The Bridge from Kulim to Kiulu

I saw photo of the bridge that Megat and Rudzahan took and I think that it should be one of the main photo for the Asrama Donni project.

The obvious about the photo is that it shows the bridge that Kiulu kids cross everytime they go to school. That is one of the better bridge in rural Sabah as I have heard of worse ones where there is only one plank instead of two and there are no nettings and the kids could fall off by the side 20 metres into the river. I think we have similar hanging bridge at FRIM in KL that tourists take for leisure but for those Sabah kids, its a daily perilous journey.

But what I like more about the photo is that it is symbol of the bridge that Killerbatch is crossing as we journey through life. The passage that we have taken the last 30 years since we met in Kulim saw us growing up from teenage kids into adults with adolescent kids of our own. Now we are at the peak of our life cycle. Indeed one of Killerbatch even admitted to me that he thinks his peak is over and now he is entering the phase of decline, health-wise that is. Its harsh but its true, we have entered the second half of life, if we view it as a soccer match. Some of us may think we are leading and others losing or even draw so far in the game, at the end of the first half. The next half, the next 30 years, is all we have to determine whether we would be the overall winner of this match called life. It is the more important half that will determine the overall outcome.

So we are walking those planks guys. Killerbatch is crossing our life's journey from being who we were to a mature member of society or to whatever else that we want it to be. With Asrama Donni, we collectively now contribute significantly. We have moved on from insignificant issues like - "dah bayar hutang MARA ke belum?" (which surely we all must) to issues of material national importance. The reason why MARA took us in into MRSM Kulim in the first place - the selected few upon which the nation pinned their hopes upon our shoulders.

Also the bridge is the symbol of what actually Asrama Donni is. We have said it many times before. It is the bridge that we are building across age, race and religion when we decided to help them in Kiulu. We have been questioned many many times and sometimes even ridiculed for building something so faraway in Sabah when we can find orphans, widows, the poor and downtrodden at our doorsteps in Kedah. Some questioned the race and religion angle. But help we must, have and will.

So that's what I see when I see the photo. Its the photo of the bridge that the kids of Kiulu cross as they journey to school, the same one that bridges our past to our future. Bridge from those who received help in the past to those who need some assistance to better their future. A bridge to cross racial, religion and though it looked fragile and it sways everytime the wind blows, make no mistake. It is a great bridge. It links Malaysians across the South China Sea

P/S You can see that actual construction of Asrama Donni has started. For photos of the work on site @ 19 June, 2009 please go to http://killerbatch.fotopages.com/?entry=1881982&back=http://killerbatch....