03 August 2012

With a sigh (Pt 13) – See the difference


Watch the two pictures below. Can you see a major difference between Picture A and Picture B?



Picture A




Picture B



The four thirteen-year old children above are among a group of ten Form 1 pupils attending classes at Almanar. They are from Darul Akhyar ( the home for orphans and children of poor family) situated one kilometer away from our home (click HERE).


Selected early this year from various localities in the state these less fortunate children go to the same school as Arif of our previous posting. In the month of March ten of them began classes at Almanar. They are made up of eight cute little girls and two healthy boys who are often mistaken for twins.



Ten Form 1 children from Darul Akhyar

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At this point let me go back to ‘see-the-difference’ above.


Does the difference lie in their dresses, smiles, standing positions or something else?


You are spot on if you notice that the three children in the second picture, unlike those ten in Picture A, have glasses on. The next natural question is why three children are with glasses and not all the four. There is a story behind this.


In the class-room ten days ago I suddenly became aware of great haste among a few of them copying notes from their neighbours’ books instead of copying what I had written on the white board. Experience told me that there were short-sighted children among the ten kids. But I never bargained for an unusual occurrence of four out of ten having eyesight problems. This must be a record of sort. And this had not caught my attention until that day.


Apparently their teachers knew of their problems but no help was promised or forthcoming. I have often wondered if a school should not in the first instance be made responsible for detecting eyesight problems among children. A class room is a good place to detect short-sightedness. The case can be serious when one sitting in the front row chooses to copy from a neighour’s book and those in the back quite happily copy straight from the board.


It hurts me to see this problem. What happened ten days ago was not the first time. It was pointless for me to question why the school management seemed oblivious to the plight faced by these children. So when the class was over that day I drove the four kids to a familiar optometrist. Two days later the four had their glasses. But the story did not end there.


Three days later, the day I planned to have the group of four photographed for this posting, one girl turned up looking crestfallen. “ Pakcik, cermin saya kena curi.” ( Pakcik, my glasses have been stolen.) Apparently at the end of her first day at school with her new glasses she left them in her school beg to go to the school prayer room. It was not until she was in the school van on the way home when she discovered her new glasses were missing. Thr van driver was kind enough to take her back to school to do a search. But all was in vain.


Once again I drove this girl to the optometrist for a new pair.  "Saya dah bazirkan duit Pakcik” ( I have wasted Pakcik’s money) She moaned bitterly on our way back to her ‘home. I realised how hurt she was. Money was everything to this child. My hope is that they would see what their success in their studies means to me; and hopefully these children would one day see the light at the end of the tunnel and grow to appreciate the true worth of money.
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That story explains why one girl in Picture B is without glasses. Today they all can clearly see the white board and, for a change, clearly see Pakcik’s face which is not so bad after all despite warts and wrinkles! I can now lie on my back after ‘tarawih’ prayers drawing a long sigh.




Berkhidmat kerana Tuhan untuk kemanusiaan.

15 comments:

kaykuala said...

Dear Pak Cik,
I can only wonder in awe on the unselfish happenings benefiting the new kids. Many were aware of their plight but only you grappled with the problems to provide solutions. They're are lucky to be in good hands!

Wishing Pak Cik and Mak Cik and everyone at al Manar Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, Maaf Dzahir Batin.

Hank

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Dear Pakcik,
Despite the spectacles, one of the boys still squint. I guess old habits die hard. Hmm....Mama is now wondering what happens to the 18 boys and girls we gave glasses to a few months ago. Poor girl....I wonder if the thief is also shortsighted. har har har *evil laughs*

Al-Manar said...

Hank,

What is odd is the fact that it was really a simple problem which required a simple solution. The small sum involved could come from anywhere. Rezeki yang Tuhan bagi banyak dan datang dengan pelbagai cara.

Kami berdua pun mengucap selamat hari raya dan maaaf dzahir batin kepada sdr Hank sekeluarga

Al-Manar said...

C-f-S

The short sighted thief could not see that the object was nothing more than a cheap pair of glasses. Now how about finding out about the 18 kids and write something about it. Do 'cat's eyes' ever need glasses or are they themselves made of glass? Smile!

Unknown said...

Tuan Al-Manar,

Saya beremosi membaca catatan ini.Tidak ramai 'di luar sana' mengetahui perkara ini.

KotaStar said...

Sdr AlManar,
Dalam bulan yang baik dan mulia ini sdr berdua telah manfaatkan anak-anak yatim dengan memberi hadiah yg tak ternilai. Semoga mereka lebih celek dari semua segi dan InsyaAllah memberi apa yang diharapkan nanti.

Let's hope we will be more considerate and give willingly ... even our desire to help. Salam

Al-Manar said...

Ujang Kutik,

'Diluar sana' pun ramai yang tahu,Sdr. Tapi maalomlah, ada mata buat tak nampak. Ada telinga buat tak dengar. Begitulah adat dunia.

Terus berpuasa dan selamat hari raya.

Al-Manar said...

Kota Star,

Masing masing ada cara beribadat, Sdr. Kalau yang lebih berada sembelih lembu.

Salam to you and family

naliahmad said...

dear pakchik, i don't know how many times i have said this, and i'll probably say it countless more times...those children are so blessed to have you in their lives.

Wan Sharif said...

FatabakAllah.. May Allah bless you and yours with his everlasting rahmah for helping those needy children.

Al-Manar said...

Nali,

They are lucky to have been picked and given a home by Majlis Ugama (MAIDAM) and the rest follows. God works in myterious ways as they say.

Al-Manar said...

Ayah Wang,

My sweat, yes bur money is not from my pocket. That is the beauty of it. We all need to make an honest effort and HE will bless us with what we need, believe me, Ayah Wang. Balik kampong mana agaknya Ayah Wang tahun ini. Jangan lah dilautan biru ggali miyok gah!

Wan Sharif said...

Balik belaka.. Seberang Baroh dan Dungun... agak celaru sikit.. Anak lelaki cuti Jumaat hingga Isnin aja... masih menuntut.. kalu dok dang nok singgoh di Kallang Marras ..saya susun jari sepuluh.. belang mintok maaf belang ucap Kullu 'am bi Khair

Anonymous said...

salam pak cik,

can i share this story in my facebook?
this story is so touching
regards,
hazimah

Al-Manar said...

Hazimah,

Od course you can. Come here more often espcially the new posting.