Safety and kindness

written on Wednesday, May 4, 2011 at 5:45am

As usual, at this time of the year, Wellington's weather is much to be desired, raining, windy and cold. Today, I was assigned to supervise an exam session for two special needs students, one girl, with diabetes, and another guy who is in wheel chair. The exam, at School of Law, was held at the Old Government Building, situated next to my office.The session was from 5.30 to 7.50pm. The session went well, each student has different needs, rest time, extra time, facility set up, etc. My bus home was scheduled to arrive at 8pm, and after clearing all the administratives with the school administrator, i dashed to the bus stand, just about 150m outside the Government Building. At this time of the night,the bus stand is eerily quiet .There was just me and another guy at the bus stand. People in Wellington go home for dinner as soon as office closes and peak hours at the bus stand are between 5-6pm.The drizzle has not stopped since morning and as the Grand Clock on Old Government Building striked 8pm, my bus approached.Traffic was light, so the bus ride was breezy to the next bus terminal at the suburb near where I live. School boys back from their games alight the bus at this terminal. The last of them was searching frantically in his bag for his money, i supposed. He called out to his friend that he forgot to bring his money, and he said he'll just walk home,and went down from the bus. The Driver closed the door, and slowly moved, but then he stopped, slide open his window, and called out to the boy" Hey Buddy! come on board!" The boy was so relieved, as the rain was getting heavy then. We moved on with the journey, and when the boy stopped at his destination, he took out the money that he managed to find in his bag, and wanted to give to the Driver, but the Driver just waved him off. The boy was just so thankful to him as he said " You saved my day, Driver!" Such acts of kindness just melt your heart, and for his kindness, I gave the driver a piece of chocolate, which I make a point to have in my school bag everytime, in case of hunger attacks.

Providing facilities for people with special needs gives them equal opportunities for their right to education. Knowing kindness abound, such as what the university provides to those who need it, and by such acts of kindness by the people around, in a not so familiar land, makes you feel safe.

Kindness came, out of no where...the gracious bounty of Allah swt

written on Monday, July 5, 2010 at 10:00pm

My parents instill in us, whenever guests come unexpected, serve them, even though it is just a glass of water.When he was still in service,I still remember, my father would buy the Sarikei pineapples, the best kind of pineapples before the Pada variety was in existence, and would ask my mother, to peel pineapples, to be given to one of his staff who was pregnant then.To him, pregnant ladies will always want to eat such kinds of fruits. This was just not once, but always, whenever there were pregnant staff in his team.My mum loves to cook for people, the more you'll eat, the more she'll cook.And her bingka varieties are just sinfully rich, with the eggs, sugar and santan pekat. We might not be rich in material kinds, but my parents, and their family members ( their brothers and sisters, and our grandparents) are/ were very kind people especially in providing people with food. Our relatives from both my parent's families come from far and wude, and whenever they do come to visit, food is mostly top on the list, even though there is not much, but some how or rather, there's food on the table.

Now, why am I driving home this point on kindness?

Yesterday, unplanned, we (my family, [without Afiqh, as he was in Auckland playing rugby at the UMNO RUGBY CUP], Shah's family and Syahaneim's family) went for an impromptu trip, to Wanganui. Why Wanganui, I also did not know, just that Shah mentioned it one day to me, and I got to know that the last of Sarawak's White Rajah is currently residing here. There's not much to see there, except that Wanganui is situated at a river mouth, just like Kuching. It was just for drive, just to destress our minds from our studies and writings, as Shah said. It was a two and a half hour leisurely drive, stopping at farm fruit shops, a honey shop,pee stops for all. We had lunch in Foxton, at a park with the only windmill (so the man there claimed) in New Zealand. This community has a Dutch population, thus the windmill. Lunch was in the cold weather, so the warm nasi lemak I brought got cold immediately when we were putting the food on our plates.

It was almost Asar, and we went to look for an Islamic center for solat, as Shah found the address on his mobile. When we arrived at the small mosque, it was locked, and we were about to leave, when a car screeched by and stopped. out came two young guys, whom we thought were Maori, but it puzzled me when one of them had a kain pelikat on his shoulder.

