week 2 of community medicine : day 3 -hocus focus-

thank GOD, by day 3, my group's survey area has all been covered (altho not thoroughly, we cut some corners.but it was all just some minor informations, so it didn't matter much). the 3rd day is solely dedicated to focused group interviewing whereby we chose certain people to sit in a group and discuss with them the issues in hand. i am in 2 groups: one of the group was the group that i was initially assigned in, and the other group was the group that i voluntereed myself to be in. this is because the latter group was discussing on the topic of female circumcision, something that not many ppl know about and always misunderstood or get it mixed up with female genital mutilation. and because of the fact that female circumcision is practised only by the malay muslim people in malaysia, i had to be in.

DELL and i, together we recorded the key points during the interview session.

mak piah: guest of honour. she says what she feels and she is very blunt about her choice of words. i don't blame her, she's ancient! ehhehehe

funny part was, the head of the female circumcision discussion group (FCDG) wasn't even present during the interview. instead, she was swept away by her prince charming to see the mak bidan (which btw, will be coming the day after for the whole ritual). if i were the leader of FCDG, i would like to hear for myself the opinions that the villagers have about this matter. i would actually go to their level and try to understand why they have come up with such opinions, instead of being away, just to spend time with the prince charming. now, the members who have conducted the interview asked me to write a full report on the interview as they have other things to attend to. please la, do i look like a slave to you? you want a good name, and just because i am known to write a good report, all burden falls on me? well, you are in for a hell lot of surprise!

at the same time, there are other focused group discussions that were going on at different venues. one of the focused group was reading the random blood sugar (RBS) of selected villagers. since not all the invited ppl can attend the morning RBS reading session, they will have to come for the one that is held at about 1400 hours.

i never knew that RBS testing was so easy to perform

see azmi. he doesn't go to school simply because he doesn't want to. his parents are away at work and his elder sister and brother also do not go to school. i am really saddened by this.

on the 2nd day itself, i have noticed that there were many school going children who weren't in school. instead, they follow us around and waste their time playing. when asked, they say that they woke up late. some said that they can't go cause it rained. some, just simply didn't want to go. where are the parents? they really couldn't be bothered actually. what kind of mentality is this right? the penghulu has noticed this sometime ago and he has requested that we conduct a study motivation activity for these kids.

not many students attended, but we still went on with the program. i took azmi under my special attention and gave him an initiation that if he goes to school, come look for me right after school and i'll give him sth. true to his words, he WENT! so, i gave him rm1 and he was really happy. i want to give these kids more motivation, and i know how to other than giving them money. problem is, i need some funds to conduct this. i wish to do this program while we will be doing the health campaign in 2 weeks time. anyone wants to donate? lemme knoe ok. thanks!!

my foster sister wani, and her BFF maisara

at the same time, the males of the village were working together in building a stage for the fairwell dinner that will be held the day after. we didn't ask for it but they insisted to make the stage for us.

team work at its best

ringankan la mulut tu tanya if ada benda yang boleh ditolong atau tak. bukan diri sana macam tuan besar. segan la sket oii!