PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE

The evening’s meeting was so well attended that it overflowed to the door. At least 50 Rotarians, Anns and guests turned up for this meeting. Our guests included DGE Leslie Salehuddin. Perhaps it was the talk on Hospice that could have explained the big turnout. But we were not disappointed. The speaker, Dr Ednin Hamzah, the Director himself of Hospis Malaysia, told and showed us the suffering of the terminally ill and it was a reminder that we need to reach out to this great organization that has eased many such people in their final lap. I must thank the Vocational Service Director, Rtn Loo Kit Choong for organizing the evening’s talk. In dignifying the profession, our RCPJ awarded Sister Toh Gaik Lu, senior palliative nurse, a token of appreciation and a cheque amounting to RM1,500.

The 10th of November, which is a Monday, our Club will be hosting our DG’s visit. A programme has been planned. The principal officers of the Club will meet the DG for lunch to discuss matters about Rotary. Then at about 3.00 p.m. he will meet the Board of Directors of the 6 Interact Clubs and at 4.00 p.m., the Rotaractors. The Club Assembly will be held at 6.00 p.m. at the residence of PP Goh Seng Chuan. After the Assembly, at about 8.00 p.m. the DG and the First Lady will join Rotarians and Anns for dinner in the same premises. I would like as many Rotarians and Anns as possible to support the DG’s visit. Thank you, Seng Chuan for offering to host our DG’s visit at your residence. Also a word of thanks to PP Chris Ng for organizing the event.

The members of the committee for the charity dinner show are very optimistic that the event, one of the biggest ever in the RCPJ, will proceed as scheduled on 6th January 2009. An invitation has been personally delivered to the HRH the Sultan of Selangor. And we pray that His Majesty will accept our invitation. The evening’s entertainment is almost finalized. Sales of dinner tables are very encouraging. At the last count, 40 tables have been sold. And 11 advertisements are in the pipeline. I would like to thank all the committee members, especially the hardworking PP Rupert Goldman and PE Dr Eric Wong. I would like to appeal to all our members that this is a Club project meant to raise enough funds for three years and we need your help. Please continue to push for the sales of the tables and the advertisements.

Rtn Jack Lim has come home from Aceh with a special report. Jack was on a special mission to see that the ‘SuperMum Project’ takes off. He met the single mums who were committed and prepared to learn the skills in baking with the strong support from the Sun and the RCPJ. Thank you, Jack for taking time off to make concrete plans for this worthwhile project.

A project that is proposed by the RCPJ will address this issue. ‘Train a hawker’ or any other expression that could be appropriate, this project very stringently selects people who have lost their jobs to equip them with culinary skills to do a living. The selection process demands total commitment to succeed. The selected candidates will have to do a course in cooking. It could be preparing chicken rice, ‘nasi lemak’ or ‘capati’. After a period of training, they could open up stalls identified by the Club. They could put up the names of their stalls of their choices. But below the name, ‘a project of Rotary Club’ must be displayed.

Initial training charges and the setting up of the stalls will be borne by the Club. When the hawkers are established, part of their income will be used to set up more stalls. At the end of the day, we could see hawker food stalls initiated and identified by Rotary in the Klang Valley.

This project therefore has two aims: to provide skill training and to bring back the dignity of a human.

Hospice or palliative care (from Latin palliare, to cloak) are synonymous according to Dr Ednin. Hospice is any form of medical care that concentrates on reducing the severity of the disease, rather than striving to halt, delay or reverse the progression of the disease. It evolved from the community in the 1400s but only made its establishment in K.L. and P.J. in 1991. In these two areas, 1,500 new cases were registered in 2007 and 750 – 800 home visits were made every month. It’s a 24-hour call service with no charge. Hospis Malaysia requires RM1.8 m a year to run it.

Dr Ednin showed the audience pictures of depressingly-ill people. They have lost hope and many of them do not know what is happening. There were pictures of breast cancer, leg cancer, mouth cancer and other organs of the body that were beyond cure. It’s so pitiful and sad that they have to undergo such suffering. As Dr Ednin advocated, such patients should receive more benefits in terms of care. They should not be burdened with suffering.

Is it a luxury or human right? I would think the latter. Let them depart from this world with dignity and pride. Give them the right to do so. 

It was the first time I had seen a live entertainment of fashions and songs in Kuala Lumpur. I must say that the standard of the show was indeed high in comparison with the ones I had seen on TV from Hong Kong. Organized by the magazine ‘nuyou’, meaning girls’ friend, the show was in aid of the RCPJ’s ‘Single Mum Project’. It was held on 31st October 2008 in Chin Woo Stadium, Kuala Lumpur. The auditorium was packed with young people who were indeed fashion conscious. The ladies were dressed in the most elegant dresses and it seemed black was the most appropriate colour for the evening. The gentlemen came in loose pants and weird hair styles.

It was a two-hour performance, featuring guest singers – two males and one female. I enjoyed the female because she was really vibrant in her dances. In between songs, the models paraded in a wide variety of clothes designed by at least 7 fashion schools. It was fun to see so many young models striding but in accompaniment to the rhythm of the music. The President asked: Why don’t the models smile? I’m not sure. Maybe, by not smiling they create an aura of mystery around them. The models were really young, slim and beautiful.

A cocktail reception was held immediately after the show. Chris, Kevin and I had the pleasant opportunity to mingle with the guests and tell them a bit about Rotary. At the reception, President Kevin received a mock cheque of RM18,600 for our very cherished project from the editor of ‘nuyou’, Ms Chow Seok Cheng. Thanks to our Vocational Service Director for initiating and organizing the show. 

Last week, we took some friends out to a new restaurant, and noticed that the waiter who took our order carried a spoon in his shirt pocket. 

It seemed a little strange. When the busboy brought our water and utensils, I noticed he also had a spoon in his shirt pocket. Then I looked around and saw that all the staff had spoons in their pockets. When the waiter came back to serve our soup I asked, 'Why the spoon?' 

'Well,' he explained, 'the restaurant's owners hired Andersen Consulting to revamp all our processes. After several months of analysis, they concluded that the spoon was the most frequently dropped utensil. It represents a drop frequency of approximately 3 spoons per table per hour. If our personnel are better prepared, we can reduce the number of trips back to the kitchen and save 15 man-hours per shift.' 

As luck would have it, I dropped my spoon and he was able to replace it with his spare.

'I'll get another spoon next time I go to the kitchen instead of making an extra trip to get it right now.' 

I was impressed. I also noticed that there was a string hanging out of the waiter's fly. Looking around, I noticed that all the waiters had the same string hanging from their flies.

So before he walked off, I asked the waiter, 'Excuse me, but can you tell me why you have that string right there?'

'Oh, certainly!' Then he lowered his voice. 'Not everyone is so observant. That consulting firm I mentioned also found out that we could save time in the restroom. By tying this string to the tip of our 'you know what', we can pull it out without touching it and eliminate the need to wash our hands, shortening the time spent in the restroom by 76.39 percent.'

'After you get it out, how do you put it back?' 

'Well,' he whispered, 'I don't know about the others, but I use the spoon.'