Tears In My Eyes

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.

Kindly Leave Our Premises

All through out the 3 weeks I participated in the competition, I had gotten only great co-operation from everybody. I was informed by my good friend Michelle that a lantern Festival Celebration was going to be held at Summit USJ with the co-operation of MCA Subang Jaya. She told me that it would be a great place to be as there'll be a huge crowd. I told them that we should be able to meet up around 7pm.

Upon reaching Summit, the crowd was building up. I quickly took a few photos and even requested the assistance of a few MCA members to introduce me to the press present. I was informed that the Lion Dance Troop from my hometown, Muar, Johore will be performing and my heart swelled with so much pride. You see, these guys are currently the world no.1 champ in the Lion Dance arena. I remembered there was once when I was at 1Utama and Speedy was showing the video of the world competition and I actually stood still for more than 30 minutes watching them in pure amazement. The expression that they portrayed coupled with the body language was so similar to a cheeky lion keen on having a good time at play. I have been a keen admirer of them since young and it started when I first saw them performing during the merdeka parade in Muar when I was 8 years old. So when it was time for the show to start, I got myself a spot right at the front where I could sit on the pavement. In the middle of the show, a guy came to ask me whether I had seek permission to run a campaign for RHB at Summit. I politely told him that it was not a campaign but an individual competition that I'm participating in. I was not approaching anyone to sell anything and actually got so many others who wanted to take a photo together approached me that night.

After the lion dance, I went back to the previous spot near the stage as I had wanted to grab a chance to shake hands with Dato' Lee Hua Beng. Not long after, 2 ladies who claimed to be on the complex management team asked me to leave the place as I had not asked for their permission to run a campaign for both MIX FM and RHB. I told them that I was not there to run a campaign but more towards trying my best to win a competition sponsored by both RHB and organised by Mix FM as I had wanted to share the prize with the underprivileged children as well as a few animal shelters in the vicinity. Still they argued that I should leave the place and seeing that it was quite pointless to prove my point to people who could not appreciate a simple act of sharing and caring, I asked my friend, partner and photographer, Cris, to hold my cut out while I approached Dato' Lee to seek permission to take a photo while shaking his hands. Amazingly Dato' being the great leader that he is, saw the reason behind my explanation and granted me my wish. I quickly asked Cris to take the required photo and together with Julie, Cris, Michelle, Yuin Long, Jessie and Jamie, we were escorted out of the festival by a couple of RELA guys who were very kind and politely apologised for the total misunderstanding. I told them that it was OK and invited them to the berbuka puasa session at RACTAR. I told Julie in the car that it was ironic that I actually got evicted from a place where I live at but never at other places that I had visited outside Subang Jaya.

Nevertheless, I would like to thank everyone especially to Mr Teoh of SJ Echo who pointed me to the right direction during my search for media coverage, the 2 MCA members who were kind enough to assist me during the earlier part of the evening, to the lady in red and white dress who advised me to stick to Dato' Lee like glue if I want to get noticed and to another great tall lady in red/pink who even went up to the press and asked them to talk to me. To Dato' Lee, thank you so much for your kind co-operation as your gesture would help me in achieving my dreams as well as helping the kids at RACTAR and the animals at the shelter. To the residents of Subang Jaya and USJ, do your part in helping the local community. No matter how small our action is to us, it means a lot to the ones in need.

As for me I was taught a lesson too this time around. The next time I embark on another competition of similar nature as ISP, I'll request for a permit to carry the cut out EVERY WHERE I go.

Secrets Revealed

I guess it's kind of OK for me to spill the beans on how I managed to gain entry to places where a few others have failed.

1st of all, my principal was to think "out of the box" for ways to gain entry. If the traditional method of seeking permission does not produce any result, I will seek other alternatives. For example, to gain faster entry to MATTA fair, I approached the registration booth for the media and requested for media passes. I scored these after explaining to them that I want to do a coverage on the opening ceremony on behalf of my diving company that has offices in Bali, Phuket & Australia. This is true to the extend that I do have a diving business and we do organise overseas diving trips as well as arranging for foreigners to dive in Malaysia.

As for gaining entry to the participants' village during KL International Tattoo Opening Ceremony, I actually told the sentry guarding the door that I want to do a photo shoot with the participants back stage. This is totally true and nothing that I said was a lie to cover my ultimate intention. Fortunately he consented to my request.

During the Closing Ceremony of KL International Tattoo 2007, I reached the ticketing booth very early but was dissapointed upon seeing a sign that says "Tiket Habis Dijual" (Tickets All Sold Out). Not wanting to go home empty handed, I walked towards the Media Center where I told the lady in charge of the competition that I'm participating in, my reasons for wanting to win as well as requesting for their co-operation to extend me excess to the stadium. I was lucky to have met her as she too consented to my request but on a condition that I will not leave until the show has ended. At 1st I had thought her request as odd but I was glad that I had stuck to my promise. That night, around 11.30pm, visitors were allowed to take photos together with participants and I got something truly valueable as I was the only participant of ISP that could produce pictures that potrayed our country's great diversity and harmony.

I guess, the morale of the story that I'm trying to bring forth to every one is that we should be brave enough to express our wishes to others. If we don't ask, others will not know what we want. If we ask and got rejected, don't feel dishearten, try again and in the end your persistance will prevail.

I truly had fun on top of everything that I had done the last 3 weeks. I've met very interesting people of various walks of like and I'm truly thankful for all their assistance no matter how small. To those who had spotted me and taken the time to upload the pictures online, I'm truly grateful.

To conclude the competition, I'm holding a "berbuka puasa" session with the kids of Rumah Amal Cahaya Tengku Ampuan Rahimah (RACTAR) Subang Permai, USJ, today. It'll start at around 6.45pm and if you are an ardent fan of Mix FM and would like to join me tonight, mail me at annlivingwithikaserenacandpietro@yahoo.com Pls. include your mobile number so that we could contact you if selected as there are only 10 seats available.

Thank you.

Regards,
Nuraini Rozaiti Binti Mahamud aka Ann
Living With Ika Serena C & Pietro

Support From The Local Community

I was desperately in need to get a great shot with a group of people urgently because I have a lot of pictures uploading to do on to Mix FM's website on Friday. I can't afford to leave the house for a long period of time so I decided to seek out the group of "basketballers" at the playground about a minute walk away from the house. I told their captain of my "quest for RM 50K" and he in return gladly called the rest of the players to gather around for a photo shoot. I would like to thank each and every one of them for helping me out and would like to take this opportunity to wish them all the best for the upcoming games.

Regards,
NRozaiti

A Winner I'm Not

Yes guys, I'm not kidding you this time. I was in SS15 hoping to win the snowballed prize offered to the winner of Mix FM's Pandora's Box but unfortunately, a very hansome young man beat me to it. This lucky guy did not win just one or two prizes that day, he actually won 3 holiday packages with a value of more than RM 3 000! Awesome or what! Nevertheless I did not go home empty handed. I got a few great photos out of the event, managed to distribute my lovely LWISP stickers and flyers for them to visit my blog and got more unity bands to distribute to the crowd on my next field trip.

To the young man who won that day, congratulations and if in any case you can't use all the packages that you've won, you know who to give it to ........ no la, not yr parents nor yr girlfriend, pass to me la 'coz I really need a holiday after this competition ends......

Cheers mate!