"Music please, and bring the women in."
I was honestly quite taken aback by that alone. And just as i was still pondering on the inside, whoa, so we've made it, not the zoo project, but it was one long journey, almost an hour of bus ride through all the Saturdays jam, and we are here at Sentul, in this cosy little hall, meeting the refugees.
Before my thoughts strayed further, they really brought on the music, as the women, and some men, and their family made their way through that door passed Dr Malar. Looking at ourselves in our oversized pyjamas-liked SunU Tshirsts, there was indeed a contrast between them and us, whoa number two, some of them were looking so fashionable!
Whoa number three took place shortly after, as Dr Malar greeted each of them by a firm handshake or an affectionate pat on the shoulder for some, while she addressed each of them by their names, without a single 'err' or 'umm'... I was standing right beside the door, and i can say their names are not any of the 'Ali' or 'Abu' sort of common ones. But i guess for someone who is so passionate and enthusiastic about what she's doing, remembering their names must have been nothing.
Speaking of how nicely they're all dressed up and the music Dr Malar wanted, i started wondering maybe this was really something for them. A day for them to share their products with a bunch of people whom they knew would appreciate it. A day that might make a difference to their current state of life, even if it's just of minimal help. It just wasn't an ordinary day like what's for us, met up at Uni, filled in consent forms, bus ride, briefings, snapping pictures yada yada...
Education. Empowerment. Enthusiasm. made the three E's. And i really felt it when three of 'em amazing women who received the medal for achieving those E's went up and gave their speeches in front of everyone, in their own language though. I had no idea at all what they were saying, whether it was the Burmese language or Sri Lankan Tamil, clueless. So that guy in communication skills, something Mehrabian was it? was really right about the significance of nonverbal communication. When the translators went up and did their jobs, all they said were merely thank yous, big thank yous, and more thank yous to Dr Malar for granting them the loan plus a lil here and there. A thank you so genuinely truthful that i was touched even when i did not comprehend the language they spoke. Beautiful like that.
Many of them have got such great talents and plans they wish they could carry out, but as a refugee in our country, they've really got to sacrifice on a big part of that. Again all the violence and war, being one of the reasons that made some of them refugees, why lah people wanna bomb each other? Is there really nothing they could do to reach an agreement that leads to peace? Is it really so important to be the greatest of all? So enjoyable to hate and kill whoever you don't like? I may be real shallow when it comes to these cause i never really understood politics and stuff, but i mean why? Why can't there be another way other than war?
So this Sri Lankan family Hh, Yanz and i went to talk to was well, doing pretty good with their tailoring business already. And omgosh the daughter is so cute, seriously, when i asked her how old is she, she told me five. But based on her height, she obviously didn't look five to me, so when i asked primary five? She paused for a while and said, eleven. With a very sweet smile on her face. I think it's the genes from her parents la, cause her mom has a very nice smile, the son also has this smile that just makes me feel like smiling too when i look at them.
Holding the evaluation form in hands, his products were already whoa so good. We only thought of tackling the marketing aspects. And so we drifted away to a more casual chat, i guess then he became more comfortable with us too, and he told us how they poured boiling tar on his Grandpa T_T, how his parents didn't survive, and how they're now here in our country. Earlier i asked the eleven years old daughter if she likes M'sia, she said yes. With her smile again:) But imagine from a normal life where they could go to schools and run around with their friends, they're now completely deprived of proper education. And they're not even certain when they'll be able to return to their homeland. I really do admire their positiveness.
Yesterday was one meaningful day. Tiring, but meaningful.
Uugh..whatever laaah! :D
And i just wanna say, Ador is so kyuuuutz! Would you pretty please stop biting the cage!
And i love you mummy:)
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