Salam Aidilfitri

I hope it's not too late to wish all bloggers Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri... Maaf Zahir dan Batin..

Ikhlas dari Anom dan Nasir..

Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Al-Mubarak

To all readers,

Selamat Menyambut Ramadan Al-Mubarak.. semoga kita semua dapat menjalani ibadah puasa dengan sempurna..Amin..

From:

Anom & Nasir

Mexico Trip - Conference part 1

After the long awaited months and a lot of hiccups.. finally Mexico came.

The journey as expected was really.. really long.. I was in my most comfortable outfit--sampaikan Craig, Francyne's husband said "Anom, I've never seen you so casual -- even while we were travelling, you were always in heels and proper office attire". Craig used to be my boss before, hence the comment.. Abih dah la long flight -- I have to walk a lot and I was in my sport shoes(pasal kaki masih sakit lagi kalau jalan banyak2) takkan nak pakai smart2 plak..

Sampai kat LA, we separated from Francyne & co.. and continued our journey to Mexico City.. The stewardess on the flight to Mexico was very, very unfriendly -- tak inform pun kat we all yang we have to isi the immigration form. Dah la bagi food yang salah to me, nasib baik tak de mood nak makan..

Anyway, the conference was fun.. the hotel was so-so, the traffic in Mexico city was horrible. Every morning we have to be ready for the bus to get us to the conference at 6.45am... That means, wake up at around 5.00am.. Jet lag was not so bad.. But the first day was quite bad.. All of us was like zombies at 12.00 noon onwards -- because that was about 1.00am kat Malaysia.

The following days were better.. afternoons are the worst la, but we all got over it fine. Cuma disebabkan terlalu disoriented, the first morning tengah bersiap-siap, instead of pakai my contact lenses, I threw (curah) the lenses into the sink -- how stupid was that!! So disebabkan tak bawak spare.. terpaksa la pakai glasses yang dah teruk conditionnye the whole conference.

On Monday 4th August night, we were invited to attend the Kaiser Family Foundationnye dinner - in Westin Hotel in Centro Historico.. We were like very late because we were stuck in the traffic. We took the bus, had to do a bit of "Amazing Race" round the block at night in Mexico city before we reach the hotel.

The hotel setting was very 'funky' -- with a lot of shiny red, black and white colour furnishings. It was dark as well.. Somehow I felt like I was in one of the CSI Miami settings -- u know, the crime scene set before the crime happens. Anyway, at the dinner, we were assigned different tables to sit and we have a name card to put in front of us at the table so that others at the table know you.

At my table, I was surrounded by Americans. Front, right and left. The hot topic was the US Presidential election.. Eventhough I didn't follow the US politics that much, when I asked questions, they took the time to explain. That was the great thing about being there at the table.. Someone asked me about the Malaysian politics, suprisingly they haven't heard of Mahathir Mohammad, much less Anwar Ibrahim -- though they heard about the Petronas Twin Towers. It was great fun..

Francyne sat at the table behind me, she sat with a couple of journalists from Caribbean, a British woman named Penny who worked with Kaiser. Later that night, Penny told me that she went to school with a Malaysian princess in the 1970s.. She can't remeber her full name but she promised to google her and let me know when she gets back. That reminds me, I have to email her to get that Princess' name.

On that table too, there was this girl named Marvilyn Brown -- she's HIV positive and she used to be a guest in Oprah Winfrey Show. She wrote a book -- and an advance reader edition was distributed FOC at the dinner. I got her to autographed my copy -- when Francyne introduced her to me, Francyne told me that she was in Oprah and me being a little bit blur -- lambat respond -- so I think she wasn't quite happy la when I didn't recognise her -- a bit of attitude la..Yela... how said, you became a celebrity because of HIV.. how sad kan.. tu pun ada hati nak eksyen.. I haven't even started reading the book yet. Tengokla, when everything is settled, I'll start..

Richard Gere was supposed to come to dinner tapi he was shooting a movie somewhere so he didn't make it. His brother David Gere was there, but we did know about it until a couple of days after that.. Kalau tidak brother pun brother la..Anyway, end of the year masa kat Bali during our General Assembly nanti, Stephen (Kaiser representative) promised to try and get Richard to come to the event.. Orait..ada la can kan nak bergambar dengan dia.. hahaha..Berangan Anom.. eh.. bukan I sorang si Francyne and Lisa pun sama gak..

Other than that, saw Bill Clinton and Annie Lennox in person -- of course body guards were all around takde la dapat dekat kan.. Also was face to face with this actress -- Sheryl Lee Ralph which at that point I can't remember her name, otherwise would have asked to take a picture with her. Anyway, a youth was busy interviewing her so malas la nak kacau daun gak kan.. she played Rita's (Lauryn Hill) mother in Sister Act 2.

Too many things happened at the conference -- the whole conference was divided into 3 -- the Global Village -- where all the fun, happening things went on, the sessions at the Centro Banamex and the exhibition which was situated on the same floor with the Media Centre.

