VOLUNTEER MALAYSIA: An International Volunteer Day Event From UN

The iM4U webpage counting down to the upcoming event
Source: http://www.im4u.my/volunteer-malaysia/

This coming 6th of December 2014 which is on Saturday nationwide, 1Malaysia For Youth, or iM4U for short, is organizing an event in conjunction with International Volunteer Day to celebrate the power and potential of volunteerism. The International Volunteer Day, on December 5th, was designated by the United Nations, or UN, dates back to 1985 as an international observance day.

Participating cities for the Volunteer Malaysia, Unfortunately, Sabah and Sarawak is a little bit left out
Source: http://www.im4u.my/volunteer-malaysia/

For this upcoming Volunteer Malaysia, it will be held all over Malaysia, mostly at main cities though, at the same time from 9am to 5pm on the same day. There will be a number of tasks which are categorized in teams which include:

1. Public Art Movement
2. Green Team
3. Beach Cleanup

But these tasks will vary depending on location as not all will have a beach for example.

The number of tasks being set up for the Volunteer Malaysia
Source: http://www.im4u.my/volunteer-malaysia/

To anyone who are interested in joining the cause are welcome to register at the following link: 

http://www.im4u.my/volunteer-malaysia/

But please hurry though as the closing date is on Sunday 1st of December 2014 11:59pm. So be sure to decide and register quick before the closing day. Another thing to note is that the program may be converted to FLOOD RELIEF work if the situation warrants it since we are in the monsoon season.

Reference: http://www.im4u.my/volunteer-malaysia/

PETRONAS SKO Family Day 2014

The PETRONAS SKO Family Day 2014 actually has two sessions. I was surprised myself why do they even want to do two sessions of family day let alone within two weeks for both occurrence? Despite the questionable motive for setting up the event, nevertheless the second session which was held on Saturday 15th of November is the on family day I was able to join but as an event organiser instead.

The setting up of booths and stalls begin as early as 6 am in the morning probably earlier as it is crucial to for the organisers not to miss out on anything as well as maintain the quality of the presentation for that particular day. A number of booths and stalls were set up but mainly focuses on these main categories:

1. Entertainment and games.
2. Food and drinks.

The layout is pretty simple right? But you are forgiven not to overlook this simple classification of what the PETRONAS SKO Family have in store for the visitors to kick back, relax, and enjoy some family day out. 

The first thing that you will come across when stepping into the huge tent would be cosplays (well actually there is a registration counter, but hey nobody wants to know boring stuff like that!) from various renowned movie characters such Elsa from Disney's Frozen, Marvel's Ironman, and not to mention Robocop! Some kids really enjoyed that some of the parents even put on costume on their daughters to look like one of the Disney's princesses.

The middle section of the tent contains all the fun as they consists mainly of activities for children, clowns, games (not only for the young ones, but for adults as well!) such as FIFA, F1, miniature F1 racing, Guitar Hero, and coconut bowling to name a few. And did we forgot to mention there is a haunted house for the daring as well?

Virtual F1 Simulator

They also provide guitar hero and plushy dart

One of the visitors trying out the Guitar Hero

 Miniature F1 race

My friend and I handling the booth

The haunted house, quite scary as there were some visitors who really cried

Not your average bowling

And not to mention a photo booth to treasure memories

Once you have enjoyed yourself with fun games and activities with your loved ones, why not spoil yourself with a variety delicacies from burgers, rice, ice-cream and many more. Oh and the best part about them is that they are FREE (good going there PETRONAS)!

It's not all smooth sailing though (especially for the organisers), there are a few shortcomings as well, such as it is crowded, queuing for food was painstakingly long. Handling the kids was quite a nuisance, technical difficulties, and it was very hot! But all these were worth it, if this was your first paid job.

Throughout the event, we came across with one of our secondary school teacher from Kolej together with her kids. Her kids really enjoyed playing at our booth that they came ever so often. Our teacher was and probably is currently teaching English in Kolej. She was planning on calling us for next year's upcoming Pesta Tanjung on February which is an annual event in Kolej. Sadly, none of us will be able to lend a hand to our alma mater as we are leaving to continue our studies.

