♥ BABYT'S WORLD OF CRAP ♥

Thursday, April 14, 2005

Fortunately, character-building classes only took up two weeks of our whole programme. Nevertheless we still felt like ages before it finally ended. After this module was over, we went home for our Chinese New Year break for 4 days. Chinese New Year this year was as usual - my relatives all came back, we had potluck on the second day of New Year, and we went visiting. Even though it was great to be home for the festive season, I still kind of missed camp at that time. I missed all my dorm mates and friends. On the third day of Chinese New Year, it’s time again to head back to camp for the last stretch of National Service. I was so excited because finally the community service module will be kick starting. Community service is the module that I guess almost everyone looks forward to because we get to actually go out more often to help people and learn about the community. We get to visit places like the hospital, prison, TUDM (Air Force) headquarters, fire station, drug rehabilitation centre, and old folks’ home. We get to also experience a lot of different things. Once again, for this module we were divided into new groups and boy was I glad to find out that almost all of my best friends from my dorm are in the same group as I am. I have Huey Ning, Ah Chin, Si Mei, Chew Mei and Jeisy. We were all in the first group. There are 5 large groups all together. The large groups were divided into sub-groups –e.g. Group 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. I was in group 1.1 with Si Mei and Jeisy whereas Huey Ning was in group 1.2 with Ah Chin and Chew Mei. But then it doesn’t really matters because all of us are in group 1 and we did everything together. The small groups were just to simplify the marking of attendance. We have four community teachers in our group, led by Cikgu Ramli (one of my favourite teachers) The teachers are of course in charged of taking care of our safety, guiding us and managing our disciplines. (Very tough)

