Treasured

When you capture a picture with one lens, you're starting create a story.

“….sebulan. Umi dah daftarkan.”

As soon as I heard that unwelcoming news, my heart stopped. My jaw dropped. It was like two atomic bombs that exploded in Hiroshima and Nagasaki just landed on me. I was downhearted. I could not believe what I just heard.

“err…”

“Takpe, nanti dapat banyak kawan. Kan? Yang penting tu, pengalaman. Pengalaman ni, tak boleh DIBELI tau…”

I remained silent. Maybe because silence is the only way to describe my feelings at that moment. I didn’t say a word to my mom and went upstairs. I felt like my whole body was crippled as I slowly took my steps towards my room. I slammed the door shut, sank my face deep into the pillow, and finally burst into tears.

Because I didn’t wanna go.

Seriously.

But it was my parents’ request, so I had to obey. Thousands of negative mental pictures popped out in my mind before I arrived. Being the one and only participant from Sabah? Things are going to be dreadfully horrible, I thought. I kept on whispering to myself that it’s not gonna be good, it’s not gonna be good and it’s not gonna be good.

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Maaf. Payah sebenarnya nak diskraib (Baca: Describe) Pocik Ukhuwwah.

Well, however, things went way better beyond my expectations. Believe it or not. Since the very first night, Abang Bai and Abang Syed was constantly emphasising about ukhuwah, ukhuwah and ukhuwah. Other facilitators kept on mentioning it too. ‘Ukhuwah basah lencun lemas banjir’ and whatsoever. To be honest, I didn’t took much notice about it in the first place.

Until I finally realised it.

The ukhuwah that we created here, is so much different. I don’t think I can describe it in words. It was only a month, but it felt like we’ve known each other for 10 years! Despite of not being compatible as we all are divergent, yet it actually made our friendship very special. Well, seems like the ‘ukhuwah basah’ brings a really deep means after all. I had discovered how amazing the power of that ‘ukhuwah basah’ thingy can actually strengthen our bonds. And yes, I felt it. I think most of us did. I was the only one who came all the way across the sea from Land Below the Wind, but somehow I feel more than accepted. At first I was bombarded with a bunch of ridiculous questions that really pissed me off, but the irritation soon melted after seeing how nicely they treated me along the way.

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Beruk pon tahu guna kamera. Kau ada? Wahahaha.

I’d like to share my experience in being one of the members of JK Mulpen (Multimedia & Penerangan) Club. I never thought I’d involve in this, so it was such a huge regret I didn’t bring along my Canon EOS 1100D. I used to play a vital role in being the leader and the videographer for my multimedia team back at school. I was practically confident with my skills in video editing using iMovie software and thought I was good enough. But during the camp I learned how to use Sony Vegas Pro 11 from our MulPen leader Yusri, while Iffah guided me in blogging and Izzah demonstrated me to use Photoshop. It was great to learn something new, you know. Things that you never did before. I enjoyed working together with my MulPen members and I thought they all were pretty awesome and fun to be with. There were this one time during our meeting, someone had forgotten my name and suddenly called me ‘Ijah’. It didn’t happened once, but several times. Frankly, I felt quite annoyed in the first place. But you know in the end, funny moments are the most memorable ones ^^

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Ustaziatul Alam. Impian semua. Tapi kenapa masih qu'ud (Baca: Malas)?

The next thing, is about D&T. Dakwah and Tarbiyyah. My parents used to point out about this to me. But innocently I would just give a nod but as a matter of fact, I was shrouded in a grey haze of confusion. Every time I heard about D&T, a huge question mark would linger in my head. Why we are obliged in spreading dakwah? Why do we even need tarbiyyah? Why do we have to involve in usrah? Why I always see my dad came home late at night, just because of this?

  

Well yeah, MHi, Madrastul Hayah Ikram. Is the School of Life. So it taught me a great deal of it, throughout the slots especially. I was very impressed with all the speakers that came by. Little by little, the huge question mark I had all these while had gradually disappeared and finally became crystal clear. Of course, there’s still a whole lot more to learn but I’m grateful that now I finally understood how important D&T is in a life of a Muslim. From what I can see, living in a life without tarbiyyah is almost likely you are living in the middle of a jungle, surrounded by wild creatures, with no food and shelter. While Rasulullah s.a.w described those who gained knowledge but refuse to spread it, it’s like they’re having loads of property but refuse to 'infaq'.

One thing I want to confess, on the third day of the camp, I cried under the blanket when I was on the phone with my sister, nagging and begging her to take me home. But somehow the feeling to storm out from that place soon faded away. In fact, I found out that I enjoyed staying there. My ego tried to avoid that kind of feeling but in the end I had to admit, I wished to stay longer. 

  “…but Perhaps you hate a thing but it is good for you, and perhaps you love a thing but it is bad for you. And Allah Knows, while you know not” [ Al-Qur’an, 2:217]

“Mungkin ada dalam kalangan anak-anak yang datang sini secara terpaksa. Tapi anak-anak kena tahu, bahawa anak-anak sebenarnya telah dipilih oleh Allah s.w.t untuk hadir ke sini atas tujuan yang baik. You all…are the chosen ones.” –Dr. Adnan Omar

“Kem ini akan menjadi turning point untuk adik-adik, sebagaimana terjadinya pada abang. Habis je MHi ni, satu perubahan yang besar akan berlaku dalam diri korang semua. Percayalah.” – Abang Syed *Dah nak bina masjid (Baca: Baitul Muslim). Uhuk uhuk.

I remembered Abang Bai once said, “Adik-adik patut bersyukur kerana dapat hadir ke kem ni. Sebab apa? Untungnya adik-adik dapat rasa, apa yang kawan-kawan adik dekat luar sana tak dapat rasa.”

And that is? EXPERIENCE. Seems like my mom was right after all. Experience indeed can’t be exchanged with money, not even with a single thing. It can never be.

"Don't cry because it's over but keep smile because it happened. Keep moving on!! Yeahh!!"

Time moves pretty fast. So fast, like an arrow. When everything had ended, only then I realised how precious each moment I had in that School of Life. Little did I know that it might be a bit sad on the last day, but I didn’t expect I’d cry that much. My tears streamed down my cheeks like the Niagara Falls. There’s one quote saying, ‘we do not know the true value of our moments, until they have undergone the test of memory’. And if I recall back those memories, I thought it’d be greater if the time ticks a bit slower.

There were good times to remember. To be treasured.

NajihahM
Negeri Sabah


[KD]

"What you want isn't always you get. But what you get is so much better than what you want". Right? 

Lepas habis MHi, tak habis-habis diorang minta buat program. Tak kisah lah program apa pon, yang penting jumpa balik kengkawan tumbuk main bantal riang-riang gitu masa kat MHi dulu. Eheh. 

Sebenarnya diorang ni cuma nak jumpa balik sahabat MHi je. Program tu sekadar sampingan, mungkin juga alasan untuk diorang minta izin daripada kedua Abi Umi yang super garang itu. Huhu. Sekarang semua sudah sibuk menghadap asimen (Baca: Assignment), kertas-kertas kerja, buku-buku rujukan setebal sejengkal dan mungkin juga sibuk ambil cakna isu 1MDB dan kabinet baru. Eh. 

Moga dunia dan akhirat, kedua-duanya kau gapai. Biar kejayaan kita ini Allah redha selalu. Amin!