n moving!

eamsc has ended.

formative was over.

the exceptionally free study-free wkend after formative has passed.

n i have stepped into neuroendocrine module.


God placed n enabled me to capture His vision in my life just 2 wks ago before eamsc. n i shared my testimony in church. i truly believe i have finally found my purpose and calling. something that will last me till i graduate at least.

i learnt that placing ur faith and trust in Him is not enough. Its not enough and perhaps not right to expect God to bless us. Pride ensues, n pride leads to downfall. When u've captured the vision God places in ur life, u just want to walk in that vision because u love Him and because u inherently want to. not because its merely a religious obligation.

i've finally recollected myself and redefined the priorities i shud hav in life.


I See Grace :)



got 2nd runner up in the scientific paper presentation.

bcame part of awesome Group 13 under our Group Moderators Yu Zhen and Hiu Jian.

survived formative without horrible gripping fear. phewh..

and shopped like crazy over the wkend with my buddies :D --> i must therefore stop.

church had our 1st youth service last sat. i enjoyed it! :D

coming along!

things toned down after the myriad of celebrations.

-Christmas with the EMS unit at Sue Mian's place :P

-Sue Mian in the front row 2nd from left. any1 rmb her from our last UMBI visit? :P

-the medic ppl :)


-Christmas service in church the on Christmas morn. :)

- last but not least, Christmas gathering cum violent murderer game at lovely Beat's place with the debaters! and Beat's neighbourhood / church friends :D
- n a steamboat at Yim Fong's for new year countdown. woohoo! *w PSun's laughter thruout the journey getting thr. n the roads were terribly jammed. ahaha.

soooooo wads coming?


in 2 weeks time, UKM's medical faculty will be hosting EAMSC (east asian medical students' conference). delegates from Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, Korea, HK, Aus, Singapore etc will be flying in to experience an integration and blend of cultures and Msian 'feel' as they course through a 6 day conference themed 'Men's Health'. :P

- similar to the 1 i went to in Taiwan but slightly smaller scaled.

most of us have been slaving away in the organising of this event (some more, some less :D) since beginning last yr. sort of anw. haha.

after that, its formative for our 1st two modules: GIT and endocrine.

and then we have a wkend break. which i will use for

LASt minute cny SHOPPING! :D

- shopping w my family when they stopped by kl b4 last Christmas :D on the way to Penang.

and then it'll be the start of Neuroscience which by seniors' experiences hav bn daunting (w the exception of Lip L**** who scored 4.00 gasp)

i shall well, *try* to emulate this distinguished senior of regurgitating disgusting awesomeness. ahaha.

n my bro just started college just nearby a few monorail stations away. :D


*thank God can finally upload photos! :D n super fast! whoopee!

is public health working?

if u look at how the healthcare system works, it incorporates not just primary healthcare (direct doctor patient handling) but more importantly, public health.

we were going thru this PBL on Trichuris Trichuria (a parasitic worm) some time ago in my GIT module.

it was about this Bangladeshi foreign worker who was diagnosed with infection of this worm. his current living conditions - poor sanitation, poor diet (only1 meal a day which prob consists of cheapest non-nutritious food d/2 his meagre salary) and horrible sewage management. (the waste all directed into the river thingee - like u all saw in Slumdog Millionaire).

patient was treated, stabilised, sent home.


what do u tink's gonna happen to him in a few wks time? or say.. few months. or his neighbours.


re-infection. comes back to hospital.


the vicious cycle continues.


we DO have things like public health to educate public, increase awareness, campaigns etc..
for this case.... easy right? doctors just have to notify local authorities, get them to check out and perhaps improve living conditions for those foreigners.


question 1: Was he a legal or illegal foreign worker?

in the case he is legal, do local authorities have any incentive to help foreigners? in comparison to responding to complaints from the locals themselves on drainage/ waste disposal / electrical problems that mountain sky high.

in the case he is illegal, the place he's staying is prob a squatters area and either nothing will happen bcz that area doesnt even exists on the local municipal's map, Or.... maybe a few years or decades down the road whn the gov decides to build sth at that area then the whole area will be demolished.

