Adding Fragrance To A Life II

I was about to leave my house last Saturday when Albert P rang me up. He told me that my scheduled tuition with Daniel had to be cancelled because Sis Annie had just taken him away to her house for the weekend. I had planned that study programme to fill up my free time after helping Albert to improve the new Calvary Care Home (CCH) blog, and before cooking dinner for the CCH children. I was given a choice to just rest at home. As I had relaxed the whole morning by doing housework, I was refreshed again to spend my afternoon doing something more meaningful.

"I'm sure you know what to do at 3.30."

At that moment, actually I myself had no idea what to do during the two hours before I went to CCH. But when I came out from Albert's house later at 3.30pm, I had three options in my mind: 1. Hanging around at a supermarket to buy food to cook for dinner. 2. Visiting Shiv and 3. Visiting Kit.

God spoke to my heart to head for Baha'i Centre where Kit often spent his weekends alone if he had no visitors and if nobody brought him out to attend any functions. I had never been to his place at that hour, so he was surprised to see me there.

"Come, let's have tea!" He was all smiles.

"Wait a moment! I'm not going to accept any reward before I've worked."

He usually offered me a drink and snacks after I had laboured in his garden in the early evening. That afternoon, I was not keen to weed under the hot sun.

"Today, let me clean your room as I promised to you last year."

I asked for a rag from Kit, wetted it and began to rub it against the dusty and dirty surface of a cabinet, while rearranging bottles which contained tea leaves, nuts and other dried food. I was suddenly reminded by God's words:

“Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. (Matthew 6:1-4, NKJV)

I was feeling the real joy of helping someone without the intention of being seen by other people. About ten minutes later, a car drove into the centre. It was Mr Siew, an old friend of Kit's, who was back to Melaka and who came to pay Kit a visit. I greeted him and continued my work.

"Are you a Baha'i?"

I smilingly shook my head. "I'm a Christian." Kit added, "She's a staunch Christian!"

"You're doing a good deed."

"I just imitate what Jesus did."

"I can see that Jesus' teaching has done something great in your life." In my heart I replied, "Not only Jesus' teaching, but His acts to die on the cross, to wash His disciples' feet..."

I cleared a chair seat which was covered by newspapers. Then on behalf of Kit, I invited Mr Seow to sit down and have a drink. At first he kindly turned down my offer. I thought he was going to leave soon. After some time, he finally took the seat and carried on his conversation with Kit.

I moved from one cabinet to another. With Kit's permission, I opened all the doors and drawers of the three pieces of furniture. Several unsealed packets of biscuits, tea bags, two cartons of canned drink, empty bottles, containers, etc, had been left inside. The edible items either had expired or were going to expire. So I took them out and laid on the first cabinet to let Kit decide on his own what to do with them later. And I threw all the useless bottles into the dustbin. Next, I mopped Kit's dining table and removed the old newspapers on which he practised calligraphy.

While I was spring-cleaning that corner of the room, I sometimes talked to both elderly men. I learned that Mr Seow, 69, had been knowing my former colleague Saratha, now in her fourth year of retirement, since she was a little girl.

"Have you known one another because of the Baha'i faith?"

My question launched Mr Seow's interest to give a brief testimony of how he had almost become a Christian but finally embraced the Baha'i faith. He even cited verses from the Bible and interpreted them from the Baha'i point of view and shared with me some of their prophet's teaching. Apart from expressing my opinion to disagree with the statement that "All the religions are the same, only the interpretations are different" and standing on my belief that "Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Him" (John 14:6), I did not attempt to debate with him further over the issue. Recalling the Message version of Matthew 10:14 which I had studied in the previous MLM class, I chose to focus on my chore.

When it was almost 5.30pm, I stopped my work in the room, took a drink and munched a few cookies. Then I began to wash a dozen of empty containers in a sink outside. Saratha who lived nearby arrived with her nephew. Mr Seow had telephoned her to inform her of his visit at Kit's place. He also highly publicised my service as a house-keeper there.

When he saw Saratha, he said to her, "What happens to our Baha'is? We have a lot of teaching. But where are the good deeds?"

I would have loved to spend more time chatting with my kind former colleague. But thinking of my CCH children who had no food on their dining table, I had to make a move.

I told Kit that it was only my first round of cleaning and that I would tackle other messy corners during my future visits. When I shook Mr Seow's hand and said goodbye,

he said, "I thank you on behalf of the Baha'is and the whole world for your good deeds."

