NGO Day

Wednesday, 16 January 2008

I've got 2 meetings after office today. At 5:00pm, PIBG AJK at Sri Permata and after Isyak, Masjid's AJK. It takes quite an effort for me to leave the office early. I'm so used to leaving the office after sunset (earliest by 9:00pm) so leaving early today was not easy. I had planned to leave by 4:30 so that I can reach the school by 5:00 or slightly after. Everyone knows I work "at the other end of the world" and they can surely forgive me if I'm a bit late. However, my boss only came in at about 4:20pm and he had to brief me about his 2 meetings he had with some very senior government officers. So I had to delay my departure.

I finally left the office at 5:15pm and reached the school 10 minutes before 6:00pm. The meeting was on the way and when I stepped into the room they were discussing my issues which are really close to my heart. The meeting only ended about 5 mins before 7:00pm. Some of us had to give loans to the school to pay the contractor who had done the roof for the assembly area. We are now short of RM100k. The PIBG and teachers gave a loan of RM60k, I think. The things we do for our children and the Education Ministry is still trying to take us for fools.

After Isyak, its the Masjid's AJK. This being our first meeting of the year there are a lots of things to discuss. To make it worse, the ustaz giving the night's pengajian decided to have an extended run, finishing his lecture at 9:00pm. Luckily his delivery was good. At the end we only start the meeting at 9:40pm after some food and drinks.

A jemaah managed to arrange for MDEC to donate 5 computers and a printer to the masjid. So the masjid's KAFA School children will now have computer lessons besides their religious subjects. Our Imam used to be a programmer/analyst before, so he will be in charge of the program. We also tabled our masjid's draft website to the AJK for comments. All Committee heads also tabled their programs for the year but what really caught me by surprise was that the Muslimat committee head told us that some of their members were very unhappy because they did not receive their share of the korban meat during Eidul Adha. We had decided then that only one member of the family will get the meat but now we have the Muslimat complaining. I'm really dumbfounded. How on earth, can people in this middle class area make a fuss about not getting one kilogram of beef during korban. I've always envied the Muslimats for the continuous programs and classes that they managed to organise each year. Now I'm beginning to wonder whether all these programs have really make them better Muslimats or are they a waste of time and efforts. We still have a long way to go.

The meeting finally ended at 12:10 am. Today, my NGO activities takes as much time as my normal work.

HBO