two people

2 interesting people I met today who made their entry here...

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A Lun Bawang girl. Ms W whose name led me to imagine her as a punjabi guy. We were corresponding through the mail and one day we decided to meet up. Erm, for work purposes :p I had no hint about her gender and was surprised when a girl with his number called. I thought maybe he has high pitch voice. Anyways, Ms W works with UNHCR, dealing with refugees in M'sia. Few things I found about her organization :

...is not recognised in M'sia because we did not sign the partnership with them
...refugees and immigrants are different...her org is working hard to convince our authorities so
...Myanmar people flee their country due to petty reasons which my friend can't believe it actually can exist:
1. a minority tribe born in a obscure village who were not issued IDs. So Ko went to the city to get an ID card. Met a road block. Soldiers checked for ID. Don't have. Sent to jail.
2. Being a preaching Christian. Why? suspected for spreading propaganda. Jail

Btw, in Myanmar you need $ to bribe yourself out of prison. You need $ to get an ID. Isit anyhow better for them here?

...police raid them. Sometime the parents are seperated from their children. Kids were left as orphans while their parents go to jail.
... there's no point sending clothes to them while they're in prison. the blue uniform people will just confiscate them away (some places).

Ms W's spoke english excellently. I was amazed (ok, my prejudice). But I guess coz her parents were degree holders who built their homes here upon graduation. Her background's worth noting :

...Drunk before Dawn, a musical play was dedicated to her tribe.
...they were hopeless drunkards. Even raja Brooke gave up on them
...until some Australian Missionaries came and brought them the gospel
...now they're saved and happy

I was taking a walk at 8pm at the park. An old man in pajamas approached me, " It's so dark now and you're walking alone?" (loudly in cantonese) "yea, some hobby I have uncle." (No I didn't say that). Ah gong's concerned for the community dumbfolded me. While most grandpas would be watching t.v or grandchildren at home, this man has spoken to our residence representative.

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He shared some suggestions to me on how to increase the safety of our neighbourhood. "they should chop off half the height of the tree and put more fire to light up the streets". He knew how many guards we employed by day and night. He got the latest broke-in news and even interrogated the guards about the incident. Gong gong who comes from Klang and is here just for family visitation even recommended that we bekerjasama to request for more street lights. "election coming, sure they give one." He even tipped me about seizing this saturday's state assembly man visit (family day) to voice out our wants. "unfortunately I can't make it due to urgent matters, or else i would have spoken to him..."

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Meanwhile i brought a 2nd hand watercolor guide in Pay Less Books which is > expensive than a brand new in Amazon. They should change their name to Pay More Books.