When I heard that, I felt a crown was being placed on my head instantly. That was how my Father God who had seen in secret rewarded me openly through this man's mouth.

I was not overwhelmed by the compliment. My deed was just the manifestation of my faith (James 2:14) so that men would glorify my Father God (Matthew 5:16). However, as I was reversing my car in a rush, I slightly knocked on Saratha's car which was being parked behind. Thank God both vehicles were intact. But I immediately thought of Albert's comment after my previous accident that I needed deliverance!

I apologized to Saratha who simply smiled. Then I waved my hand again from my car. Mr Seow raised his voice, "Please take care of yourself. Our world still needs you to continue to do good deeds!"

Oh! A second crown.

Adding Fragrance To A Life I

That Saturday afternoon, I received a call while washing the dishes.

"Hi, Lee Sah. I'm Kit. Are you free this evening?"

"We have the boys' fellowship tonight at Calvary Care Home and I'm going. Is there anything?"

"We're going to celebrate Baha'i New Year with performances at Baha'i Centre at seven o'clock. Dinner will be served. I'd like to invite you."

"Happy New Year, Kit! But sorry that I won't be able to join your celebration and stay for dinner. Nevertheless, I'll drop by at your place at about half past five. Will you be around?"

During several months last year, I often popped into Kit's place on Tuesdays to help him in gardening, especially removing weed. Since I was more involved in Calvary Care Home (CCH) last November, I paid less attention to this elderly man, knowing that another young man also visited him quite regularly.

Early this year when I talked to Saratha on the phone, she told me that Kit somehow looked forward to my presence which used to add colours to his routine. Not long after this, Kit personally telephoned me during the Chinese New Year, asking me how I was going and inviting me to have a share of his cookies.

I drove to Baha'i Centre for the second time this year. Kit was neither in the front yard nor in his room. Since the gate and doors were open, I knew he must be in the new garden near his bed. He had transfered evening primroses there in order to smell the fragrance of the flowers every night, which evoked the strong memory of his stay in Taiwan.

Since the end of last year, the number of plants around the swing had increased.

I also noticed that weeds had grown tall. Besides Kit himself, sitting on the wheelchair, whose hands could only reach the wild plants right in front of him, nobody else had helped him in weeding. So I picked up again my old job as an assistant gardener.

My appointment at CCH had been postponed to 7pm. I took my time to pull out unwanted grass with its roots. People of the Baha'i faith dressed in their new clothes began to come into the centre for the preparations of the event. I suddenly felt compassion for Kit who was staying alone in his messy room which was just next to the beautifully decorated hall where the Baha'is gathered for functions.

Some people were curious to see me squatting among the plants. Kit told them my identity as Saratha's former colleague and as a Christian. When they complimented me on my act, I simply smiled in return. And I prayed in my heart that one day they would know the truth of the salvation through Jesus.

When I said goodbye to Kit, he asked me, "What time will your gathering be over?"

"I think at about nine o'clock."

"You can come over after that. We'll still be around."

"But I'll have two boys with me. I'm going to bring them back to my house."

"Just pass by here. We'll have a lot of food..."

I did not promise, because I did not think I would have the energy to drive everywhere with my passengers at night.

I started my car engine. Added to my collection inside the car were flowers releasing pandan aroma which Kit had asked me to pluck from his garden and a red toy car which Luke had left.

I made up my mind that as long as I was able to, I would continue to add fragrance and colours to Kit's and the CCH children's lives.

My New Experiences At Agape Care Centre

Since last July, I have been indirectly helping the single mothers at Agape Care Centre (ACC) by looking after their children, supervising the children's homework, and assisting in the staff's office work.

However, when I brought Luke with me there that Friday, I looked more like a weary single mother who was seeking day care service for her child. ACC usually only took in children under twelve. That school holiday week, the chairwoman Caroline's two visitors from New Zealand happened to be there to run some activities with the children. As Siew Hong needed my service as an English-Mandarin interpreter, she gave permission to my thirteen-year-old "son" to stay with the rest.

Even though I did not fully understand Bryan

and Valery's kiwi accent,

some children were already familiar with the game which the old couple had introduced the previous day. Ten players were divided into five groups. It consisted of drawing the different parts of an insect according to the number of spots of the dice each player got. The condition was that one must always start with the head or body before he or she could continue with the eyes, mouth, legs or tail.

