We got up early in the morning to have sahur together. I was very sleepy maybe because still not used to the time zone of Tawau. Then, we hurried to have shower and perform Subh prayer before leaved to the Tawau Airport. I was so proud of Kak Jijah’s father for refusing to take the money gift from our side, even though they deserved it in exchange for the accommodation, meals and transport that they provided. May Allah SWT bless their lives. Next, we get to Semporna via a van and an Inova which had already been arranged by Kak Mar.
We arrived in Semporna before 8am and rushed to buy a container filled of petrol for the generator usage later in Mabul. I bought the container (called “gallon” by local people) from an old shop. Since the shop did not provide an official receipt, we asked the owner to fill up the payment form we provided for proof of the transaction. The owner, who was an old Chinese man, refused to do so after looking the form. Maybe he was afraid of being scammed. So, he just gave us a handwritten bill stamped the shop’s chop. What a funny old man.
There was a death around 1am in Mabul Island. Due to this, Pacik Mubin, who supposed to take us to the island, had to delay the plan because he also took part to help the family that confronted the incident. He arrived at the jetty in Semporna around 9am, and after loading all things to his boat, we were forced to wait for another hour for him to finish his business there. While waiting, I get to have a little chat with Pacik Mubin for the first time. I thought to myself, so this is Pacik Mubin they were talking about. Finally, around 10am, we started moving towards Mabul. I spent most of my time taking a nap in the boat to rest for the tiring morning.
I was truly amazed from the beautiful views of the island even before I reached the land of Mabul. The blue sky, clear water and white sand made me feel calm and happy. Just like what I have expected and heard from other’s experience, the people of Mabul were very friendly and we were treated with a warm welcome. The villagers voluntarily lent their hands to bring our belongings to the mosque. Our presence was also greeted with smiles.
Soon after settled down, we moved on to the discussion with the community leaders. Rahman explained the reason for this series of Outreach to Mabul Island and our need of foster families. The discussion went very well as nothing much to be talked about since Misi had done three series of this kind of programme before in this island. We decided to postpone the reception of foster families and distribution of donation items because it was already time for Zuhr.
After Jumaat prayer, we proceed with the reception of foster families. According to plan, each student will receive a foster family but because some families were not there during that time, selected families got to accept two foster children. As everybody had gone to follow their own houses, I and Rahman went to Haji Yusuf’s home stay to settle for the accommodation for Dr Dol. Pity for our advisor, he had to searched for his own food because Haji Yusuf did not provide food for the customer since his cook was on holiday and unavailable. The home stay was on under renovation, so Dr Dol also needed to find his own company since he was the only customer staying there during that duration.
Next was the distribution of donation items after the ‘Asr prayer. A list name of deserving families was used as reference during the distribution. It made me laugh to see the villagers especially the children swarmed around the committees in charge. It was very uncontrollable – the children keep reducing the radius of the crowd although they were continuously asked to keep a distance away from the donation clothes. At one stage, an old folk had to hit the children with an empty box to make them follow the order. The most humorous part was the chaos created when the children fought their ways to obtain the last few remaining garments. This scenario shows how much they value these donations.
After transferring my bags to my foster home, we visited the villagers and walked around the island. The well that was named Telaga Kasih and sponsored by Darul Fitrah was still under construction. From my own observations, the villagers really relied on underground water as the source of clean water. I could see many holes dug on a part of the village. According to Abang Acap, these holes were dug to search source of water, and after one source was already drained, they will search for another. I learned something here – how people in Mabul work very hard in searching for water until the have to buy it, while in our place, we could see people just don’t appreciate the water by wasting it.
For the first day there, we broke our fast together with our foster families; only Dr Dol had his iftar in the food outlet in the village. I and Rahman stayed in Hajah Laura’s house, the house of sharks. We were treated like VIPs, in which our mother reserved a special portion for us with various choices of kuih, drinks and foods served in the table. Hajah Laura and Macik Sapura who also be our foster mother, stayed there watching and keeping us company while we were eating until finish. Moreover, they insisted to clean the dishes later and asked us to rest. I felt a bit shy to be treated very nice like this. I did not want to be a burden for them as they treated us more like a guest that a foster child.
Night in Mabul is allocated fully for Ibadah since this was the month of Ramadhan. We joined the jama’ah in the mosque by performing Maghrib, Isya’ and Tarawih together. Then, we started some sharing moment and brainstorming for the next day. Brothers, including myself, were encouraged to return to the mosque after supper to perform I’tikaf, while sisters returned to their respective houses.
*this is the story of the 2nd day of the programme. We feel a little bit exhausted, but the still next day to be continued. Wait for the story!! Will be published on 21st October 2010, 8 am. =)
