Monday, November 17, 2008

A Day to Remember...


My son participated in the mass circumcision event organised by the PTA of SK Bukit Jelutong on Saturday 16th November. There were more than 20 children aged between 8 to 11 participated in this event and I would say that it was quite an event for any moslem boy to remember for the rest of his life. I salute the PTA of SKBJ for organising such event because judging from the programme, it was quite well planned and well thought off for many months before. The event started with a simple procession complete with Bunga Manggar in front of the school by the participating children. Parents of the children were also asked to join in the procession and so I did. At this point, I could see that most kids were quite happy and smiling albeit deep in thier hearts we could feel how nervous they were on what lies ahead of them in the next few hours. Most kids were smartly dressed in thier Baju Melayu complete with sampins and it was such a joy to see all of them feeling proud yet apprehensive of what they were about to undergo.



The kids were then ushered to the school hall and were seated on a nicely decorated platform complete with Bunga Telur as if we were in a Malay Wedding event. The organizing chairman of the event which is also the president of SKBJ PTA gave a short welcoming speech to all of the parents. I could not agree more with him on the fact that that such event should be made as annual programme of the school because apart from helping parents to get thier children circumcised, we will also help restore the Malay tradition of helping each other in a real spirit of camaraderie. Yes, we had pulut kuning and also some other food served at the school canteen and this really reminds all of us that the spirit of kampongness still exist in BJ! Besides, a mass circumcision can help alleviate the fear and nervousness of a child about to be circumcised.



After a simple briefing to the parents on the use of Smart Clamp method by the appointed Medical Officer , the children were then asked to proceed with Acara Bersiram. By the way, the Smart Clamp technique is a new technique in the circumcision process as it does not require stiching at all. You can read it here for detail. Personnel from the BOMBA unit were also present to give the children a big splash of Acara Bersiram using the standard issues fire-fighting hose, much to the joy and laughter of them all.




After the wet and wild moment, the children were later asked to put on thier sarongs and wait in the waiting room for thier turn to be circumcised !!! At this moment, the atmosphere became more somber and you could almost feel the heartbeat of most of them. Gondai Jr did not seem to be nervous at first but I know he is very good in hiding his emotion. I could also see some parents counseling thier nervous children and I could also see kids still running around oblivious to the fact that this is going to be an event of thier lives !



After waiting for more than 3 hours since the programme started, Gondai Jr's turn finally came. He was number 20 from the list and at this juncture you could only tell how nervous he was. However, besides the usual screaming of pain Gondai Jr was successfully circumcised with my other half and my two daughters closely beside him during the entire process. Well, he was given three anasthetic jabs and each jab actually represented one big scream! Nonetheless, we was not scared to lay down on the operating table unlike several kids before him..alhamdullilah..

One more things to be done is to remove the clamp at the designated clinic. I received a phone call from the clinic telling me to bring over Gondai Jr on Wednesday to remove the clamp. Now, he is asking me whether this process is going to be painful and I reassure him that the worse is over now and removing the clamp will not be painful at all...at least I am telling the truth this time :-) ...Ameen

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