Whoever completed the insect won the game and remained seated. The loser would have to move to the next desk.

Luke was unlucky with the dice. The first two times, he did not have a chance to even finish half of his insect. Diana and I urged him, "Luke! Pray! Pray before you roll!" Finally he won over Siew Hong's son Nathanael.

The toddlers were too young to join. So they were doing their own drawings in the next room.

After lunch, I stayed with Siew Hong in the office to help her to key in data. In the middle of the afternoon, she received a call from a depressed lady. As Siew Hong was going to do a visitation to this client's place, she invited me along as an assistant counsellor even though I had neither qualification nor experience in the domain.

Siew Hong explained briefly the case. SC, a Taiwanese, had been married to a Malaysian JX in Taiwan and gave birth to a daughter who was currently thirteen years old. JX was not very committed to their marriage and returned to Malaysia alone five years later. SC who was bound by her working contract in Taiwan only flew to Malaysia with their daughter to visit JX during the following seven years. Last year, she was finally released from her job and decided to save her marriage. With JX's arrangement, SC and the daughter came to Malaysia in January and settled in a flat. Upon arrival, she realized that JX had no intention to play the role as her husband aside from being a loving father to their daughter. And he seemed to be having an affair with another woman whom SC suspected to be pregnant. At SC's place, when Siew Hong asked her daughter her feelings, tears began to drop from this quiet teenage girl who at first seemed to be uninterested in our conversations. So we encouraged SC and her daughter to express, either verbally or face-to-face how they felt about JX as a husband/father and what their expectations were towards him.

Siew Hong and I knew that this family needed a miracle to be restored after seven years' physical separation. I thought of Jacob who had worked for Laban two terms of seven years to get his daughter Rachel because he loved her. I felt sad for SC who had not realized earlier that her family was much more important than her career.

When we were back to ACC, Valery left us her collection of old articles about crafts and showed us one by one while giving explanation. Lack of sleep and rest, my mind was no longer receptive to any words which I had to make effort to listen and understand.

It was 5.30pm. When the single mothers came to fetch their children, I also took my "son" Luke who had enjoyed his day with his new friends. And he had been well fed with Auntie Gek's chicken pie for lunch and snacks for afternoon tea. As a "single mother", I was proud to hear compliments that my "son" was a pleasant boy.

Luke, Mummy will bring you to ACC again next time eh!

End Of An Hectic Weekend

Luke and David were chatting like old friends at the dining table while eating their toasts spread with peanut butter, jam and sipping their hot drinks. I glanced at the clock and began to understand why Jeremiah and Phebe could not commit to fetch Uncle Seelan to the Sunday services. With a child, the adults were often delayed. How much more when I had two children at my place?

Daniel was waiting for me at his mother's house. The three boys were going to attend their second class on baptism at Calvary Life Assembly (CLA) at 9am. Thinking of the three U-turns I needed to make to pick all my passengers, I estimated that we probably were not going to arrive on time. The drama was that I accidentally knocked into a car when coming out from the road where Daniel lived. Thank God nobody was injured and I managed to settle the case in peace with the other driver within fifteen minutes. The additional damage to my car did not really affect my mood. I knew that every time a minor accident occurred to me, God was teaching me a lesson so that I became more prudent and alert in front of my steering wheel.

Finally I had to abandon Uncle Seelan at Seri Kenangan Home in order not to reach CLA too late. Albert P who had learned about the incident jokingly said that I needed deliverance.

Actually, what I needed was a good rest.

After sending the Calvary Care Home children back from CLA, I thought I was going to stay there reading a book or joining the children's indoor or outdoor activities. The younger boys became restless. Since it was the beginning of their school holidays, Albert who did not have to work the next day decided that we all would go to the cinema.

Another drama took place. While Albert was driving to Melaka mall, David K whose car had run out of petrol on the road at Bukit Beruang telephoned him to seek help. As a result, we had to postpone our movie appointment to at least an hour later. We had no budget for 3D movies. Only one title seemed to be interesting but the film would only be shown at 5.15pm. My passengers and I who arrived before 3 o'clock waited about an hour in the mall bombarded by loud music, before Albert and his passengers joined us. There was one more hour before the movie started. So we made a return trip to Jaya Jusco using the bridge.