To sum it up, going back home after 3 pm was very tiring but nonetheless worth my time as I was able to learn a few things such as explaining to the visitors on how to play the game at our booth as well as getting to know a thing or two about PETRONAS SKO itself (it was my first time entering the office).

"Kalau Sudah Jodoh" Sebuah Ceramah oleh Ustaz Kazim Elias di Miri

Banner ceramah Ustaz Kazim Elias di hadapan Masjid Piasau

Hari Sabtu, 15 November baru-baru ini, Ustaz Kazim Elias datang melawat Miri untuk menyampaikan sebuah ceramah bertajuk "Keluarga Bahagia" di Masjid At-Taqwa Miri berhampiran Miri City Fan pada waktu 8 malam. Jalan masuk ke masjid amat sesak disebabkan oleh bilangan kereta yang meletakkan kenderaan mereka di bahu jalan dan juga beberapa bas yang membawa penumpang serta anak-anak yatim datang untuk ceramah tersebut.

Jemaah yang hadir pada malam yang mulia itu sungguh ramai dan sesak

Kawasan tempat letak kereta berhampiran masjid tersebut memang tidak boleh dinafikan lagi - PENUH! Maka, sewajarnya sesiapa yang ingin mendengar nasihat Ustaz Kazim terpaksa meletakkan kenderaan mereka jauh ke kawasan Pustaka Miri atau Miri Public Pool. Sebaik sahaja tiba di perkarangan masjid, ramai sungguh jemaah yang hadir (mungkin kalah solat Jumaat) pada malam itu. Untuk duduk di dalam agak sukar kerana telah penuh. Ramai juga yang terpaksa berdiri ataupun duduk di luar masjid untuk mendengar ceramah.

Bilangan jemaah yang ramai sehingga ke jendela masjid...

... malah sehingga ke luar masjid

Namun sepertimana majlis-majlis ilmu yang lain, ia amat berbaloi untuk dihadiri meskipun kesukaran dan kesulitan yang perlu dilalui. Dalam ceramah yang Ustaz Kazim Elias sampaikan mengambil berat mengenai hak-hak antara suami isteri yang perlu dijaga dan dititikberatkan demi mencapai kebahagiaan dalam keluarga. Terdapat beberapa isi penting dalam ceramah beliau:

1. Memuliakan tetamu.
2. Menjaga kesihatan tubuh badan.
3. Menjaga hak isteri.

Pengajaran daripada perbincangan utama adalah kita tidak sepatutnya terlampau menumpukan perhatian dalam melaksanakan ibadah tanpa mengambil kira hubungan kita sesama manusia malah terhadap diri sendiri juga. Di samping penceritaan utama tersebut, beliau juga mempunyai isu-isu sampingan yang dibincangkan untuk kepentingan umum termasuk:

1. Kempen "Touch a dog".
2. Golongan transgender.
3. Kepentingan menjaga solat berjemaah terutamanya pada waktu subuh.
4. Hikmah bersedekah.

Suasana sepanjang ceramah beliau tidaklah berat dan serius, malah amat ringkas dan lucu namun setiap patah perkataan beliau mempunyai makna yang amat penting untuk diambil sebagai peringatan dan nasihat. Kami tidak rasa bosan dan letih, sebaliknya amat tertarik dan teruja dengan gaya penyampaian beliau sungguh bersahaja dan mudah penjelasannya. Tambahan pula, penulis berpendapat Ustaz Kazim Elias amat menyukai masakan di Sarawak terutamanya mi kolok kerana beliau telah menyebutnya kira-kira 3 hingga 4 kali. Beliau sepatutnya juga cuba laksa Sarawak, konfem kaw-kaw punya!

Penulis berharap agar ramai ustaz yang terkemuka datang ke Miri, mahupun seluruh Sarawak untuk memberi lebih banyak ceramah serta peringatan agar kami lebih memahami hukum-hukum agama.