night duty with the Vektorians

i was elated when i heard the news that we were going to take blood samples for malaria and filariasis that night. i wanted to go and do this as this is the only time that we will ever get a chance to do this. i guess my practice of the "law of attraction" did really pay off.

i didn't actually had enough sleep the day prior. if i am not mistaken, my calculations told me that i only had 4 hours of sleep for the past 2 days. my head was spinning out of control and i couldn't open my eyes. but i pushed that aside, plaster a smile on my face, and braved the night. i took over the driving as we were going through a trunk road and we were going fast to get there on time.




as soon as we reached, many of the workers fled the area. mainly because they thought we were from the immigration. but some of them stayed as they had nothing to worry about, permit wise. we registered the workers that stayed on and started the sample collection. at first, we weren't allowed to do the procedure. but being someone that wants to learn, i opened my mouth and asked if were can give it a try. the PKA (pembantu kesihatan awam) then allowed me to have a go.

my head was still spinning. tried my best to concentrate, and i did. they were taunting me on pricking the workers but i just smiled and said: "hey, come teach me la, i want to learn". one of the workers was actually shaking because he was afraid od the needle. i told him not to shake so much as it will be difficult for me to do the procedure smoothly. after the prick, he calmed down. i was assisted by the PKA and the Vektorians on how to go about doing the procedure. they were really helpful.

after the first batch was done, we made a move to the second area. the head Vektorian asked me to do the registration, which i was more than glad to do. at least i wasn't idling. all of the second batch samples were taken by the PKA. we were busy snapping pictures and some were watching the soccer match that was on the telly. we got about 21 samples that night as most of the workers fled the area. we could have gotten more, if they were notified earlier. the workers are from various countries: myanmar, bangladesh, indonesia, malaysia.

the drive back was as challenging as the drive there as my headache was killing me. we made a few stops to send the Vektorians home along the way. the Vektorians also invited us to have a postwork drink with them at one of the eateries along the way. we made a 40mins drink stop. when we drove back, the Vektorians told us to go back on our own as they wanted to hang around in a friend's house. they gave us accurate directions and we found ourselves back in Kuala Nerang town in 15mins. thank God!

the headache persisted. as soon as we reached home, had my shower, got ready for bed.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..................

i slept with happy thoughts. alhamdulillah.....