We watched "Under The Mountain". During the whole movie, I remained in a lying position with my legs lifted, my eyes half close and imagined myself under the blanket. When we quit the complex, I hardly remembered the story.

The summary of that hectic weekend was: Guys, your holidays were my horror days.

Middle Of An Hectic Weekend IV: Launching The Boys' Fellowship

Last December, as I was getting more involved in the Calvary Care Home (CCH) children's activities, ideas to improve their well-being kept flowing into my mind one after another. I noticed that even though we had numerous meetings at CCH to pass our messages, the children lacked of enthusiasm to worship God with praise songs and of the biblical teaching to apply in their daily life. My suggestion to have a CCH cell was jotted down by Albert P who three months later launched it under the name of "Boys' Fellowship" and held it at a Saturday night, so that it would not affect our attendance to our respective cells. As a boyish female, I was qualified to participate and well received in this group of young boys and old "boy".

It was the first weekend of the school holidays. After the dinner, we returned to the living room, arranged the sofa and chose our seats. Only Paul, Luke, Matthew, David and Isaac were around. Someone had brought the guitar from upstairs. It was a pity that none of us could play the instrument.

Since all of us were very familiar with one another, it was definitely an informal gathering. How informal was it? Just look at the hands and legs of fifty percent of the participants...

As there was a change of venue, the teaching materials and song lyrics that I had printed out were not with me. We improvised with confessions of our mischievous acts during childhood times.

Albert revealed touching stories which nobody else had known. When it was their turn, the usual chatterboxes David, Matthew and Luke only uttered few sentences. At their age, it was always more interesting to them to listen to others' experiences than to tell their own.

I shared about how I had overcome my hot temper after reading God's words.

Isaac who came back from the church work ate the leftover food alone and joined us later. He represented the boys to leak out examples of their past naughtiness during their first guardian Fei Gin's term.

After the heart talk, the second part was the prayer session. We prayed that the boys would become great godly leaders, etc. The children also had "ambitious" prayers for the adults, that Albert would not wear his pants so high and that I would rear puppies and even elephants in my house one day...

Middle Of An Hectic Weekend III: Finding Back My Homely Self

After sending David and Luke back to Calvary Care Home (CCH), I was planning to go back to my own nest before the boys' fellowship which I thought would be held there later in the evening. But as Albert P's car could not take in all the passengers and he avoided driving the old CCH van which sometimes broke down, I had to help to fetch some of the boys. Even though it would be more than five hours' waiting before they finished their tuition, I preferred hanging around in town to making another three 35-minute trips between Bukit Baru and Paya Rumput.

I was thinking whether to spend my afternoon in the public library or other nearby places when the thought of just staying at CCH came to my mind. The home administrator kindly gave me the permission to be the guard.

When the children, Albert, Martha and George left respectively, I was all alone at CCH for the first time. There were neither TV aerial, nor DVD player, nor Internet. I had brought a novel but some of the author's vocabulary in the first few pages was already too tough for me to understand without a dictionary. I was in a state of being brain dead and all I was doing was just letting my mind and body rest. What a precious moment to find back my homely self!

Albert had telephoned to suggest that we changed the venue for the boys' fellowship from my house to CCH. Other callers rang the fixed phone several times, which prevented me from taking a nap. So I got up from the sofa, took ingredients from my car and the fridge and started preparing the dinner in the kitchen.

While I was plucking kernels from the maize, I fell into the nostalgia of those days when I cooked meals for my guests or tasted my friends' homemade dishes in France. The Toitot were the ones from whom I had learned to be a good host or helper in the kitchen. I used to lay the table for breakfast, lunch or dinner, spent quality time with my friends chatting and appreciating the food. Back to Malaysia, I had been missing all that homely atmosphere around a dining table, which I could not even find at home in Batu Pahat.

There was only one chicken left in the fridge. Since there was the boys' favorite sweetcorn, I decided to leave the meat for Martha to cook during the weekdays and made use of vegetables to fry tempura. The boys who came back later from tuition without any snacks were already hungry. Despite my medium culinary skill, I just needed to serve the hot dishes cooked with love and presented my trademark smiles to win everyone's stomach!

When I saw those satisfied faces, my tiredness was temporarily gone.

Temporarily only.

Middle Of An Hectic Weekend II: Not Losing My Head

When we left Luke's former school, it was still more than an hour before I sent the two boys back to Calvary Care Home (CCH) for lunch and tuition. I decided to drop by at Tesco to buy some food for the boys' fellowship later that evening. When we came out from the hypermarket, David requested me to bring him to buy fish food.

