Aidiladha far away from home

Yes, here I am in a land faraway from home.

Celebrating Eid Ul Adha in a very modest way. This 

is mainly due to the security and Covid19 restriction reasons.

I am thankful that I have been granted this chance to be here, in 

the midst of chaos and confusion globally.

Taqabbalallahu minna waminkum

Life comes to a halt

The one fact that everybody would agree is how this current pandemic had halted our overall plan in our lives. So many unfinished business and action for decision being delayed. We are all looking at that caption " When the pandemic ends, I would...." but as how things are looking now, it is far from over at least till the end of the year. It is frustrating that somehow whatever position we are in, we are stuck in this limbo.😌

Social interaction, travelling, family gatherings etc has way too long being abandoned. The EMCO was planned to be over by this Friday but for the Klang Valley and hard hit states, future looks gloomy. Lifting all sanctions now will only create more havoc as if it is not already now. Unless all of us comes to the decision to just let things be if it is about survival of the fittest. I believe the government themselves are overwhelmed and is hoping for the best everytime a new measure is announced with recurrent surges. Pandemic fatigue is taking its toll. We are all stuck in our own situations to plan ourselves out to move on. 

Certainly, certain decisions have to be made. It can be painful but there must be a change to the overall plan rather then hoping to sort it out after the pandemic ends.. which is not looking likely at all.

Aidilfitri memories 1442

It was an Aidifitri to forget because Covid was raging wild. The government announced the MCO 3.0 which forbid any interstate travels. It was thought we could replicate what was done last year but till date, the efforts were not as successful as we want it to be. Hence there I was, celebrating Aidilfitri in Iskandar Puteri alone - nasib baik still boleh pergi sembahyang raya so it was not too bad. Because I was alone, so i "broke" the rule then by visiting Pak Dan and Hady in their homes for some raya delicacies. Day 2 was oncall as usual :)

I could have gone back to KL but I did not think it was wise to risk my parents of the possibility of spread. However, I managed to give them a gift which i reckon made both Papa and Mama happy. A beautiful fondant cake made by Marlynn Rose capturing the family of 5 celebrating Aidilfitri. She is indeed a very talented artist with her details that made a lot of customers really happy with her work. I must say I am superly impressed and thankful to her efforts to make Aidilfitri memorable (in a way) for my parents. Mama was very appreciative that she "tak sampai hati" to eat the cake even after 1 week! hahaha

                                                

Aidiladha is coming soon and today Malaysia showed 11k positives which is our largest number ever. Somehow, we are not in control of the situation despite the constant denial by those in charge. 

Solitude of reflection

Somehow I have a feeling that I'll be more active on my blog in this coming few weeks. I wish I can tell those reading this blog why but perhaps when I would want to say so haha But then again, sapa sangatlah yang baca blogs sekarang kan. I can only see this as my "Doogie Howser" journal for future reflections. My kids are more internet learned now due to Covid19 and it will only be time before they may find this and perhaps reading what has transpired since this blog came up when they were brought into this world. 

Its interesting that in the current unsorted Covid19 situation, we are all pushed back to reflect the meaning of our lives. Covid19 has robbed us the life that we know, it is certainly different with all the "act of terrorism" make us live in fear and uncertain.

It is bad enough that the 2021 strain is outsmarting us by targeting different profile and presents slightly different to those we had last year. We thought we have cornered it well but the narrative remains that we are still behind to get this whole nightmare awakened.

Honestly, in my whole response as a Malaysian I have tried to do my best to contribute. Not just at personal level but in my expertise capacity to help my fellow colleagues who are at the verge of burning out after 1.5 years struggling with this pandemic. At the moment, the exit strategy seemed to be the mass vaccination that would relief our healthcare system and perhaps a light at the end of this tunnel we are in. 

Saying that, we still have to wait the outcome of Euro 2020 and soon the Olympics. If the surge is under our control, then thank god we are on our way to resume the 2 year vacuum of what life is supposed to be. 

In this coming month I don't really know which part of my emotion that I will be exploring but I am sure there will be. In this chaos that I am in, time is surprisingly a surplus to appreciate.

The biggest adventure of my life

I am now in the biggest adventure of my life. I've always dreamt to do this. Always on my bucket list and this is the moment and time. Pray that all is well.

Insha Allah. 

The surge of Delta in Malaysia

The one thing i never understood is its not that the current situation was not expected. The europeans, the americans made plans of how to cope with it in stages. Of course they had to skip the earlier stagrs and cope with the overwhelming situation last year. However, countries like ours did not really take heed and i guess hoping for miracles. Or best still, its all just a nightmare! 

When the emergency ordinance was pronounced earlier this year, I seriously thought that it was well thought and needed only execution. So high was my hope that after being involved with few projects during this period, I am utterly disappointed that we did not have a complete full proof plan of how to cope with covid critical surge. We were quite good when the disease was confined to Category 1-3 but as the numbers of Cat 4 & 5 became evident with the delta strain, we are truly struggling as a nation. We are not so well off to start with hence the repeated measures that affect the economy is straining our coffers to the max. 

Alhamdulillah, I have had the opportunity to contribute when ad-hoc plans were made to increase the ICU capacity. The 4s principle of staff has always been neglected and this is where education and preparedness come into the picture. That is the only way to ensure continuity of workforce to cope with the severe complications of this disease. HPKK and Kepala Batas had this issue and as the surge continued, they just had to cope.

The Labuan project is i gather the most meaningful as it was truly needed. Labuan was not able to cope in all measures given their limitations. When i say limitations, they had numerous challenges which everybody had to think out of the box to think what is best for the field hospital. Working with the Malaysian Armed Forces personnels was also memorable :- a collaboration worth of its kind when an NGO like MERCY Malaysia was able to contribute towards this mammoth task.