Apparently these two guys are Malays from Johor, whose family now resides in Wanganui, working in the halal meat industry here. After we exchanged introductions, they brought us around a couple of interesting places in Wanganui, and then, invited us to their house, as well as for dinner. We planned to drive home by 4pm before it gets dark, but we only managed to at about 8pm.

Now, where did that come from? Out of nowhere, an unplanned visit, unexpected kindness...

My Bus Episode

Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 5:00pm

This morning, I managed to take the 8am bus, and with 5 dollar coins in hand (I don't carry much cash), I gave it to Mr. Driver to top up my bus card as I only have $1.60 value in there, not enough for a $3.20 one way fare. Mr. Driver said,"you need a minimum $10 to top up, dear." I didn't know that but I gave him my $5 worth of coins to pay for my fare. He refused the coins, took my bus card from my hand, charge my fare from all the balance in there, gave back my bus card and the receipt. "Cheers!" he said! That happened so fast that all I can say was a meek "Thank you!" as that was really UNEXPECTED!
So, that is the start for my day...and Mr. Driver got an orange as a token of THANKS!! :)

Another bus episode...

written on Monday, March 8, 2010 at 1:56am

An Asian Lady boarded the bus I was in on my way home. She then told the driver "ticket for two pls." The bus driver was taken aback, " for two?!" he asked in a puzzling manner. "Yes, Sir, as I was not able to pay for my fare this morning." Honesty...

Acts of Kindness

written on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 4:08pm

Everyday I take the bus to school. It is a great way to observe people, and I use the journey time to catch up on my reading. I normally take the 7.45am bus trip, and yes, the buses here are on time. I like to sit behind the bus driver, to have a good view of the journey we are taking into the City.The Bus culture here is a refresher to sanity, passengers say thank you as they disembark, and drivers greet you genuinlely as you board, asking about your day.

For the past 2 weeks, the bus driver taking the route from my house, is the same guy, a mature gentleman, and I have been observing his acts of kindness to his passengers.
The bus that I take uses a card system, where you load money on it and the fare will be deducted from the card, and using the card gives you discounts for your bus trips. The driver can reload the monetary value on your card when you board the bus.

Episode One.

One morning last week, a Lady boarded the bus, and did not realised the money on her card has run low.And she was fumbling in her handbag to get the cash, but the Driver said, "nahhh..you can pay me next time." The lady just looked at him, in disbelieve, but went ahead to get a seat as there were other passengers waiting to board.When it was time for her to disembark, she gave her money to the Driver, but he said "You just go ahead. Don't worry about it. "
Episode Two. This morning a school Boy got on the bus, and asked him whether our bus gets to the destination of his school, and the Driver said, "Not this bus, but it is the bus behind me that gets there." So the boy got off the bus, and the Driver closed the door. But just as he was about to drive on, the Bus that he meant for the Boy, drove pass our bus. Our Driver stopped, and open the door and call out to the Boy and ask him to board our bus. He took the bus fare from the Boy (they have a much subsidised bus fare for school children). And he continued to drive, trying to get as close as possible with the Bus in front, which goes to the Boy's destination.

He walkie-talkied the Bus in front to stop at the next bus stand, telling the Bus driver in front that he has this Boy who needs to get on that bus to reach his school. The Bus in front got the message and both agreed to stop at the next bus stand. Our Driver called out to the Boy, and told him to go into the Bus in front, and told him not to worry about the bus fare.

Such random acts of kindness touch your feelings, that this value is still ,strongly, there in people around us.

It dawn on me that today is a Friday morning. I took one of my pears for lunch, and as I was about to disembark the Bus, I gave our kind Driver the pear, thanking him for his kindness.

When appreciation was shown...

written on Thursday, October 8, 2009 at 11:24pm

Tutoring seems a natural thing to do when you want to immerse yourself in the academia, and when you need to earn the extra bucks...and that's just what I did. Taking this bold step, especially in a challenging environment - foreign students, English not your first language, etc etc..i just took the risk. For the past 12 weeks, I tutored two classes for strategic information management 300 level. Students, regardless of their origins, color, language, age, are here to learn, and I learn from them as well. Their participation and interaction provide fresh perspectives, not provided for in the text.Preparation is your best bet, and the satisfaction of being able to help them in their journey to acquire knowledge was indeed a blast! And yesterday,...the unexpected applause they gave at the end of the class says it all...