Outing With Care Home Boys Again

The next day of Christmas, Albert P gave a financial report orally to the Calvary Care Home (CCH) boys and let them decide how they were going to spend their pocket money. After a simple vote by raising hands, the majority preferred an outing to Dataran Pahlawan. Albert and I simply respected the democracy and served as their drivers. Only Isaac who would like to go to Jaya Jusco decided to stay at the Care Home.

During the last outing to Dataran Pahlawan, we were six to be squeezed inside a vehicle. This time, five boys were separated to go with two cars. We had lunch at Sin Hoe Garden, a hawker centre at Bukit Baru. The horror began when we drove towards the town centre at about 2.30pm. We were stuck in a heavy traffic jam which I had already predicted for a Saturday afternoon. In the car, I sent a message to Albert asking him to walk around with his passengers first. When I and my passengers finally arrived at Melaka Raya, we parked at the roadside and walked to the Dataran Pahlawan. Then only I contacted Albert to find out where they were and inform him that Paul and Joseph who had gone their own way would join us later. I was surprised to learn that they were still looking for an available parking space inside the shopping mall!

We met at the cinema reception hall. As the boys had limited budget, they were not keen to watch a movie. So after an ice-cream and a waffle, they started to explore the place. We passed by a shop which was selling fitness equipment. Luke did not hesitate to step on a motorized treadmill. Then Matthew was also curious to test the product.

Daniel started running on the third machine after awhile.

When David finally joined his buddies, the four "ambassadors"

easily attracted the attention of passers-by. Looking at our four energetic CCH boys, Albert and I burst into incessant laughter. Later, they stepped down from the treadmills one by one and proudly announced to us the kilometres each of them had covered, which made us laugh even more.

When the "roadshow" was over, we headed to other shops. The boys were most interested in DVDs

and Play Station (PS2) games.

They seemed to know the location of those shops in the two shopping malls very well even though the outings like this were not frequent.

When we were at a shop at Mahkota Parade where Albert had brought the children to buy Isaac's PS2 last year, a lady recognized the boys immediately and gave compliments to them for being more mature and obedient.

Paul and Joseph appeared again outside a digital station, the boys and Albert's favorite place, to watch a movie on a big television screen.

All of us were happy with the outing, somehow exhausted due to the long wait during the jam, the walking and the hungry stomachs.

Next outing like this? Please wait until next year.