The tears of Tee Hui Yee

Tears flowed and the cry was heart-wrenching. “How long more do I have to wait for a heart?” asked Tee Hui Yi.
Tee Hui Yi.Tee, 14, who lives thanks to the pumping of a mechanical heart, has been waiting exactly a year for a heart. But it has yet to come.Speaking to the media at a conference arranged by the National Heart Institute (IJN), which she has called home for the past one year, Tee said she has not lost hope.Tee and her mum, Dino Bato Sambua, 46, cried during the screening of a video on her life during her year in IJN at the media conference. So did many of the reporters present.IJN chief cardiothoracic surgeon Datuk Dr Mohd Azhari Yakub said the main purpose of the media conference was to highlight the importance of donating organs.
He said the mechanical heart programme was just a bridge programme for patients while awaiting for a donor heart.“We appeal for hearts and lungs from brain-dead patients. We need to harvest the organs for the transplant within four to six hours.“We have one of the highest accident rates in the world. We would have plenty of organs from such victims if only people were aware of the importance of pledging their organs.”The teenager from Batu Pahat had a device called a Thoratec Paracorporeal Ventricular Assist Device (PVAD) implanted outside her abdomen and connected to the left side of her heart exactly a year ago.The 419g PVAD, commonly known as a mechanical heart, lasts for two years. It is helping her buy some time. But time is running out.Last Sept 29, Tee received a mechanical heart, the second recipient after Mohd Fikri Nor Azmi, 16. Fikri received a new heart on Dec 16, 2005.Tee lugs a 9kg portable battery to power her mechanical heart and it hurts if she walks too fast.She was diagnosed with end-stage heart failure when she was just 2 years old, after a viral infection.Thanking the doctors and nursing staff for taking such good care of her, a tearful Tee said: “I am determined to wait for a suitable donor. But my mechanical heart can last only another year. I need a donor soon.” In her video, she said it had been a long and frustrating year waiting for a new heart. She said she had no appetite and missed her mum's cooking. Tee, who weighs 33kg and stands at 153cm, is grossly underweight. She should be 53kg for her height, said Jamaliah Non, IJN general manager of nursing.Dr Mohamed Ezani Md Taib, IJN consultant cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the mechanical heart programme, said it was unfortunate that Tee was waiting for a heart donor after one year.“Throughout the year, she managed to pull through despite a lot of problems and complications. She is a strong and brave girl despite facing a lot of problems and infection.”He said they had received 16 donor calls over the past nine months but only four consented to the heart donation.However, none was suitable for Tee as they were either too big or of a different blood group. One donor's heart could not be used as he had hypertension.“Despite the best efforts and first-class medical care provided by the nursing staff and doctors at the Cempaka Ward, Tee's condition will continue to deteriorate as she suffers reduced heart function.“She has lost a lot of weight because of a loss of appetite due to infection and medication. We have to supplement her diet through a feeding tube through her nose. “She is less fortunate than Fikri, who received a suitable heart after only six months. He is now leading a normal life, going back to school and playing games although he has to be careful of infection.“It's not easy living with a mechanical heart and she can't have a mechanical heart forever,” he said.