At the conference, for the first time I saw real life protests, -- dalam pelbagai2 bentuk -- ada yang protes terbaring, ada yang took their top off -- had their body painted with all the protest messages and just stand there at the media center for at least 45minutes -- can u imagine?? I was so shocked, tak teringat nak tangkap gambar..Even if I teringat pun.. rasanya tak sanggup nak amik..so humiliating.. Even Francyne yang mat salleh tu pun tak sanggup nak tengok..

A lot la was going on, tak tercerita the whole event punye coming and going -- it was labelled a Social Conference as a lot social things went on -- not just the serious conference stuff. Most importantly - this conference gave the people who are affected by HIV a platform to come out in the open and say what they need to the public be it men who have sex with men, transvestites, sex workers and others.

Lupa plak -- I also met with this Mufti from Zambia -- he's part of this network called - African Network of Religious Leaders affected or lifes are affected by HIV/AIDS - ANERELA+ .. He wanted to know the view of our religious leaders on the topic -- I told him it's very much a taboo to talk about HIV in Malaysia. He's interested to talk to Malaysian Imams or Muftis to change that view because HIV knows no boundaries.

The interesting part that I discovered was how Muslims from other countries have a bigger perspective of the issue and they want to discuss it -- because to them, it is there, it's affecting people especially the young ones -- if you ignored it, it will get worse. In fact, 2 Iranian doctors were supposed to present papers in a couple of the sessions but they weren't able to make it due to some technical problem.

Next I will update about my involvement in a HIV messaging and jalan2 experience in Mexico and LA. Enjoy some of the pictures below. (K. Ja/Shana -- enjoy, sorry na lambat update..)

In LA airport waiting for our luggage -- si kecik ni tak letih pun.. still full of energy

The Centro Banamex -- where it all happened..

Annie Lennox -- at one of the press conference

Bill Clinton speaking at his Keynote address session..

Methadone Man & Buprenorphine Babe
Superheroes Raise Awareness of Lifesaving Medicines for Drug Users -- Lisa stopped them to take pictures

Anom & Lisa going through booths at the Global Village

The normal protests..

Dewi - Metro TV journalist doing her stand up for the camera crew for her news piece.

Us three with Glenn -- a participanting journalist from Papua New Guinea who is also an Australian. Great guy..

Us again with Stephen from Kaiser -- notice the spectacles ?? Hodoh betul..hahaha..

Indian performers in Global village.. or maybe it was another form of protests -- tak sure la..

Just got back!!

It's been a while since I blogged. Just got back from a very, very long trip.. masih lagi ada jetlag..tapi kerja dah kena start.. Will update soon with lots of pictures and stories..

Birthday and PTD

Birthday cake for the birthday girl..

Last Monday was Francyne's birthday (21st July). But she was smart - she took leave that day and told us that she won't be in the office on Friday (18th) afternoon. She had a feeling that we were going to do something. We were smarter -- we did a suprise do for her on the 17th afternoon.. here are some pix.. Happy Birthday Francyne..

'I know you guys are up to something'...



The ladies in the new wing with the birthday girl..

Also, last week Meor received a good news, he got accepted as PTD and now has to go for a 2 weeks course in INTAN, Kluang Johor. He stopped by our house yesterday before continuing his journey to Kluang this morning. Congratulations Meor!! You deserve it..

Saudara Baru...

Earlier this year (I think during February ke March gitu), dengan kuasa Allah ntah macamana me and hubby 'ter'berkenalan dengan seorang saudara baru dari France. Ali Jerome nama Islamnya - nama French dia - Jeromé Armenío. He's from Sete, South of France.

Kebetulan hari Sabtu tu, dalam keboringan, hubby ajak kluar jalan-jalan (masa tu lebih kurang pukul 2.30 ptg). Tak tahu mana nak tuju, drive ke area Lake Garden tapi memandangkan keadaan tengahari terik tu, in the end we decided to go to Muzium Kesenian Islam (memandangkan selalu asyik ter'miss' je peluang nak ke sana).

It was a good trip - the models of masjid2 terkemuka di dunia was marvellous. We spent an hour jugak la membelek model2 masjid kat situ. Bila we all move on to the other part of the exhibits, terserempak la dengan sorang mamat 'mix' ni. We all mula2 ingatkan org uzbekistan or maybe orang Bosnia ke because he has that kind of look.

Ali came from a family yang tak ada agama (atheis).. lama sebenarnya dia mencari dari satu ugama keugama yg lain, kata Ali hatinya rasa tak selesa, dia rasa jiwanya masih kosong. Masa umur dia 17 tahun (this was 4/5 years ago), dia mula mengenali ugama Islam dan terus tertarik. Yang menariknya tu, he manage to find Islam against all odds. Ye la kat sana kan masjid tak banyak macam kat sini. Tak ade sesiapa yang bagi dia guidance, kawan-kawan semua question dia kenapa nak masuk Islam - because to them, Islam is associated with terrorism. Tak ramai orang2 kat situ tau pasal Islam..Makanan halal, memang susah la nak dapat - he said he survived dgn vegetables saja masa awal2 tu.

