30-hour famine 2008

have you ever work as a volunteer before?

finally! i made it on June (paiseh!! its AUGUST) 24th, 2008, for the first time in my life!

30-hour famine is an annual event organized by world vision. It has been around since year 1997. According to the website, the Famine has always been about enlarging worldviews and empowering people to rise up and fight poverty and injustice. This year theme is '给孩子‘无穷’的快乐，you've got the power! This year's donation will go towards rebuilding the lives and livelihoods of the Myanmar Cyclone and China Earthquake survivors, World Vision HOPE Fund, and World Vision Malaysia Children's Development Fund.

around 7.15am, I arrived at Bukit Jalil, getting my green cloths on, and get ready to work. Me,working in the programme team, got a yellow tag. There are 10 of us in the balloon group: Esther(head), Fang, Kok Yung, Liew, Lem, Mei, Michael, Raymond, Yi Wen, and Yuan.

so, what we do early in the morning? hehe.. we had our face painted. thanks yin girl girl for painting those words. love it!!

after the first Ipoh DIY Famine group arrived, we approached them and start our work. basically, my job is to pump lots lots lots of balloon and make a hat out of it. however, i am not good in tie-ing the balloon at all!!! my hand is so slippery and the balloon just flew off and flattened. haizzz.. hence, i shall sell more more more balloon to cover up my poor performance.

having my cute little balloon hat (by Esther) on, Michael and me walking around and approached the crowd to buy our balloon. actually, i got another hat made by Michael. but forget to take a photo of it lar.. sob sob.. during our way, a bunch of people got me surrounded, not for the balloon, but wan me to take photos with them. wat la wei.. i am not feeling comfortable ler... sob sob.. anyway, as a volunteer, we are told to be nice to everyone. so terpaksa la!! i wan my photo back @.@ luckily, we got some of our balloon sold. yea ^^ so we head back to our booth.

around 10 am, the crowd is getting bigger and bigger. so, Michael and I (yea, again) wear a sandwich board, stand in front of our booth, and start selling balloon hat. I feel so satisfied looking at those who had my hand-made hat on. yes!! and not forget to mention, few of the balloon burst when i tried to twist it. the girl got frighten and stay far away from me until its done. phew.. so embarrassing!! geramnya...

followed by song dedication handled by famous Dj, celebrities had marathon performance. out of the sudden, it rains. hohoho.. Mei having fun looking at people soak in rain, and running around to look for umbrella/raincoat. since its raining, finally, we can have a short break. so we only focus on pumping the balloon instead of selling them. then, we take turn to have our lunch. LUNCH?? yea lunch.. we, the volunteer can eat during the event, because we need energy to serve others.

during our way to have lunch, coincidentally, we walked pass 30-Famine Official Ambassador Michael Wong （光良）he say hi to me!! omg, i am freaking excited. ahhhhhhh.... i screamed!

for our lunch: vege fried rice + justea.. no comment bout the food :X

back to work, the rain continues. so we just stand and enjoyed the activities.

and of course, photography session.

me and 24 years old kok yung (he really doesn't look like 24 ler... envy-nya!!)

me and leng zai Michael (he know how to make ELEPHANT, puppy, giraffe, and lots more o!)

after waiting for so many hours, finally, its about time to break-fast.

everyone was so excited. counting down from 10 to 0.. omg, can you feel how those famine people feel. they craved for food now. they want it now. they cant wait any longer!!

just a simple ceremony, volunteers let go of 200 balloon up to the sky under dato's instruction, and everyone break-fast.

then, all the volunteers start to clean up the area, take group photo, pack our bag, grab our cert, and ciaozz.

~ end of the event~

this is such a meaningful job. although i am really exhausted, yet, i enjoyed it so much.

hey peeps.. nice working with you guys.. hope to see you guys again next year ^^