As planned, I drove towards Rumah Amal Cahaya Tengku Ampuan Rahimah around 6 pm to have a "Berbuka Puasa" (breaking fast)session with the kids and staffs there. With the help of Cris & Julie, we managed to pack 50 goody bags and bought a few packs of chocs to add in.
Reached RACTAR and was given a very warm welcome by the kids there. They immediately assisted us with all the carrying and within minutes all the food had already been set up on the dining table.
While waiting for the berbuka puasa time, my friends and I had the chance to chat with a few of the kids until it was time to enter the dining hall in preparation of berbuka puasa.
When the "azan" was heard, we said our thanks for the food and for Allah's blessing in allowing us to be together that night. We broke our fast with some dates, local kuih muih and chendol. After that we headed for "Maghrib" prayers and came back for the "real" tuck in after 20 minutes. It was truly a marvelous affair. I had the chance to scoop the "sambal udang" for them and it was great. The curry chicken was an instant hit and the rest of the dishes, "daging kicap" and mix vegetables were also among their favourite dishes. Everything finished in record time and the kids were so disciplined, they even queue up to wash their plates.
After that it was time for the goody bag distribution but before that I gave a short speech telling them about the competition, how difficult it was at times and how much I had wanted to quit after being sick a few days but somehow I managed to overcome all hardship because I had really wanted to have a chance at winning the prize money. I told them of my motivational factors that kept me focused, 1 was the fact that I want to provide some kind of assistance to a few identified animal shelters and 2, was the fact that I want to take the underprivileged kids for a field trip to Aquaria as I want to expose them to the beauty of the underwater world. Both can only be achieved if I were to win the prize money. I told them that if we believe in something so much, we will find a way to achieve it. In any situation, we just got to do our best and God will see our journey through.
I also talked about friendship, how we must treasure the friends we have as they provided us with the support that sometimes could not be found in anybody else. I introduced them to my friend Michelle, whom I've known since standard 1. Being the only child living with only my mom since 1 year old, I was forever feeling lonely and my friends are the ones who provided me with companionship and saw me thru some difficult times and for that I'm forever thankful. At this point, I was kind of crying because at the back of my mind, the memories of growing up back in Muar kept flashing back and I sorely miss those carefree days we used to have laughing over silly things as well as shedding tears over unfortunate ones. Mitch and Julie came to me and showed the rest what real friendship was all about when they put their hands on my shoulders and that gave me the strength to conclude the nights' event.
Before I gave out the unity bands, I told them of its significance, the unique color of it and why we must be proud to wear it at all times. I told them that no matter what race we are, no matter what color of our skin, bumiputra or not, we are all joined by the fact that we are born Malaysian. No matter where we go, how far we traveled, we must be proud of our country and try to preserve the unity that we have in Malaysia.
Before I left, all the kids came forward and shook my hand. All said thank you and were reluctant to let me go home. I promised them that no matter what the outcome will be on the next morning, I will be around and they can always contact me. I left with a happy feeling, a bounce on my steps even though none of the press that I invited showed up to cover the event. For me, I've achieved what I wanted as having berbuka puasa with them was truly the best grand finale to conclude the competition. It was all about having a great time doing good things with a group of people.
To all my friends, thank you so much for the support you have given to see me thru the competition. I was sorry to have called so many times asking for directions etc. To all the kids at RACTAR as well as the administrator and staffs, thank you for giving me the opportunity to be with you last night. It was like none other that I've had before and the experience was truly meaningful and best of all, I truly enjoyed every second of it and I believe that the feeling is mutual.
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