A choc-a-bloc start to 2007

It was a quiet beginning to 2007. I had not been well and didn’t feel like going anywhere. So I let my fingers do the walking and looked at my archives. Gosh, I had actually forgotten the second anniversary of choc-a-blog! It was on 24th December 2004 that I gingerly and nervously tested the waters of blogosphere and Dec 24th 2006 zoomed past just like that. Well, actually I was busy on 24th Dec as I was at the airport sending off my sayang mama to, as the media put it “.... Learn More about being a Malay’

Anyway, from my archives I realised that I have acquired some wonderful cyberfriends, many of whom I have met only to strengthen the friendship further. I am touched when I read comments from nicks I have yet to put faces to, I am moved when I receive emails from readers from all over the world who say I touch them with my entries, and I am speechless when I receive gifts and presents from people I have never met. And, I still do not know how to react when I am approached with, “Are you Kak Teh?”

This cyberworld is a wonderful thing when you make it wonderful.

Like I said, I have met many wonderful people. And allow me to share some with you. And there’s a reason why I choose to write about them,

It was while I was reading Dr Ve Thru that I found the wonderful Wonda, a Malaysian living in Japan. She is married to a wonderful Japanese man and she teaches English and Malay. But what made me hooked on Wonda is that, with only one eye, Wonda keeps giving us, her readers, glimpses of life of a Malaysian living in Japan. Wonda lost the central vision of one eye due to
Wet Macular Degeneration disease but she persevered and even if it takes her ages to type out an entry, she never fails to delight us with her narratives. Both her husband and son have been supportive in editing and proofreading her entries. I am so thankful to Wonda who has allowed us gimpses into her life even when vision for her is impaired. Wonda has won writing competitions and had articles published in the Japanese newspapers. There was a time when Wonda wanted to slow down blogging, but for selfish reasons, I told her not to, for only through her I could enjoy these snippets of life in the land of samurais, sushis and geishas.

Wonda’s perseverance reminds me of another friend, who shall remain nameless for now. But suffice to say, it is someone I look up to with admiration. He has been in London with his family for as long as I can remember. When he was registered blind, his determination overode all other feelings such as self pity or helplessness and he decided to write and until now, he has produced three books, and is currently working on another one. He told me, he was determined to write down his family history so that his children and grandchildren could read. Like Wonda, each sentence would take a while for him to produce on the screen. And like Wonda he is blessed with a wonderful support system that is his wife and his children who help to look through his writings. Recently, he won a children’s short story competition and I am still amazed and in awe of his determination.

I have my fullest respects for the likes of Wonda and this friend of mine.

Years ago, when I was just a cub reporter renting a room in Aunty Lucy’s semi in Penang, I used to read to a blind boy, Jason, I think his name was, who used to frequent her place. I remember him wanting to go to the toilet and I jumped up to switch on the lights. Then I realised that people like him although denied of their sights, are blessed with other gifts. They make the best out of something that we take for granted. They see what we choose not to see.

That brings me to another person who opened up a whole new world for me. I have known DrBubbles and his tireless efforts for sick children for some time now. Recently, we have been involved in collecting money for 3 year old Syazwan who is suffering from retina blastoma. He has already lost one eye. And we wanted to make sure that the cancer didn’t spread to the other eye. The internet afforded us the networking that would have been impossible to do say, ten years ago. Through this networking, kind friends in the USA where syazwan was supposed to have his operation initially, collected nearly US8000. Rantauan members pooled together and sent money directly to the mother and those in London met up for a kind of charity lunch. One even offered to pay the cost of the operation first for fear that the cancer might spread if the treatment is delayed. Strangers offered money and even sponsor of food. The cost of operation in the USA proved to be too high and London was to be the best place. The money is now enough, thanks mostly to the generous community in Philadelphia. But while waiting for the doctors’ decision, the tumour in Syazwan's good eye had grown larger. There was no point coming to London. When I received this news from DrBubbles, I just cried and at first I didnt know who to direct my anger to. Should I have gone straight to the press and write aboutthe urgency of the matter? Should I have knocked on doors of people with more influence who could collect money at a drop of a hat? I have told friends who donated and they too were in tears at the feeling of helplessness. A lot of people have done so much but we couldn't beat the speed of cancer.

Yesterday, I received an email from someone in America. We don’t even know each other but through Syazwan, we connected. She was asking me for my address because she was going to send a winter jacket for Syazwan as it is going to be cold for him here. Such is the generosity of everyone. Now he doesnt need the jacket anymore.

Wonda and my writer friend lost their eyesight when they were quite old and had already seen the world and its beauty to be able to describe them in their writings. Syazwan is just three and all these while had only been able to see his parents, his surroundings through one eye and he is very likely to lose another one, even with treatment. But I believe, what Syazwan is not able to see, he can feel. He can feel the love and support and the compassion that people like DrBubbles have given him.

So, I begin this new year with emotions that is choc-a-bloc; grateful for the wonderful and generous friends that God had shown to my door and thankful for the humbling experience after reading and getting to know some people. I am sad that I have not been able to do enough but happy that they is hope that Syazwan too can one day offer us an insight the way Wonda and that writer friend had done to enrich our lives.

God bless.