so sleepy...

It's nearly one am now.... so sleepy... came back quite late from attending Rev Oden farewell dinner with my wife....good nite...can't go on

DOWN MEMORY'S LANE

OVERLOAD

My second son who is studying in a chinese school in primary six told me his teacher fainted in school...he said it was a pitiful sight to see his teacher who is a woman fainted on the pavement.. later, my son told me it was because of exhaustion.. overload. Imagine, this woman trying to be super-human: besides being a teacher, she is also a wife, mother and she also gives tuition for a selected group of her students at her home (my son included). The tuition was almost everyday... this is for the UPSR students who can score in the examination....can we say this teacher is dedicated, hardworking.. or foolhardy punishing her body this way. Is it because of the fuel hike that drove her to work herself to exhaustion?

MIRI: The only tool at hand to bring change and development to the semi-nomadic Penans is education, said a former councillor of Baram District Council Anthony Lawai Karing.
Lawai who runs a small village shop in Long San in ulu Baram said he is in daily contact with the Penans who comes to Long San from their nearby settlements.
"They would come to my shop to buy daily necessities such as sugar and salt. They usually come to Long San to send their children to the primary school and through my dealings with them I would encourage the Penan parents to continue sending their children to school, telling them the importance of education. These parents would sometimes stay for a week just to be near their young children. They stay at Umai Sakai just to accommodate visitors like them," said Lawai.
He was talking to the Borneo Post yesterday on pertinent issues affecting the Penans in the state.
"The only way to help the Penans to adapt to modern life and development is through education. Although, this method will not bear fruit immediately, over time the Penans will be on par with the rest of us," said Lawai.
He said it is a wasted effort to try to teach the Penans to change their way of life if their mindset is not changed.
"Spending millions of ringgit on this project, that project for the Penans won't work if their way of thinking is not changed through education. I give an example. One time, there was a project given to the Penans. They were told to do gotong royong to carry out the project. Instead, they ask the government officers, how much they are going to be paid for doing the gotong royong work. They refuse to do the work without pay. This kind of thinking needs to be change and the change will come through the younger generation who have been to schools and learn and taught things," explained Lawai.
He said he was pleased to note that more and more Penan parents are sending their children to the primary school in Long San and the drop-out rate is decreasing among them.
"I was told by the school there are 109 Penan children studying in the school, St. Pius primary school. There are at least 20 Penan students in the secondary school," said Lawai.
On Uma Sakai for the Penans in Long San, Lawai said he would seek the assistance of the district council to maintain the house.
"The Penan parents who stay at the house are living in darkness during the night. There should be an allocation for electricity supply for Uma Sakai in Long San," said Lawai. ENDS.

MIRI: The indigenous Kelabits of Long Seridan have at least four major events at the end of the year, including the famous Kelabit naming ceremony.
Their only problem is the only road leading to the longhouse has been cut off by a timber company operating in the area.
According to the son in-law of the community leader Penghulu Usop Raja, Tabari Maria the timber company cut off the road near their timber camp at Layun last April.
The cut-off point where the road becomes impassable is only 1 hour from the longhouse but from Miri the journey is about 7 hours.
"They deliberately cut off the road to make it impossible for vehicles to pass through. They alleged that the local people steal diesel from the camp which is unsubstantiated. How can they punish the whole community just based on mere suspicion that the local people are stealing from the camp? It could be done by anybody," said Tabari.
"We are appealing to the timber camp to repair the road for the sake of our people who are looking forward to go back at the end of the year to attend several major events taking place in the longhouse," said Tabari.

ACCELERATION OF TIME

Do you feel that you are living in a time warp... i mean do you feel that time literally flies...a short while ago we just celebrated New Year's Eve and Christmas, Chinese New Year and Gawai Dayak are all behind us...very soon Hari Raya Aidiftri is coming so is Christmas and another new year is dawning upon us...very soon 2008 will disappear into history...the question is, how well have we been living each year of our life here on this planet called Earth? How do we measure our success or contribution to mankind on Earth? The ultimate question will be Are we ready to meet our Maker who created this Earth just for you and me?

DIVINE STIRRINGS

I suddenly find that this coming weekend the Lord wants to work through me...first brother George sms saying the young girl who received visions from the Lord is ready to give her testimony in our church. I agreed and fix the date this saturday. Then I read email from brother Philip a few minutes ago inviting me to give a word of exhortation to the Miri Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship also this saturday at 12:30pm. I have fixed prayer breakfast with the Kingdom Kairos Network also on saturday at 9am. SUDDENLY, I find God moving and me getting busy....i need to pray through this week for breakthrough...that God's agenda will be accomplished!