Wednesday, October 10, 2007

Man in space vs urban poverty

Malaysia's first cosmonaut (or space traveller?) will begin his first journey into space today.We wish him well and may he inspire more Msians to be interested in space exploration bla bla bla.Nabi dah lama pi space.Tak kecoh pun.In fact sampai la ni ramai tak percaya he did it.Jumpa Tuhan lagi.

Back in KL, Kak Mun ajak kita pergi visit urban poor in Jelatek, Gombak and Kota Damansara.I had energy only for the first two areas.Dr H had to leave earlier but in Jelatek, we were moved, macam tak percaya urban poverty is so well-hidden in this city.We met up with some 60 single moms and handed Raya hampers, duit raya and beras.Short term assistance but Dr H and I thought we should come back and run workshops for their kids.Harap2 menjadi.We always want to do EVERYTHING but time is not always on our side.The women were so touched, some wept openly.Sedih juga.Tak pernah I lalui Ramadan macam ni.

Then we went to Kg. Kedas 2..hardcore poor.Aiyoo..where do we begin to help long term? It's like we have to re-plan everything ==> from whom you should marry to what you should do when you are constantly abused by your drug addict, good for nothing husband and where to send your 9 kids while you try to recover from a recent childbirth (at 33).

And on TV, Ministers are congratulating one another for the first space programme...

I can't go on, folks.The rich-poor divide is still a grave concern in this country, too eager to pose as a high-tech, affluent nation.

But I must admit it was an emotional launch for me as well -- seeing Soyuz carrying Malaysian hope.Takut meletup...Moga2 Sheikh selamat pergi and selamat kembali. I can imagine how his Mom felt.

Today is also Nik's b'day.

3 comments:

Mary said...

Selamat Hari Raya Dr. Faridah! Have a good holiday :D

Faridah said...

Wah Mary in Spore! :)) Selamat Hari Raya to you too....kirim salam kat mak/abah.

Faridah said...

It's 2008.Sheikh the astronaut has just turned down our invitation sent in April (when his manager Alfred confirmed that he was free.He asked for RM8 thousand, though.I asked why should we pay when Sheikh went on duit rakyat and didn't he have to serve his contract talking to students & rakyat Malaysia for a year after his return from space?)

I just thought he would be enthusiastic to inspire students at IIUM.Maybe I miscalculated.Lagipun I thot it's first come first serve.We booked him in April when there was no other invites.Apparently, we lost him to Brunei.