebabkan Charlize Theron kelihatan seperti overdoing it. Dia sorang je yang beria-ia berlakon padahal hero heroin utama chemistry pun takda.

Speaking of hero-heroin chemistry,another messed up part is when she woke up from death after the huntsman kissed her. Eventhough this is so predictable but i just cant accept the fact that her 'true love' is an alcoholic duda. What....a ridiculous twist on a classic tale.

After the movie we went to this restaurant called Winter Warmers. 


Ive read some quite good review about this place on the net and im calling it bullshit. The place looks like a shoplot in Nilai 3. The whole english deco was tacky-overload. If you are doing the whole english theme,please get a proper english teaset,not some il cheapo stuff you can find in Uptown.And the food sucks camel balls.

Banana chocolate waffle adela dalam 8-9 hirisan nipis pisang ditambah dengan RENJISAN chocolate sauce.If you look at the food pictures on the menu lagi sedih. Baik pergi Delicious makan chocolate brownies lagi bagus. Tambah pulak dengan waiter super rude pergh memang palang tempat ni dari senarai restoran pilihan.

Kepada anda di luar sana yang menginginkan weekend yang lebih bermakna sila jauhi Winter Warmers dan cancel saja niat menonton Snow White and the Huntsman. 

Sekian.

Monday, June 4, 2012

Marriage and Self Reflection

Sebenarnya waktu pergi The Gardens haritu plan asal memang nak makan korean food lepastu blah sebab bila umur dah menginjak senja ni memang dah tak berapa reti nak melepak lama-lama. Tapi a friend of mine came with a shocking news.

He is getting married. (or actually planning to get married)

Bukannya nak kahwin lagi 2 minggu ke hape, planning je baru. Kira agak-agak lepas dah grad bolehlah terus melangkah ke alam pernikahan gitu. Again, mungkin sebab faktor umur yang semakin meningkat bila decide to declare/ have a serious relationship terus bermatlamat ke arah perkahwinan. Sebab by the time grad insyaallah umur dah 25-26,kalau nak bercinta monyet takde matlamat sumpah membazir duit,emosi dan pahala. Jadi perancangan yang jitu itu sungguh penting ya puan-puan.

Walaupun plan nak kahwin ni bagi sesetengah orang biasa je, but since this is coming from a friend who neglected his fish tank after a few months, kept a pet bird for a week and briefly took interest in gardening...it was shocking at first. Maka haruslah post mortem keputusan berani ini dengan lebih mendalam. Lunch korean food ditunda ke tea time untuk memberi laluan sesi meluahkan perasaan di Dome.


It was during this time that i had an epiphany. My friend could've been in a manic-depressive state but he is totally right. Tak lama lagi dah nak start kerja, dah busy, and we are getting older. I really need to get my shit together and grow up. 

-in the middle of explaining my non existent future plan

The fact that people our age ramai gila kahwin/tunang musim cuti sekolah ini menambahkan kegusaran di jiwa. We sat there for quite a while talking about marriage and future plans , something i always try to steer clear of in daily conversations. 

But since one of us was in a lovey dovey mood, lepas habis minum dekat Dome we proceed to....



-yep. kedai pinggan mangkuk dan kedai wedding cake. Hovercraft gila nak kawen lagi 2 taun dah survey harga kek. 

I dont know why lah suddenly it seems like semua orang bercakap pasal kahwin. My grandfather who reminded me to focus on my studies prior to my departure to Ireland sekarang siap tanya 'kamu bila nak kahwin?' no less than 6 times. Dalam hierarki sepupu, i've 3 elder cousins above me so in a way it's like Atuk is urging me to step over 3 benduls -___-" Bawak bersabar dulu Tok.

And i've been doing a lot of self reflection lately. Dalam Psychiatry ada belajar tentang Erik Erikson Developmental Stages. 



Perjalanan hidup kita ni dibahagi kepada beberapa stages, so kalau kita tak berjaya handle konflik dalam satu stage tu, the following stage will be badly affected.

And looking back in retrospect, i must've f*#ked up several stages before this since im such a mess now. Growing up, i learned a lot from observations. When my elder brother went into a rebellious era of his life i saw how it affected my parents. I was determined not to do anything that could upset them and later developed this fear of being a disappointment. Bila masuk form 4 result exam semua C,D,E dan ke bawah tapi langsung tak pernah bagitau makbapak sebab taknak jadi anak yang mendukacitakan. Then i struggled through form 5 and manage to get straight A's in SPM. (yes, it is possible for you to flunk form 4 exams and still do well in SPM)

Lepastu sambung belajar medik pun macamtu. I never tell them my results kecuali result yang bagus-bagus je. I never share my problems with my parents due to this fear of being a disappointment. I mean sejak kecik people expect me to do well in everything, the slightest failure pun memang tak boleh tolerate. So can you imagine studying medicine- the most pain in the ass course in the whole wide world without emotional support from anyone? You end up being suicidal or stronger,it can go either way. And thank God, He decided to give me strength.

After a few years down that road i've accepted the fact that the only person you can rely on is yourself. By now you can probably deduce that im having some major trust issues. That is why all this while all my life plans involve only me, and to be frank it's quite hard to include anyone else in that picture. As soon as relationships started getting serious i bailed out, and that's what happen in during my UTP and Dublin days.

And now i think is the right time for me to turn my life around and start to address all these things i avoided in the past. I need to get closer to God because He was the only one there when i needed support. Kadang-kadang terfikir jugak sampai bila nak dok takat tu je. Lepas kahwin bukan setakat jadi imam solat, kena jadi imam dalam menjalani kehidupan jugak. Dalam surah AnNisa' pun ada cakap benda ni.

These thoughts are so overwhelming and i guess it's about time for me to do something about it. But frankly i dont know where to start. All i know is i need to tackle one major issue first;


-need to learn how to cut my own toenails and stop relying on mom to do it for me

-_________-"