in memory of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin

The story of Nurin Jazlin Jazimin shed new light on the dangers faced by children in their every day lives. The streets are no longer safe for an eight year old to take a 100 metre walk from her home to the neighbouring pasar at night, let alone in broad daylight. Many were aghast when DNA results proved that the little girl found in a sports bag 20 days later after her disappearance was indeed Nurin. Sympathy turned from the child to her parents who had, in the days before, denied her identity as the deceased. It is quite understandable that the trauma of losing a child would transform into denial after learning of the sequence of sordid events that led to her death. The public, including Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye, objected to litigation against Nurin's parents for negligence, emphasizing that the loss of their child would haunt them forever. The objections did raise the safety concerns of young children left unaccompanied beyond the vicinity of their own home. Parents agree that a heavier surveillance upon their children's whereabouts has to be implemented at all times, despite the amount of time they are able to spend with their children. Unfortunately, amidst the support Jazimin Abdul Jalil and his wife received from the public, there were those cruel enough to ridicule them for being blatantly responsible for Nurin's murder. Some went to the extent of concocting stories to defame her family's name and reputation. Perhaps these citizens have a better idea on how to "take care of their children" after "making them." Just because children are kept under lock and key, does this mean they are protected from the lurking psychopath with paedophiliac tendencies? The answer is a resounding "No!" Mental Health Professional and Social Worker, Tammy Ruggles, describes the difficulty of identifying such a criminal. General characteristics of a potential perpetrator include: popularity with children and adults; demonstrates an air of trustworthiness and respectability; prefers the company of children. These paedophiles are usually family-men with no criminal record and if they are not family-men, usually sport a children-friendly home. To make matters more complicated, a paedophile could also be female, who cohorts with a paedophile male. With such a camouflage representation of a heinous criminal, concern against paedophilia does not begin when a child crosses beyond the house compound. In fact, paedophiles have infiltrated homes; the family's safe haven away from the dangers of the streets and public communes. Negligence, as vague as it is defined by law, needs to be eradicated from the home's comfort too. A simple example is the use of the internet. Children as young as Nurin are users of the Net. They hook up to the web for education, entertainment and communication purposes – the few of many benefits of Internet use. Unfortunately, lewdness and perversion have also lethally injected themselves into the orbits of cyberspace, preying on vulnerable children and teenagers. The National Coalition for the Protection of Children and Families has revealed statistics stipulating that 86% of rapists admitted regular use of child pornography. Frighteningly enough, these rapists were exposed to such obscenity between the ages of 6 to 10. With children that young having easy access to computers in the home, the multi-billion dollar business of pornography is successfully churning out potential psychopaths who will be entwined in the crossfire of sexual violence. If websites containing child pornography are not already a concern for parents, take for instance networking websites such as Friendster and MySpace. These sites provide social avenues on the web, allowing teenagers to post photographs, personal profiles and even their contact details – such as their chat ID or email address. A child predator only needs to open a free account and browse for his or her victim of choice through a simple search function. He or she may select a location, age, gender and possibly even a school of choice. Having pulled up several candidates through the search, he or she may directly contact the child by sending him or her a message. Your child has now come into contact with a paedophile. It is inadequate for parents to assume that they are better caretakers of their children by ensuring that they are kept in the house under tight lock and key. In fact, besides the Internet, there are other windows of opportunities for paedophiles to fulfill their fantasies for young children. Talent quests, talent shows, talk shows and reality television featuring pre-pubescent children are beginning to spawn on local channels. It may sound innocent having children perform their favourite bubblegum pop dance routines or chit chat idly about the latest fashion-sense while lathered in make-up. However, these small messages of "negligence" by parents can also entice interest in a paedophile, let alone a psychopath. Not only is the child swaggering along to blasting music or pulling laughs by imitating adults, he or she is being encouraged by the screaming and applauding hysterical crowd - the majority of them being parents - alongside the performer's mother and father - basking in pride as their son or daughter gives suggestiveness a new meaning. Have these parents taken precaution to protect their children from the paedophile? The answer is again, another resounding, "No!" Do not feel compelled to only finding a potential perpetrator in the audience. What about the millions of adults watching these programmes from the comfort of their own homes? Nurin's parents did not intentionally lock her out of her house in the middle of the night; neither did they push her into the arm's length of her perpetrator. They made a mistake of allowing her to leave the home alone for the nearby pasar, a place she frequented often with her sister. Some parents interpret their housebound children as being protected from child criminals while they do nothing but surf the internet without supervision. Others are opening gateways for their child to bask in the limelight of a potential perpetrator by encouraging unwarranted display of vulnerability on national television. Charles Montaldo, a private detective with various work experiences in crime prevention, relays that paedophiles enjoy child-oriented activities, refers to children in angelic terms and has hobbies that entice interests in children. Unfortunately, he also says that a paedophile "can be anyone - old or young, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, non-professional or professional, and of any race." With the escalating concern that a paedophile could now be "anyone" in your child's life, Tammy Ruggles digresses, assuring that the majority of children who like and work with children are not paedophiles. Parents have to exercise discretion and follow their intuition should they suspect the presence of a paedophile in their child's social circle. As Nurin's case unfolds and her memories put to rest, supporters and critics of her parents should take this opportunity to rethink negligence and work on a blanket protection for their children, in their every day lives. With a little self-supervision amidst supplication and support for Nurin's family, it is possible to prevent another innocent child to fall victim of such an abhorrent crime.

