Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Rebuilding Through Counselling


I read an article in a magazine that a teenager was sad all the time. What a pity that many people, young or old are suffering in silence not knowing what to do.

I would suggest seeking proper counseling with the intention of rebuilding oneself and the courage to allow nature to unfold its way. It may sound easy but if one don’t try, there will be no gain. When we are physically sick, we seek medical treatment but when we are emotionally unwell we fail to realize that psychological counseling is necessary.

It is a great taboo for people to seek psychological counseling compared to medical attention. This perception does not hold water anymore. By allowing someone whom you can trust to share in your struggles will alleviate the burden off your shoulders.

Sunday, October 19, 2008

First Holy Communion


This was my second year as a Sunday School teacher. I had 18 wonderful children. 14 girls and 4 boys. They received Jesus for the very first time at Holy Communion on 19 October 2008. They were all dressed in white and they girls had veils over they heads and a hairband decorated with white flowers while the boys wore with long sleeves shirts and pants with a white bow. When the bell rang they moved gracefully down the aisle with a packed congregation.
The children were all beaming with smiles and exceitment and the congregation were in full union with them. Two children, Natasha Tan and Stephaneus Bismo were chosen to read the Word of God with carefully punctuations. During the offertory, the following gifts were offered. 2 lighted candles, a Bible, a rosary, 2 bouquet of white roses, bread and wine and love offerings from the congregation. The children knelt prayerfully anxiously waiting to receive our Lord Jesus at Holy Communion.
After the beautiful Mass celebration the children were treated to a brunch organized by theirs parents with a sumptious spread of food.
It also coincided with our Parish priest, Msgr. Daniel Lim's birthday and the children sang the birthday song accompanied by the guitarists, Priscilla and Charles Coombs and the children raised their hands in prayer asking the Good Lord to bless our priest.
As a teacher I am truly very glad that the parents were so participative and supportive of their children's faith commitment with their untiring efforts bringing them week after week. Most of them had very good track record with more than 90% attendance.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Prevention is better than cure!

Last night I visited a relative at Ampang General Hospital and I recounted an incident that happened eight years ago to my late father at University Hospital.
After eight long years it happened again right infront of my eyes and it seemed like a wake up call for me to do something as a citizen.
My father was hospitalized and when he was discharged he was too weak to walk so my sister had to borrow a wheelchair from the nurse to ferry him to the car. The nurse instructed my sister to return the wheelchair to where it belonged after use.
I then waited for the doctor's report and my husband went to the pharmacy for the medication. My sister wheeled my father to the waiting lounge near the pickup area and she obediently returned the wheelchair to where it belonged while my father waited for us at the lounge.
When we arrived at the waiting lounge, he was nowhere to be seen and we thought that he had wandered off. We were frantic and went helter skelter looking for him and when we bumped into a security guard, we sought his assistance. He informed us that an elderly man had just collapsed and was taken to the emergency ward.
We were told by the nurse that my father was very sick and that the doctors and nurses were trying to resucitate him. After a while, my father was wheeled into ICU and he was on the life support machine and was called to the Lord the following day.
I clearly remember that it was 31.12.1999 and all over the world people were very anxious about this date because of a possible computer system crash after midnight. Many corporations took precautionary measures running into thousands of dollars equipping themselves with special software programs to eliminate any possible crash on 01.01.2000.
Family members were all gathered at the waiting hall that evening. Everyone was very anxious as the clock was ticking away. When it was almost twelve midnight we were all tensed up and thank God the computer systems went on without a snag. A big thank you to the inventor.
When I was at Ampang General Hospital, I saw a lady who did the same as what my sister did eight years ago. I guess the man on the wheelchair was the lady's father. It went pass me but I didn't notice anything unusual until she back with an empty wheelchair and headed for the lift, I suddenly recalled the unfortunate incident that happened to my late father.
Looked as though my father was speaking to me from the grave that a solution to this problem was necessary to prevent any further unnecessary mishaps like people dying helplessly and waiting aimlessly.
So I called the hospital to lodge my complaint and a few days later the Administrator called to thank me for highlighting the problem. I very happy that I managed to do something good for society.