BLI Course and OA Youths......

For the past two days , I have shared and spent the best two days of my life with seven lovely young people from the OA community. As usual, my great buddies, Edwin, Errol and their families in Lorna, Lara, Jessica, Josephine, Jocelyn and my own family in SLing and SYuen made it all such wonderful days. The six OA young people in Latifah, Ercy, Zunaida, Intan, Rose Alia, Isan and Mustafa were in Melaka for the Bible League International (BLI) - Faclitators' Firm Foundation Course held in CCC Melaka.

Besides having attended a truly enriching, invigorating and meaningful course for English literacy teaching, it was a truly touching and wonderful time spent with the OA youths. 

We made it!

They may struggled a bit with the interaction part of the course and so on but they can speak good English when it matters. I guess, a lot of us underestimated them and this course gives them the opportunity to surprise many especially the city dwellers. Sure, they may not speak Cockney/Queens English for all I care but they could speak English and that was important! As usual, they were shy and inhibited at first but wonderful tutelage, encouragement and prompting from BLI Master Trainers, Lynda, Lee Ping, Ervina and Irene Huang made it all such a wonderful teaching & learning experience. I am especially thankful and inspired by Sis. Lee Ping who is such a smiling encourager and a good teacher of the English language. She is fun, encouraging and helped articulate the English words clearly and precisely. She is a wonderful teacher of BLI. The three of us - Edwin , Errol and myself truly enjoyed ourselves in the course.

Group 2 - Roleplay & drama winners

Group 3

Group 1 - The jovial & fun group!

Aaarrrrrrgggghhhhh.....we are fun!

Coming back to the OA youths, due to the compact schedule of the course, we were only able to spend the evenings together with some sight seeing and beach fun. I guess, being in the OA kampung, they are used to be at the river, waterfalls, mountains, terrains and jungles. So , when they were asked where would they like to go after "class", they simultaneously answered " The beach! ".  Yunno, for a city dweller like me, the beach is like such a common thing for all of us but to these OA young people, it was such a happy time for them. Thanks to Edwin, Lorna and Lara for hosting them in their house and also for taking care of their needs. Incidentally, their house is nearby the beach and so , it was very convenient to bring the OA youths there. To me, when they said "beach", 

Fun, fun, fun.....

I could see their eyes lit up immediately and so we were off to the Klebang beach to fly kites, horsing around at the beach, playing with sand and eagerly awaiting the sunset! Yes, they were eagerly awaiting for the sunset at the beach. What a very simple request! Seeing them happily flying kites, playing around, laughing, teasing one another, taking snapshots of themselves and just basking the moments were momentous moments for me. I too get to go back to my childhood memories mode when I used to play on the beach and be carefree but somehow, the constricting demands of work and whatnot had certainly robbed me of that small pleasures. This experience with the OA youths made me realised how  much I had lost in time due to the ever demanding rat race in life and life snuffing demands of work all for the fistful of ringgits and a better life. 

Classic lovely photo....leaping with joy!

Somehow, for moments like these, I felt the OA youths have better life than me, seriously. Sure, they do lack a lot of facilities and so on but at least, they felt at ease with who and what they are. Often neglected, robbed of their rights and harassed to the brink of embarrassment and robbed of their livelihood, they continue to put their faith in God and how wonderfully mannered they are. They behaved well, soft spoken and truly thankful lot. That is what I like about them very much. Boy! We really had fun at the beach before taking them for dinner as  Errol & Jessica joined us for a meal. As we posted the pictures on our Whatsapp group chat, there were wide smiles all the way. We even spoke in English as we had promised to speak in English throughout the entire BLI course! It was fun being with them.

Stadhuys & Christ church....

I guess, after graduating from BLI course, we were off to Melaka sight seeing trip. Again, these young people eyes lighted up with enthusiasm and glee! This time, we started off with the Stadhuys building with Edwin being the tour guide. Edwin was hilarious in many ways and told the young people of the historical background of the Victoria fountain and the history of the red Stadhuys building. Then it is off to the museum building which was unfortunately closed as we were there after 5.00pm. It was pciture session with Pokok Melaka and the OA youth even braved themselves to taste the sourish & bitter buah Melaka and you should have seen their faces! It was so funny indeed! 

Oh! Pokok Melaka.....

Posing at the step to St.Paul's Hill

St.Paul Church.....

Iconic A"Famosa fort....

We were taking photos along the way as we climbed up the stairs to St.Paul's Hill. Tour guide, Edwin explained to the OA youths on the significance of St.Paul's Hill, the statue of St.Francis Xavier , the church and the huge tombstones that were in the church atop St.Paul's Hill. I thanked God that it was a windy and beautiful day for sight seeing in the evening. The Melaka city view was absolutely gorgeous! It was obvious that these young ones were very happy and they were at the best in photography sessions too. We were then off to the iconic A'Famosa. No trip on the historical trail in Melaka is complete without the trail to A'Famosa. Edwin , Errol and myself prided ourselves to tell the youths about this iconic fort as we know it during our younger days. It seemed like we were living in the swashbuckling times again. 

It was at this place that Isan said to me, " Brother, dulu kita hanya baca dan tengok gambar saja. Sekarang saya dapat lihat sendiri. Sungguh gembira!" I was choked with emotion for a moment. I never knew how much this trip meant to these young people as echoed by Isan. 

Let's blast away the ships!!!!!

St.Paul's Hill...

We are at Jonker Street!

Macho young men and macho women!

We are the handsome ones!

Fun time together....

Edwin, Errol and myself at BLI course....

It was truly an eye opener for me as trips such as this could be so meaningful to them despite it being just another historical trail trip for us, the Malaccans. I guess, when I see how happy they were at the historical sights, I was so happy for them. My heart is so full of thankfulness to these young people as they showed me what it meant to enjoy the simpler things in life and how not to take them for granted too. Like I said, I thought, I was taking them for a historical trail but instead they took me to my childhood trail and showed me how far I have travelled from my perspective in life. Simple joys in life and simple innocent love & care.  I was touched indeed. 

Even when we were are the food court for them to taste a variety of food, they stuck to known food such as Nasi lemak while some tried mee soup while Isan tried hokkien mee! They even tried the spiciest sausage ever and I tried two small pieces. Though my tongue was like on fire, I weathered through it and  made it! Boy! It was really hot & spicy, I tell you! It was fun being with them as they asked me to try the sausage! 

That night as we bade farewell, I really miss these young people a lot! They are truly amazing people and I truly wish we could have spent more time with them. Maybe, it is good that we all shared a little of our lives and inspire each other until we meet again soon. 

Together in perfect harmony, closeness and friendship.....

Miss all of you very much !

Latifah - Zunaida - Ercy - Rose Alia - Intan - Mustafa - Isan - THANK YOU VERY MUCH ~ TERIMA KASIH ~ PUJI TUHAN !!!!!!