These two boys took turns to sit next to me and play with the koala bear which was hanging on the sun shade. While I was driving towards Bukit Baru, I suddenly noticed the koala bear which was clipped to the sun shade was only left with the body! Its head must have been extracted accidentally while one of them was playing with it.

As soon as we stopped in front of the fish shop, I ordered the boys to look for the missing head inside the car but it was nowhere to be seen. Actually the toy did not mean anything special to me. It had been given to me as a souvenir from an insurance agent who had come back from a rewarding trip in Australia.

Recently years, my attitude towards my possessions had slowly changed. In the past, I would have nagged at the boys for hours to make them feel condemned. VC used to tease me that if someone got injured when breaking anything of mine, I would care for the object rather than the person. He had to endure my punches on his back after cracking a bit my one-month-old sofa, and to stand my long papaya face after my glass bottle slipped from his hand and shattered on the floor.

This time, I only banned the boys from playing their songs during the trip back to CCH later and told them to be more watchful when touching anything. When I locked the car door, I closed the case and we went into the fish shop.

While David was surveying fish to buy, Luke and I were watching other small pets. A couple entered. The woman with a desperate look was mumbling in front of the hamsters, "Any of them look like ours?" When the shopkeeper approached her, she said, "During my absence from the house, my cat ate my three hamsters..."

I imagined the bloody scene in which the whole bodies of the three poor living creatures were being chewed by their predator. Then I thought of my headless koala bear. At least this fellow had not suffered any pain or shock when it was "beheaded". I immediately thanked God that I had overhead the woman and stopped feeling sad for the non-living decoration in my car.

Now when I look at the koala bear, I remind myself, "You've lost your head, but I don't lose mine."

Middle Of An Hectic Weekend I: Visiting Luke's Former School

Two Saturdays ago was the sports day at Luke's former primary school. I had promised to be his driver and accompanying adult. Since David was also putting up at my place, I brought both boys to the event.

I was not the only Chinese face there. Some Chinese St John members were standing by to offer first aid. However, some pupils were still curious to see me together with my two "sons" who were almost as tall as I.

The previous night, we had gone to bed late. And I did not bother to set the alarm to get up early. So when we arrived, all the competitions were already over. The winners were receiving prizes on the stage.

Luke was not disappointed at all. He just wanted to meet his former classmates and teachers with whom he was still keeping in touch by telephone.

Some of his juniors recognized him and asked him in Tamil, "How are you?". He simply replied to these smaller children whom he did not remember, "Who are you?"

After the ceremony, we were invited for refreshments at the canteen. I noticed these sloping tables and wondered if any plates or glasses had ever slid down into the drain.

As we had just eaten toasts at home, Luke was more keen to find old traces

and spot changes in the school compound.

Every corner must have evoked a memory.

One day, they would be the ones to bring their children there to recount their old stories.

Beginning Of An Hectic Weekend

Last Friday afternoon, we brought the Calvary Care Home children to Mahkota Parade. Albert P was going to collect his new cell phone and Isaac needed to buy short pants. The number of my stepping into shopping malls in Melaka had doubled since I started to participate in their outings.

While they were immersed in the new technology at Sen Q, I who was from stone age enjoyed a short moment befriending the old books at Thai Kuang, where I had found several interesting titles during my previous visits.

The boys were allowed to spend RM10 each from their own accounts. We went into Burger King, the first fast food restaurant we saw after coming out from Parkson. Now I who had recently become their pocket-money treasurer was the one to place the order and settle the payment at the counter.

Next, we drove to Kampung Jawa to look for Isaac's house pants at a lower price. Luke and Daniel also found their treasures to spend their balance of RM3.

That day was also Luke's 13th birthday. Before we left for town, I had kept in the fridge the birthday cake I had baked the night before. To fulfill Luke's requirement to have a layer of chocolate in the middle of the cake, I had cut in half the butter cake which had not raised very well to spread melted chocolate. Unfortunately, the surface cracked as if it had gone through an earthquake...

Thank God my "guinea pigs" did not mind. The big one reassured me, "The taste is good." The small ones commented, "It tastes like roti canai chocolate." John who joined us later from his tuition took the last piece of the "debris". So far he was the number one supporter of all my baking experiments. Thank you, John!