Traditional house

If you travel through the country, you will see a lot of Malaysian houses and villages. These villages are called "kampongs" inBahasa Malaysia. Notice that they are built with stilts below and they have large windows. This is mainly to keep the building cool and the stilts elevate the building to keep them away from floods. Kampong houses are detached houses and they usually have no fences around them The traditional Malaysian house serves the housing needs of the majority of people living in rural areas of Malaysia. It was evolved by the Malays over the generations, and adapted to their own needs, culture, and environment. Basically a timber house with a post and lintel structure raised on stilts, with wooden, bamboo, or thatched walls and a thatched roof, the house is designed to suit the tropical climate. Ventilation and solar-control devices, and low thermal capacity building materials are part of the building heritage. House construction is highly systematized, like a modern prefabrication system, but with a much higher degree of flexibility and variation. The house components are made on the ground and later assembled on the building site. A very sophisticated addition system, which allows the house to grow with the needs of the user, is an advantage for the poor because it allow them to invest and build gradually rather than shouldering one huge initial financial burden.
The traditional Malaysian housing process is highly autonomous, largely controlled by the user. Guided by building tradition and the village carpenter, the owner-builder designs a house that is uniquely suited to the family's socioeconomic and cultural situation. Not only does the traditional approach foster a better match of house to user, it keeps the cost down by eliminating the need for professional intermediaries such as architects or developers. Self-help and cooperative labour are the resources upon which the owner-builder relies. The traditional Malaysian house has an open interior, promoting good cross ventilation and lighting and allowing the space to be used for many purposes depending on the season, occasion, or time of day. Since most activities take place on the floor, the need for furniture is minimal; bedding materials and sleeping mats are rolled up and stored during the day to eliminate the need for separate living and sleeping quarters. Interior spaces are defined, not by partitions or walls, but rather by changes in floor level; they may be respected or ignored, allowing the house to accommodate larger numbers of people than usual during, for example, feasts. Thus the traditional Malaysian house exhibits greater versatility and more efficient use of space than does the modern house, where spaces are limited to the specific use determined by furniture and partitions. The traditional Malaysian house has, over the years, evolved a very efficient addition system that grows according to the needs of its users. The core unit, or the ibu rumah, is the basic living unit for the small or poor family. The kitchen and toilet are often located on the exterior. From the ibu rumah, many additions can be made as the family grows bigger or as it acquires the means to build a bigger house. Additions are usually done in the spare time available during the agricultural or fishing off-seasons. Building a traditional house is a continual process, often taking months or even years to complete, with the pace of work and quality of construction controlled by the user. The basic addition possibilities are classified into three different types, but there are infinite variations in sizes and heights, and various combinations of types and quality according to the needs of the user. Various traditional houses can be identified in Peninsular Malaysia. They are classified mainly by their roof shapes. The basic houseforms are the bumbung panjang, bumbung lima, bumbung perak and bumbung limas
The most common houseform is the bumbung panjang, characterised by a long gable roof. The bumbung panjang houses are the oldest identified in Peninsular Malaysia, many of them being over a hundred years old and still in good condition.
The bumbung panjang is the simplest of the four houseforms. It has a simple gable roof, supported by kingposts. The most common roofing material used for the bumbung panjang is the attap (a thatch made from nipah and other palm trees found in the local natural vegetation).
The simple bumbung panjang roof-form is most efficient in its ventilation properties. Its simple funnel shape, the use of ventilation grilles at its gable ends (tebar layar), and the use of ventilation joints allow good ventilation of the roof, space which cools the house effectively. The roof is simple and easy to construct, and this partly explains the popularity of this houseform among the poorer villagers and those who build houses themselves. The bumbung panjang, due to its simplicity, is a very efficient roof-form for making additions to the house. The bumbung lima, bumbung limas and bumbung perak are all houseforms which are not indigenous but developed through foreign influence. The bumbung lima and bumbung perak houses are believed to have been influenced by colonial Dutch and British houseforms. The bumbung lima house has a hipped roof, the bumbung perak house has a gambrel roof and the bumbung limas house has a pyramidal roof. Of these three foreign houseforms used in Malaysian houses, the bumbungperak houseform (also called bumbungpotongan Belanda [Dutch-type] roof in the East Coast) is the most popular.