either way, no help comes.


question 2: does Mr. X have any incentive / avenues to improve his own living conditions?

looking at his condition, he probably is fighting to survive to even think about improving conditions. furthermore, avenues to improve conditions are lacking. foreign workers get thrown into 3D jobs the locals dun wana do. its tough to come up and fight for worker's rights with ur employer when u have no means to get legal representation or $$ in the 1st place. rather than doing that n suffer from losing his job, he'd rather stay the way he is.


question 3: Can awareness supersede inconveniences?

while Mr. X thinks that yeah, getting this infection won't KILL me as of yet, its ok to continue living here, practice bad hygiene and live on 1 meal per day bcz that's what i can afford and ev1's doing the same thing. no1's making a big deal of the toilet that contaminates n stinks the river, n i'm not going to start. earning RM25 a day does not enable him to change living conditions. yeah maybe practising washing hands would help, but if the water's already contaminated, no diff.



so that basically illustrates the failure of public health to intervene in this patient's problem.


it leaves efforts of doctors who tirelessly diagnose and treat, diagnose and treat and ADVISE lol over n over again in vain.


it makes us realize that problems like this do not only occur in cases of foreign workers like him, but also among locals who're out of reach for proper health care or faced with sheer poverty.


perhaps things will change when ppl (those w power) start to realise:

- how infections like Trichuris trichuria that do not prevail in Msia (it was brought over from the patient's country) can become a problem in Msia s well. n so it bcums an incentive to do sth about it then.

- how upholding worker's rights are important, for the very reason of respecting every human's right to live deservingly.

- how not all diseases are curable by medical intervention (drugs, surgery) and start carrying out self responsibility to practise hygiene.

- how complications of diseases are hardly reversible. that's when it's reli too late.



one of my coursemates who went for a home visit last week described the living conditions of her patient.

picture this.


- obese, semiparalysed (on the right from head to toe), on feeding tubes (cant eat), drugs (hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes), immobile (lies on the bed) for the rest of her life. bcz of the stroke, she cant converse properly, n is practically nearly a vegetable. bcz of the semiparalysis, it impaired movement of her gut (the peristalsis that helps in digestion) and every once in maybe a few days, she regurgitates feces from her mouth.


just imagine the amount of toxicity from that. n what she has to go thru everyday the moment she wakes up. thankfully she's positive about life.


we empathize. but could this be prevented in the 1st place? (i'm not saying its her fault or anything but

> did parents of obese children ever thought it was their responsibility to control their children's diet?

> did they ever imagine their children to end up as above (not saying they will definitely end up that way, just saying its a possibility).



if the current situation isnt enough to shake some sense into ppl to practise taking care of themselves, public health needs to step in.


n it needs to do better.


heralding MS! ahaha. (its one of my subjects pertaining public health that most ppl study the least / last minute heheh)

2010. for some reason it feels chic.

suddenly i feel 2010 is a way cooler number than 2009. nvm.

i reveled about 2009 just a few mins ago. while 2009 has been totally different from 2008, it was nonetheless a year of lessons and had its share of excitement.

it felt more mellow than 2008. 2008 was a yr of transitions. from leaving f6 --> part time job --> chilling b4 uni --> a leap into uni life. *crash*

then came 2009.

what exactly did i do? hrm.

its harder to rmb when they're less transitions. it was more of a yr of further enrichment, understanding friends better, building stronger bonds w ur chums (sounds like chewing gum) but come to tink of it, less transitions make u slightly complacent. u're in ur comfort zone, thr're less reasons to explore. perhaps?

contemplations from 2009:

A) how long lasting can passion be?

