My Wish and Hope

I have been telling close friends that I wish to be in a giving mode. I have been essentially a recipient, having benefited from continuous employment in the past 30-odd years.

The art and scope of giving come in different forms, naturally.

Never underestimate the prowess of simply making time to listen.

There are no degrees or levels. I personally rate this highly – aiding and providing with zero expectation.

Some people are blessed with the sort of earnings and savings that could comfortably fund their travels, with their family. Others are not as fortunate.

I for one wish to be the “agent of change”/catalyst and an impetus for the good things which will encourage the social circles around me to keep growing or gain success over time.

We must understand that the purpose of life is to also touch lives.

Here’s a thought: Humanity should prevail over our self interest.

Ibn Umar reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The most beloved people to Allah are those who are most beneficial to people.”

Let’s always think of others, and how can we assist. Lend a helping hand. Soak up the tears.

Thus, it is important that we should always help the poor and needy, the orphan, single parents and the disenfranchised.

Charity

I have been given the responsibility to lead an NGO taking care of the orphanage organisation called Darul Aitam in Paka.

Currently there are about 160 children under our care.

Running the orphanage activities is not seamless. We lack funds.

We are fortunate that we have received donations from a few regular contributors to sustain the programme. Without them, we would not have survived.

Currently we are working to provide the orphans more; over-and-above the cash gifts, clothing and groceries. We want to encourage them to showcase their talent and look for opportunities to grow.

The Road Ahead

I do have loads of ideas. Never easy to figure out which of these “groundbreaking” ideas deserve the most investment of time and financial resources. Initiatives that shall keep me busy.

Imam Shafie said that “if you do not keep yourself busy with what is proper, you will be made busy with what is improper.

Insya-Allah, I shall not be distracted from my endeavours.

My house and homestay

I will continue to invest and hopefully we shall win some accolades, even an award. One of the most beautiful homestays, offering the best visuals, in Malaysia! To cite one tangible example, that is.

As sustainability is the “new normal”, I will pay more attention to take the initiative to reduce carbon footprint and convert the existing homes into greener and healthier place to live.

If we were to build a new unit, I will decorate, design and construct with eco-friendliness in mind.

Consider this. As tap water is too precious to use for my garden, I have resorted to tapping underground water. To gain access, I have had to dig about 40 feet deep.

However, the water discharges this particular odour and I suspect it contains pathogens which have inflicted infections to the plants.

My Hobby/Garden

I intend to embrace eco-gardening; the plants match the distinctive soil, residing seamlessly with the seaside ambience.

It will effectively mean, I will have less intervention/upkeep and this will free up my time for other tasks.

However, to a certain extent, I will use my engineering knowledge to automate the watering by using sprinklers.

I may also consider to use rain water as it may well be an excellent way to be the secondary source of water requirement given the heavy rains especially from November to February in the East Coast.

It is free and generally clean enough for the garden.

My Charity work

Instead of following my passion, I might try to find my greatest contribution and getting close to a new YB title (Yang Berjasa/ beneficial to people)

My recommendations

We must always remember that we are capable of achieving many good things in our life and most importantly achieving aspirations must bring us closer to Allah the Almighty.

The retirement phase is a chance to contribute to the society as in the past (when we were working), we just can’t seem to get out of the many obligations.

We should get out of the spectator’s seat. It is not just about us, about you.

We should be engaged in voluntary work in order to help those presently in need of assistance.

We should live the values which we like to see.

In a nutshell, tweaking, bringing the inner- personality closer to level-best is the best miniature model of changing the world!

No matter how bad the situation is, no matter how bad circumstances become, and no matter how scarce the resources are, we are still able to change something that need to be changed.

In short, you can also consider few activities that might be most dear and closest to your heart.

• If you love children and would like to contribute, perhaps, you can teach new skills such as conversational English.
• If you are more of a person that love working with people and like social interaction, you can volunteer in social projects that support the community.

You can also consider other noble volunteering such as taking care of animals in a conservation or even planting the mangrove trees along the river side.

The choice is entirely yours and think about the activity that matters to you. It is never too late to make a change. I see retirement as just another chance to do new things and be a new version of ourself.

I shall end my article with a hadith:

If anyone among you wakes up physically healthy, feeling safe and secure his property, with food for the day, it is as if he has acquired the whole world. (Recorded by at-Tirmidzi, Ibn Majjah and Ibn Hibban)

Plant the world with HOPE.