I Long For My Homeland.....

Howdy, mates! It's Captain Brad "Hook" Pitt here. Well, if we didn't move country, we'd be having the barbie in the backyard, playing cricket or footie, watching Australian Open live from Melbourne....

Hey Brad! We can still watch Australian Open live on the tablet!

Of course, in the heat of the moment, Angelina can still nap! By the way, Victoria Azarenka defeated Li Na in the women's single final. I think Victoria is hot!

Anyway, before we were rudely interrupted by Angelina, I wanted to say that Australia Day is usually celebrated in a homely fashion where Aussies would spend time with their families at home or public places. We've been to some picnics organised by Mama's friends too.

Okay...enough patriotic talk. Let's sing the Australian National Anthem. Here's the lyrics, the original version. Some of the verses are not sung anymore.

Lyrics: Advanced Australia Fair
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We've golden soil and wealth for toil,
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in Nature's gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history's page, let every stage
Advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing,
"Advance Australia fair!"

When gallant Cook from Albion sail'd,
To trace wide oceans o'er,
True British courage bore him on,
Till he landed on our shore.
Then here he raised Old England's flag,
The standard of the brave;
With all her faults we love her still,
"Brittannia rules the wave!"
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

Beneath our radiant southern Cross,
We'll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To advance Australia fair.
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

While other nations of the globe
Behold us from afar,
We'll rise to high renown and shine
Like our glorious southern star;
From England, Scotia, Erin's Isle,
Who come our lot to share,
Let all combine with heart and hand
To advance Australia fair!
In joyful strains then let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

Shou'd foreign foe e'er sight our coast,
Or dare a foot to land,
We'll rouse to arms like sires of yore
To guard our native strand;
Brittannia then shall surely know,
Beyond wide ocean's roll,
Her sons in fair Australia's land
Still keep a British soul.
In joyful strains the let us sing
"Advance Australia fair!"

In case y'all are wondering, Sebastian is injured because I smacked him indisposed and can't blog yet. He hasn't completed his training, anyway. har har har *evil laughs*

New Playground

Angelina's note: Find us at http://www.facebook/mamatom.aj. It's a place for Mama's and my rantings and raves. Just us girls. Sebastian can hog this blog if he wants. Of course, I'll monitor his progress from time to time....you know like making sure he doesn't use foul language and all that. However, I am still the ultimate owner of this blog so....don't talk behind my back you young punk. I'll be watching..... purrr...meow!

Mama@Work: Shop for Underprivileged Kids

It has been more than seven months since Mama's organisation opened their charity shop. The funny thing is, the licensing authorities have categorised the shop as a boutique. So, technically it's a charity boutique. However, my Mama, always the big dreamer, has called it a mall. At the official launch of the shop, Mama has outlined the objectives of the shop. I have pasted her speech here.

Greetings - thank you Mr MC.
1. Our esteemed guests, let me continue the afternoon by telling you of a dream. A dream that will take so many years to realise, we know. That dream is to reach out to every underprivileged child in the world and tell them, "Now, you can go to school." Not just to any school but a school built by Muslim Aid. As I have said, it is going to be a long  journey to reach that goal. First of all, we need money, tons of them. As most of you who have school going children will attest, education is not cheap. There's the premises, the teachers, support staff, equipment, books, and library, science lab, sports facilities etc etc etc. all of those costs heaps.
2. Thus, we decided to embark on commercial ventures that will fill our coffer fast. One of these ventures is what you're seeing today - the Wellbeing MA(A)LL. You must be wondering at the name. Such a small shop but these people at Muslim Aid are calling it a mall. And they don't even know how to spell! We'd like to say that we think BIG! Nothing is impossible.
3. This name was coined around 2006 -five years ago - when we introduced a catalogue of goods called Gifts for Life. The products in the catalogue are what you can purchase and then donate to recipients in selected countries, notably where Muslim Aid has a presence, as opposed to buying products from a catalogue for your own use. That's the wellbeing part of it. As for the special spelling of MA(A)LL, it stands for Muslim Aid Asia Life Line - in a broader sense, the products you purchase will provide a lifeline to the livelihood of many.
4. So we adopt the same principle for this shop we are launching today. All purchases from this shop will go towards giving a lifeline to the underprivileged, especially children. It is also to fulfill our dream of one day, establishing a proper school for children who are now deprived of this basic right. It is towards the Muslim Aid Education Fund that all proceeds will be channeled to. With this fund, we hope to assist more beneficiaries than what we have now.
5. What do we do with the funds we collect under MAEF? Truthfully, when it comes to education, the scope is very big. In Malaysia, we cater from pre-school kids to adults. We have provided equipment for pre-school learning of Somalian refugee kids, for the Myanmar refugee kids, we help pay their school's utility bills and take the children out on excursions. We also provided school uniforms, spectacles and even build toilets for Malaysian kids. As for adults, most of our projects deal with providing skills that can be used to improve their economic status, ranging from sewing, culinary and computer skills.
6. As you browse through the shop later, you'll see some beautiful products from Indonesia, bear in mind that these come from beneficiaries of Muslim Aid's Empowerment Programmes in Acheh and Jogjakarta. We are happy to note that two officers from Muslim Aid Indonesia are with us today, we welcome Pak Nazar and Sister Intan Maulida. At the same time, we also have some books, not the pre-loved ones, but new books on display. Most notable is Remember Allah for the Gift of Love in Our Hearts, written by Prof Dr Safiah Osman. Prof is also here today, you all can approach her for autographs. This book was published by Muslim Aid, where proceeds from its sale will go towards the education fund as well. The publishing of this book marks our foray into publishing, another commercial venture that will help enhance our income streams.
7. I am not going to talk too long now. I'll let you all visit the shop and make your own judgement. Forgive us for any shortcomings today, we'll improve the shop as days come by....God willing, God bless.

Wordless Wednesday: All About Seb....Again!

Mama@Work: Picnic with Orphans

Mama gets to do heaps of fun things in relation to her work, besides the boring meetings, report writing, proposal writing etc etc. For example, she took a busload of children to Janda Baik, a village in the hills at the border of Pahang and Selangor. It took us less than two hours of driving to go there. Mama said a group of donors wanted to have a one-on-one session with the kids, treat them to a nice lunch, tea and some exposure to nature. Oh yes, the outdoors is always good for anyone.

As the bus that transported the kids was late, it was almost lunch time by the time the activities began. It's OK, nobody was complaining as everyone had fun. It was a fun and educational outing....not to say very tummy filling as well. Let's see the pictures!!!

The property, as seen from the main house's verandah.

The kids learning about soil and nutrients.

Mucking around at the goats' pen.

Fish pond....my favourite part of the property.

Hey...were they looking for worms or pulling grass?

The goats live here....

And I found a clump of mulberries....yummmm....

Trying to get a group photo wasn't easy but we managed....somehow...

There was a glitch while I was uploading some of the pictures so I couldn't show photographs of the children's lunch, their bathing in the river behind the property and the tea cum fruit eating session after the river activities. Just take my word that all those activities did happen....and at the end of the day, the children didn't want to leave!!!!

Mama arrived home late because there was a massive traffic jam at the tunnel, a truck laden with sand overturned and it was drizzling.... I, of course, had the honour of massaging Mama's legs....tired she said though I don't know how that was possible when she was driving an auto. Oh well....purrr....meow!