That was not the end of my day. I had to bring back Luke and David to give the Care Home guardian one night off but I myself could not be released from the cell meeting which was to be held at my place at 8.30pm.

Apart from our cell leader Jeremiah, only late Uncle Lee's wife, his two daughters and his grandson Samuel came. Almost an hour of sharing was surrounding Uncle Lee's passing and his family matter. The three boys looked very bored with the adults' conversation. David seized an occasion to go to the bedroom whereas Luke made an effort to remain seated on the sofa. Samuel who had nowhere to run away simply fell asleep.

When the guests left, it was about 11pm. I began to feel tired but I knew that the hectic programme was not yet over.

It was just the beginning.

I Am Just Like Him

Dad, my life has changed a lot more since last year. Now I am a care giver to a few children at Calvary Care Home. I speak to them the love languages you used to speak to me. I am also forming invisible Team Hoyt with everyone of them. They have their weaknesses and I have mine. But I focus on our strength to run the race together.

Last Sunday evening, Luke cried because he missed his mother. I tapped him on the shoulder and caressed his head to comfort him. Last night, when I wept alone in front of your pictures, I realized I was just like him. We had fragile hearts behind our happy-go-lucky appearances.

Maybe I had lacked of rest. Maybe I was exhausted by what had been happening around me. Maybe I needed this occasion to release my tension. Anyway, this morning when I woke up, my eyes were still swollen but my tears were already dried. Today is a brand new day. I am ready to smile again.

Luke is seeing his loved one tomorrow. When is my turn to see you, Dad?

Breakfast With My First Batch Of BBAF Students

Last Tuesday, I showed my BBAF part 2 students pictures of the meals with other groups during the last semester. As this group consisted of only two boys who were often late for class and a majority of shy and quiet girls, I was not expecting them to be keen to organize something for a third-language subject.

During the ten-minute break, Abidah came to me, asking me what they could include in the menu. Voilà! Someone just had to take the initiative and others would move along. So I let them discuss among themselves to decide the budget and the items to prepare.

This morning, I entered the classroom with baguettes and tea which I sponsored.

The breakfast was going to be accompanied by the film "Ratatouille" on DVD.

When those who were in charge of the food and drink arrived, we had to switch on the light again to let them lay everything on the desks which were placed together. I noticed Amalina was doing some "massage" to a baguette. She was pressing the elastic French loaf so that it was easier to cut into slices. I had forgotten to remind them to bring a bread saw. So I helped her to saw at the loaf with a blunt knife.

Every time, I encouraged my students to bring their own mugs, plates and utensils instead of buying disposable dishes. But still, I often ended up being the only environment-friendly activist.

Once they said their prayer, my students forgot about me. Comfortably seated, they took their time to pass around the spaghetti, sauce, hot dogs, powdered cheese and fruit juice. To accelerate the service, I stood up, took over a pot of spaghetti and started to walk around to serve my students before the food finally reached my plate.

Actually this was not an authentic French breakfast, because typical French people never suck noodles at 9am! But when you see the chefs proudly showing the empty pot,

you know that my students had enjoyed this class during which for the first time they did not have to vibrate their tongues and push out their lips to produce some bizarre French sounds.

Calvary Care Home 10th Anniversary

When Calvary Care Home (CCH) was celebrating its 9th anniversary last year, I did not even know its exact location and was not keen to go. This year, having been so often involved in the CCH children's activities, I was appointed to be an usher at CCH that final Sunday of February.

The previous years, the CCH children either presented a song or a dance. For this 10th anniversary, Albert P thought a drama would be a good idea. The director was of course himself. I was just in charge of reading out the brief summary of a few scenes. Sis Jothy was also helping to supervise the play.

Before the celebration started at 5.30pm, Albert and the young adult technician Andrew C were testing the projector. But due to bright sunlight, memory lane pictures could not be clearly seen from the guests' seats. After their prayer for a change of weather, the sky turned gloomy, which was very unusual for this hottest season of the year.

As 28th February was also the last day of Chinese New Year celebration, we did not expect a big crowd to turn up. But some, especially Calvarites, were always very supportive of this annual event of CCH.

Albert, the administrator in his batik shirt which resembled the CCH anniversary banner, gave a welcome speech.

Then Ps James said an opening prayer.

During the worship, our young actors impatiently waiting inside the house were eager to release their energy on the stage.