Mulanya dia sorok dari pengetahuan keluarganya, after few weeks mak dia insist Ali to tell the truth (mungkin naluri ibu) sebab tengok perubahan dari segi tingkah laku anaknya. The moment Ali explain everything to his mother, terus mak Ali ni tarik tangan anak dia pergi mini market halal kat area bandar Sete. Kata Ali dia terharu tengok ibunya bersungguh nak mencari barangan halal. Ali rasa serba salah nak explain bab minyak masak, kuali & utensils lain.

Memang benarlah spt yg dikatakan 'kasih ibu berpanjangan' - mak Ali kata jgn risau dia akan belikan set yg baru khusus utk masakan halal utk Ali sorang. Masa ni kata Ali dia benar-benar terharu sangat melihatkan pengorbanan ibunya.

In fact, bab makanan halal nilah Ali faham hikmah disebaliknya. Adik lelaki dia siap puji masakan mak dia lagi, bila mak dia masak halal dishes - 'Kenapa hari ni mak masak lain dari yg dulu?...sedap betullah mak masak hari ni.' So Ali mula realised dia dah buat keputusan yg tepat dan dia rasa bertambah yakin dgn ajaran Islam. In fact kata Ali, the beautiful part is from that day onwards mak dia terus masak makanan halal sbb the whole family termasuk kakak, bapak, datuk & nenek Ali dah prefer masakan halal. He's really hoping that one day the whole family will join him as a muslim. Tak putus dia berdoa pada Allah.

Anyway, tujuan utama dia datang ke Malaysia sbb nak melawat dan bersolat di dalam sebanyak mungkin masjid yang dia boleh sepanjang dia ada kat Malaysia. Disebabkan asyik bersembang dengan dia sepanjang masa tu, we all pun ajak la dia ikut we all lepas dah habis kat Muzium tu.. Dia dengan gembiranya accepted the invitation. Tapi dengan syarat, we all kena pegi solat Asar kat Masjid Negara dulu dengan dia. After solat, we went makan-makan with him kat Bangsar and eventually dropped him off kat Bukit Bintang area where he was staying. He left for France the next day. Since then, we've been constantly in touch with him.

Interestingly immediately lepas peluk agama Islam, dia sambung belajar bahasa Arab for one whole year untuk memahami kandungan Al-Quran. Recently he completed his studies in Mandarin language diShanghai. Rasanya macam he took Nabi Muhammad's s.a.w. advise literally - pergi menuntut ilmu hingga ke Negeri China.

He is now back in France and planning to pursue his studies in University of Paris. He told us he keep telling his family about Malaysian, how welcome he felt when he was here (we all la tu.. hehehe) and now his family felt that he might eventually live in Malaysia - mana tak nya sebab kata Ali dia asyik citer pasal Malaysia je..

Masa makan2 kat Bangsar.. sempat jugak bergambar

Bila dengar cerita Ali dan tengok keazaman dan tekad Ali dalam mendalami Islam, nampak benar kesungguhannya. Sepatutnya kita lebih bersyukur kerana dilahirkan sebagai seorang Islam.

HIV/AIDS - Dulu vs Sekarang

Dulu sebelum I mula kerja kat ABU ni, tak banyak yang I tau pasal HIV and AIDS ni.. Sekarang ni alhamdullilah dah banyak la sikit ilmu yang diperolehi especially bila I dapat jumpa dengan "people who live with HIV and AIDS" not only in Malaysia but also from other countries in Asia-Pacific..

Disebabkan my medium is media -- whenever we attend seminar and conference, mesti akan kedengaran suara2 NGOs or UN agencies yang menyuarakan rasa tak puas hati dengan media.. Sebab according to them, media la penyebabnya why the discrimination and stigma against PLWHA started.. And it's still much alive in our communities. I guess there are some truth to it..
Ye la dulu2 kalau kita tengok kat TV -- messaging dia balik2 -- HIV/AIDS ialah penyakit yang berjangkit, berjangkit melalui seks bebas, not curable -- so mestila orang ramai jadi takut dengan disease tu..And bermulalah diskriminasi terhadap orang2 yang menghidapnya..

Itulah sebabnya sekarang ni, kami sedang mencuba untuk merubah tanggapan ini. 'Kami' disini bermaksud our little team kat office ni (consists 3 ladies) who are working hard to help change that perception. However, it will definitely take time -- our main role now is to change the broadcaster's perception first then only can the audiences perception change.

In order to change the broadcaster's perception, we have to train mainly the producers and reporters on the sensitivity of the issue (language/picture usage etc) and not further discriminate the PLWHA. A lot of other issues pertaining to confidential rights, verification of facts and preventive measures which are acceptable in their communities that journalists/producers need to understand.

Because of that, we are given the mandate by the Global Media AIDS Initiative to bring along about 6 journalists from the Asia-Pacific Region -- namely Thailand, Indonesia, Fiji, Malaysia, Pakistan and China to the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City next month. Estimated about 25,000 delegates will be at this conference including people who are living with HIV/AIDS. I really hope that this will be an eye opener for the journalists as well as myself. And I also hope that this small steps we are taking will eventually benefit the PLWHA and ease their burden in their life.

So, it's definitely not just a makan angin trip for me.. it is work..