homestay

A traditional practice in the West, especially in Australia, Britain, New Zealand and Canada. In the West, homestay providers abound in quaint country towns, city suburbs and even within the cities. They range from small country inns to apartment units to hostels. Homestay is not a hotel, a motel, nor a typical B&B. Homestay is a non-commercialized, private residence with paying Guest(s) who enjoy staying in the comfort and security of a family home. Further, these guests will reside in the family home for an extended period of time, months or sometimes even years. It is safe, affordable housing for international students, interns, traveling professionals and adult visitors from other countries, who are looking to experience and learn about local lifestyle and culture. Homestay is comparable to the so-called bed and breakfast that is so popular in European countries.

Eiffel tower

The Parisian landmark is the tallest structure in Paris and one of the most recognized structures in the world[1] and is named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel. 6,719,200 people visited the tower in 2006[2] and more than 200,000,000 since its construction.[3] This makes the tower the most visited paid monument in the world per year.[4] Including the 24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 324 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.
When the tower was completed in 1889 it replaced the Washington Monument as the world's tallest structure - a title it retained until 1930 when New York City's Chrysler Building (319 m — 1,047 ft tall) was completed.[5] The tower is now the fifth-tallest structure in France and the tallest structure in Paris, with the second-tallest being the Tour Montparnasse (210 m — 689 ft), although that will soon be surpassed by Tour AXA (225.11 m — 738.36 ft).
The structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tons. Depending on the ambient temperature the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) due to thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun. The tower also sways 6-7 cm (2-3 in) in the wind.[6]
The first and second levels are accessible by stairs and lifts. A ticket booth at the south tower base sells tickets to use the stairs which begin at that location. At the first platform the stairs continue up from the east tower and the third level summit is only accessible by lift. Once you are on the first or second platform the stairs are open for anyone to ascend or descend regardless of whether you have purchased a lift ticket or stair ticket. The actual count of stairs includes 9 steps to the ticket booth at the base, 328 steps to the first level, 340 steps to the second level and 18 steps to the lift platform on the second level. When exiting the lift at the third level 15 more steps exist to ascend to the upper observation platform. The step count is printed periodically on the side of the stairs to give an indication of progress. The majority of the ascent allows for an unhindered view of the area directly beneath and around the tower except during brief stretches of the stairway that are enclosed.
Maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tons of three graded tones of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. On occasion the color of the paint is changed — the tower is currently painted a shade of brownish-grey. However, the tower is actually painted three different colors in order to make it look the same color to an observer on the ground with the colors changing from dark to light from top to bottom.[7] On the first floor there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the color to use for a future session of painting. The co-architects of the Eiffel Tower are Emile Nouguier, Maurice Koechlin and Stephen Sauvestre