I wrote this for my department… enjoyed writing it…
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As most submission are about "me" or "my" story, I however would like this piece to be about us, the Risk Management Group (RMG) from Malaysia.
For the longest time (even before I came on board with the Risk family), the RMG has been said to give a significant amount of their time to community events, particularly to the orphans and abandon children from various walks of life in Kuala Lumpur.
Year after year, this has been the effort RMG vowed to embark, so much so that it has become part of us which naturally takes place year in, year out.
The previous CRM, Domenic Fuda drove us to believe that we have a part to play when it comes to community event and now, with our current CRM, CLN Murthy, he has further ingrained into our hearts that we should be out there with the unfortunate because life is afterall about "giving back."
This year, the 28 of us, along with our families have come together on a cloudy Saturday morning of 5 December to spend time with the kids in "Pertubuhan Kebajikan Thangam Illam" (Welfare Society of Thangam Illam). In this little pink home, lives 35 kids between the age of 4 - 17, of which 3 are handicapped (a blind, deaf and bed ridden).
We invited a clown to lead the party which started at 11.30am. The fun begin. The responsiveness of the children's little voices to the clown were enough to make us all smile. But that was just the beginning. There were magic shows, dance along, sing along and by the time we finished "If You are Happy and You Know It Clap Your Hands" there were hysterical laughs all around. The atmosphere were electrifying. Everyone at that point in time were merrily laughing and smiling, forgetting all worries and stress we have been endeavoring at work.
The party continued and we went on doing the "Chicken Dance." Everyone partnered a kid, and there we were making blinks with our fingers, flapping our arms like a mother hen, swaying our big hips to the beat and said, "Hurrah." And the Chicken Dance went on faster and faster, challenging our sordid stiff joints from the hours of sitting on the office chairs to move with the versatile children. We hugged, we laughed and we completely spread all great feelings with everyone in the room. All hostility and grumpiness dissipated, there we were, living the meaning of 'joy.' Joy of sharing, joy of togetherness, joy of enjoyment and joy of love.
We then continued with brunch which we ordered the sumptuous Nasi Briyani with chicken, eggs, fish and vegetables. We served the children despite our growling stomach, then later on, enjoyed the dishes ourselves {yummy}.
Half an hour after that, our very own band, The Lost Boys continued the fun with their Christmas caroling which got everyone singing along, from Jingle Bells, Mary's Boy Child, Deck the Halls, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jolly Old St. Nicholas and a whole lot while the food was comfortably settling themselves in our tummies. We were just lack of the karaoke set, plus we could already see budding talent for the American Idol!
We then ended with present giving. Prior to shopping for the presents, we have gotten the names and age of each kid in the home so to ensure at the point of shopping, we ensured the presents were something to their interest and use {that is what presents are for afterall, right?}. To make it even special, we had individually labeled their names so they would know it was bought with them in mind {plus, we, the forgetful adults won't be mixing up the many nice pressies which we have specially gotten...}.
When this all ended, it is without doubt that everyone went home with a very sweet feeling. Feeling of fulfillment. Feeling of heart beating contentment. Feeling of satisfaction beyond words could describe.
It was not all about the freezer, blender, water flask or groceries we bought for the home. Nor was it all about the food we ordered. Nor was it all about about Mr. Clown we hired.
It was the magic of being with the children out there, the magic of spending the time laughing together and the magic of being who we really are deep down, to care for the less fortunate and to be able to brighten their lives once every while whenever we could.
That was the magic...
