MCKK Scholarship Workshop 2008

Time flies too quickly lately (and the hair thins even quicker). It feels as if yesterday that we conducted the annual workshop on scholarship for 0307, now it’s been a year.

Finding a date to lock is always a challenge – the amount of activities, seminars and others that the boys have to go through nowadays makes our life back then looked like a stroll in the park. We had to settle for 20 September 2008 despite my schedules which were quite packed that weekend – so it had to be a one day event (it always took 2 days in the previous years).

I personally have a soft spot with this batch – 0408 (tak de kena mengena dgn their physical appearance; in case Haji Botchap jumps on the opportunity to make a mess down here) because it is a batch that I have followed since they were in Form 1. I have known the debaters since they were in Form 1 and the hockey players were the first batch that we truly look after in full. They were many other boys that we come across at PPM etc.

Apart from the torture of having to speak and stand for close to 7 hours during Ramadhan (and with only 3 hours sleep before, leaving KL at 5 am), the rest went well. I had to cut short many modules and doing a workshop during Ramadhan for boys is always challenging (understandably they were tired) – but all in all whatever major messages that needed to be parted to them, all was covered.

Two previous Headboys (Rozairee Class of 06 and Aleng Class of 07) followed me (or more like forced to follow me) and they helped a lot. My concern was whether we have enough people to do this – with the right skill and knowledge – when I eventually call it a day. It does feel weird that each year you see a batch leaving koleq yet you are exactly at the same spot you were.

Like previous years, they were some boys who chose not to attend – small number but enough to irk some of us who put this together. I have done this year in and year out – it’s inevitable that some choose to “give up” even before the battle begins. We can never save everyone – the beauty of this life is that help, when extended to people who want to help themselves, will have the multiplier effect whose result is beyond our own imagination. Liberation only unlocks the freedom of mind and body only to those who want to be liberated, so we learnt in this life over and over again. So to whoever who one day might continue this – don’t despair; MCKK was never made great by the majority; it’s the minority who achieved greatness and brought greatness to MCKK.

My best wishes to Class of 0408 – another batch leaves the MCKK gates. May they do wonders and do justice to the five years they were there, just as the people before them had done.

Photos here.