Community service is one of the best modules of all. Well, firstly because I get to hang out with my pals more often and secondly we learn so much from all these visits. On our first day, we headed to the girls’ drug rehabilitation centre where we got an opportunity to meet girls who were once involved with drugs. I was impressed to see the centre, as it looked really beautiful, clean and new. The hostels looked even better than our dorms back in camp. My friends and I started joking that even the drug addicts have a better home than us. When we were there, a lady who had recovered from drugs shared with us her story. She told us how she got lured into drugs and how she overcame it. She was quite an intelligent girl who used to get good grades in school. But because she came from a traditional family, she was force to get married in an early age. So when she was 18, her mother had arranged for her to marry a rich man. To her mother, this guy was the perfect man for her daughter because he had money, cars and a big house. But what she didn’t know was that this man is a drug dealer and all the wealth were the ‘benefits’ of the drugs that he sold and the lives that he had took. Not long after they got married, the police arrested that man when they found drugs in his car and he was sentenced to death. So the lady in order to continue surviving had to resume her husband’s drugs selling business. Later she too got involved with drugs herself. Soon she was caught by the authorities and was sent to the Drug Rehabilitation Centre for females in Bachok, Kelantan,(the centre we visited) the only drugs rehabilitation centre for girls in the whole of Malaysia. According to the supervisor of that centre, no matter where you are in Malaysia, if you are a girl and if you are caught taking drugs you will be sent to this centre in Kelantan. The lady told us that when she was sent to the centre for the first time, she was still really stubborn. She was determined to return to drugs after two years in the centre. So at that time, she told herself to be patient and wait for the day she is release from the centre. After two years, she was finally free from the centre. She doesn’t want to go home for she ashamed and was sure that her family wouldn’t accept her anymore. So as she had planned, she went back to find her old drug mates. She continued selling drugs to make a living. For the second time, she was caught and once again was sent to the same centre. The second time in the centre still did not manage to change her. She was too addicted to drugs. So she kept going back to drugs after she was released from the rehabilitation centre. She said that as a drug addict, she had done so many illegal things. She said that she even had to search for food from the rubbish bin and sleep under the bridge. But fortunately on the fifth time she entered the centre, it finally came to her how wrong and stupid she was before this. She finally realizes that all that she’s done before this is worthless and that it’s time to change herself. With her determination and help from the centre’s staff, she managed to completely overcome the temptation for drugs. She even joked that she has been sent into the centre for so many times that even the staffs there had recognized her. Now, she is working for the rehabilitation centre as a volunteer to help manage new girls who are drug addicts by sharing her experience. She said that when she sees new girls entering the centre, she’d be reminded of herself. That’s why she wants to do her best to help them, like the way the other staffs had helped her. She also advises us not to ever touch drugs. Once you are stuck with this shit, it is not easy at all to drop it. Drugs can ruin our lives so easily. After hearing her story, I guess everyone there is conscious about the danger of drugs and is afraid to ever go near drugs. I for one am traumatized by her story and I will definitely not get myself into all this shit. I mean, imagine eating from a rubbish bin. Later, we watched a pantomime performed by the girls in the centre. When I saw them, I think they don’t look like drug addicts at all. Some of them are really pretty. There’s only one word that can describe their performance – excellent. Their face expressions were aptly portrayed. There was this part where the mother cried when her daughter left and I think that the tears she cried are actually real. I bet they can even be nominated for the Oscars because their acting was so surreal. They acted a story about a girl who got involved with drugs because she was facing some family crisis. Her dad left her and her mother. She felt that her family doesn’t love her anymore. Later while she was walking alone, she bumped into two boys who taught her smoking and later introduced her to the KILLER – drugs. One day, one of her friend died because of drugs and she began to acknowledge the danger of drugs. She was then sent to the rehabilitation centre where she was cured. At the end of the performance, all of us were truly touched. Then we had a question and answer session with three other drug addicts who are still receiving treatment from the centre. (I forgot their names though) The first lady is about 40 years old, the second one is about 30 years old and the last girl is only 22 years old, the youngest in the centre. She started drugs at the early age of 14. The trainees are allowed to ask them any questions, even sensitive ones. The first question was of course how they got involved with drugs. We can actually summarized by saying that men are the reasons why all of them got addicted to drugs. One of them was influenced by her husband while the other two by their boyfriends. I really enjoyed listening to the lady sitting in the middle for she is extremely funny. I mean, even though she had made a wrong decision to take drugs, she admitted her mistake and now she’s not ashamed of herself. She’s now actually the head prefect who leads the other girls. I really hope that when she comes out one day, she wouldn’t go back to drugs again. Then the next trainee asked the second question, which everyone thought was a stupid one - “Don’t you think that all of you are stupid to get involved in drugs just because of boys?” When she asked that question, all the boys were like so unpleased even though some joked along. The girls on the other hand were laughing and making fun of the boys. But seriously, we thought that this is a ridiculous question that never should have been asked. However, the 22-year-old girl answered that question brilliantly. She explained that no matter what, every girl needs a boy in her lives and that they are not stupid for wanting a man in their lives. She told us that not all men are evil because they are good ones out there as well. They were just unlucky to have bumped into some dishonest men. She advised the girls to be more vigilant of boys and told the boys to be good. I am really impressed by the way the girl answered that question; put me in her shoes and I will definitely stammer. We only managed to ask 2 questions as we have really limited time. When the session had ended, our teacher, Cikgu Ramli gave a short speech and expressed that he was truly touched by the girls in the centre (we actually saw tears in his eyes) He also thanked the centre for enlightening us on the consequences of taking drugs. Before we left the centre, we sang the Khidmat Negara (National Service) song entitled ‘Wira-wirawati’ as a gift to the centre. I also managed to shake some of the girls’ hands. I was really happy. At the end of this visit, I am truly aware about the dangers of drugs and how easily drugs can destroy your whole life. That is why right now I’m a bit sceptical of moving to KL to continue my studies. I mean, what if I accidentally mix with the wrong bunch of people and get tangled up with drugs? I dread to even think about it. But I do have a little faith left in myself and I really hope that somehow God would be there next to me in everything. Besides I do have a strong family behind me to support and encourage me.

With Lots of Love & Hugs & Kisses & Chris Richardson's scent from BabyT ;