The drama was about the vision, objectives, programmes and new ideas for CCH.

All the boys took turns to play different roles.

The scenes Paul and David enjoyed most were the two in which they were allowed to practise their favorite wrestling in front of everybody including Ps James! Daniel was the "unfortunate" but happy victim who loved to be bullied in this way.

Joseph who had joined his buddies half an hour earlier and learnt his last-minute script spoke more than the shyest boy Matthew who appeared in three scenes but hardly pronounced a sound.

My name was also mentioned during the last scene. That was actually a real experience where Albert finally received a summons for talking on his cell phone while driving despite my several times' advice.

He repented and later by God's grace, found favour in a Traffic Police Department officer's eyes who modified the offense and only charged him 10% of what he was supposed to pay.

Due to lack of rehearsal, there were minor mistakes here and there. The guests might not have understood every scene. But I am sure that they were fully enjoying the funny side of the CCH boys, their simple acting and the relaxing atmosphere.

After the drama, Ps James, the CCH chairman, conveyed his message. Lastly, every CCH boy received a bar of chocolate each while the staff got a hamper each. As a volunteer, I was given a CD as a token of appreciation.

When the programme was over, Irene, next to whom I was sitting to have some refreshment, said to me, "You're God-sent."

Father God, am I am really sent by You to CCH? Am I doing Your will, not mine?

Eating Two Birthday Cakes Within A Day

By nature, I am not excited to celebrate my birthday, nor others'. Maybe it is due to my family who seldom emphasized the yearly event of each member. And the sole memory of my childhood birthday celebrations was that all of us would have soup mee suah (fine wheat noodles with a smooth texture) with a hard-boiled egg for dinner, one of the dishes I disliked most when I was small. The nightmare was that the birthday star would have to swallow two eggs of that kind! Hence I did not look forward to any celebrations at all.

Growing older, I began to give a present or at least convey a greeting to others on their birthdays. But if you never hear anything from me, do not feel that you are not important to me, because even though I love Ernest, Nicole and my late father so much, I hardly remember their date of birth.

During David's birthday celebration, Paul commented that he preferred butter cakes topped with chocolate to pure chocolate cakes. When I learnt that Agape Care Centre no longer sold cakes based on orders, I decided to bake one by myself so that he and Matthew, born in February, would still have a homemade cake to cut. I took Siew Hong's suggestion to look for recipes on the Internet and found a simple one.

The last Friday of February was a public holiday. I got up early to conduct my experiment, baking the first birthday cake in my life. Despite a minor modification of the recipe, the result was satisfactory apparently.

I went to my former colleague Shiv's house first. She had SMS-ed me the previous night to invite me for morning tea. She was celebrating her 64th birthday. As the youngest among the five guests who were mostly retirees, I was however not bored with conversations of senior citizens. Shiv who had suffered numerous bone fractures since recent years was glad to be surrounded by her sons and friends who paid her regular visits.

Once I had sung the birthday song for her and had a share of her birthday cake,
I rushed to Calvary Care Home (CCH) which happened to be near Shiv's house. Actually my appointment there was for a drama practice. Nobody knew I was going to bring a birthday cake though I had given Paul and Matthew their presents earlier and said "Happy Birthday" to these two boys who had officially turned 13 and 14 years old on their respective birthdays.

Most of the CCH boys liked my butter cake more than the one I had ordered from ACC. I asked the soon-to-be March birthday boy about his taste. He answered, "Like this but with a layer of chocolate in the middle."

Hey, boys! You're getting more and more demanding, aren't you?

Preparations For The Care Home Anniversary

Tuesday before the Calvary Care Home (CCH) 10th anniversary celebration, George was leading some boys to clear the compound.

In terms of outdoor house chores, the most hard working among the younger boys were Luke

and Daniel.

Paul and David finally left the room to join the rest to clear the compound after numerous callings from Isaac. I saw this stranger mowing the lawn.

I wondered why CCH had employed an outsider while our boys had been trained to do the job. When I was told that was Joseph, I remembered he had earlier put on the long-sleeve shirt while I was talking to him inside the house .

From far, we could see the sunlight penetrating the rambutan tree.

Cut grass and dust created a special effect after Joseph had mown with an electrical seyth.

A Chinese proverb says that when we cut the weeds without extracting their roots, they grow back after the spring wind blows. Are we aware of the importance of removing the root of evil?