1. for a group of ppl. --> look at how volunteers give up their jobs n plunge into a life dedicated to serve the less fortunate. looks easy phps? ev1 noes its good to and would want to help sum1 if they could. doesnt seem hard to go to some disaster struck areas n give out aid and food. just throw in time and effort. ppl contribute differently. some more, some less. some in the form of energy, some by financial means.

give it a 2nd thought.

when i visited the YMCA's Deaf Centre in KL in 1st sem, it was a planned, 1 day visit sort of thing. it didnt bcum long term. i understood more about the hearing impaired now, but i didnt commit myself to help them after that.

i helped out w some schmates to tutor some children in my sem break. but it was a twice a week for 1 month kind of thing. at times i would drag myself thr bcz laziness sets in or thr could be other plans that're more interesting etc etc.. after experiencing it for myself n yeah, being surprised at myself for having to drag myself thr at times (the nagging guilt of 'u r so horrible to feel this way'), i realize its simplistic to say 'not helping ppl is bad'. sometimes its possible to get tired of helping ppl. it sounds selfish, but when u give it a try, u'll understand.

volunteers are not simply ppl who're too free or 'the naturally good helpful ppl' or 'passionate for that group' ppl.

they're there and STIL thr bcz, even when they get tired (just like any other human being), thr's STH that keeps them thr. maybe its religion, maybe its friendship or a sense of obligation. many reasons. u realise, even volunteers need support groups. my church sends out mission support groups to those who've planted churches in faraway regions like Kazakhstan or nearby local states like Kuantan. without support, volunteers can eventually lose their passion n give up.

so actually every little thing u do, counts. whether its a 1 day visit that encourages n bring refreshment to the volunteers themselves, or a long term commitment. hmm..

thr shud be a World Volunteers' Day to appreciate all those NGOs and volunteers who throw themselves into a lifetime of serving others. *salutations*


2) for an area of interest

eg. debating
some ppl continue bcz they aim to win, they noe they can and they're eventually moving up the ladder as time goes. some ppl r thr bcz of friendship. on my personal experience, very frankly speaking, i was thr in the beginning by God's grace that Lee Fang, Cher approached me n some friends, by the simple reason that i was looking for an avenue to converse in the language i'm most comfortable in after a culture transition entering uni.

i continued bcz of friendship, seniors' hopes and efforts training us and the surprising little bits of achievemt i obtained from it at 1st. come 2nd yr, of coz effort is proportionate to success. n i admit more effort would've brought me further in the debating arena, but thr come times when u revel if the current effort was worth it to begin with. its like, u make debating ur career n win, or u make debating part time n be contentent as a substandard speaker. kinda the in between not good enough but not too bad either. but even too maintain being a substandard speaker u need effort and time.

cant call it a gamble. bcz when i was truly down and contemplating if i shud just give up this passion, sum1 opened my eyes and made me see how much debating changed me. my confidence, my perspectives, my general knowledge and pushing urself to limits at times.

3) for God.
Christian lives are not all that smooth. we dun naturally have strong faith for everything everytime n everywhere. effort is needed to maintain a strong relationship w God. bcz like any relationships, its not a 1 way thing. both parties play a part. i've experienced the downsides when i pray less, hardly talk to God, hardly consult Him or letting Him into the things i do. n i slip away and forget how His presence even use to feel like.

but my care group members, and Christian friends become my support group and pull me back into God's embrace again n again. n i'm grateful for that. bcz passion for God isnt just a long term passion. it's an eternal passion. the strongest reason being, believing. Just believing.

its amazing that while its sth abstract, it's so strong.

B) has 2009 been a rollercoaster of emotions?

Yes! haha.

contributing factors?

1. on fun: exploring places w buddies. Sabah! Kuching! Taiwan! Bangkok!

2. on totally going against my own word: watching the Puteri Gunung Ledang musical (gosh feels like it was ages ago)

3. on slacking it away: like shopping n cny n movies n anything-dats-not-related-to-studying

4. on goals: doing a medical ppr for the 1st time, debating

5. on responsibilities: managing assignments as group leader

6. on exams: not reading questions properly and ended up failing that part lolz.

7. on going home: during study week haha! n falling sick then lol.

8. on semester transition: living in a single room, Cher starting work, friends being slightly far away, curriculum all system based, being a debate senior



closing that chapter. with bits n pieces of reminiscence still trailing out...

***

opening that new fresh leather bounded diary. 2010. :)