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| Bhai forced me to try this Snap Chat filter |
Good day fellow readers! It’s been almost three months since
I came to the land of the hornbills. Sorry for my long hiatus from this page. I was
busy settling down in Pineapple Town of Sarawak. After taking a year of
involuntary holiday, I finally have reached the light at the end of the tunnel.
The moment when I got the result of my placement, I was
thrown into a mix of emotions. I was terrified and excited at the same time. It
was my choice to apply here. I have opted for this road less taken, wanting
full autonomy of my future destiny; I did not want any surprises from MOH. My
mother told me I was crazy and naïve, not knowing what unpleasant experience
might lies ahead. Many others also look upon me with sympathetic eyes whenever
I answer them I choose to work here. They did not know I wanted to challenge
myself, to see whether I will be able to handle what life have to offer me in a
foreign land. All in all, I reminded myself, God have His will for me there and
He will guide me along the way. Have faith and go.
We started off our first day as government servants by
attending Program Transformasi Minda (Program Transforming Minds) for 5 days
and 4 nights at Kolej Sains Kesihatan Bersekutu Sultan Azlan Shah, Ulu Kinta. A total of 106 new dental officers were
appointed during my intake. The purpose of PTM was to introduce new staffs to
the principles and work culture of the government sector. We started every day by singing out national
anthem and MOH corporate song (Kami Sedia Membantu). We sat through four full
days of lectures on the function of various government agencies and policies.
Besides that, we were divided into 7 groups and required to complete two group
tasks. The first task was to draw a kampong setting while answering a related
question. The second task was to present a sketch based on a given scenario. I
enjoyed the group activities as it allowed us to interact with people from
other colleges, exchanging stories of their undergraduate life and find those
who will be reporting at the same state as you. By the end of the fifth day, we
sat for a MCQ test before leaving to our respective place to report for duty.
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| Registration chaos |
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| One of the many lectures |
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| Batik-fie |
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| Half-past-six drawing |
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| A scene from my group's sketch |
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| Kumpulan 5 |
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| A photo before we separate (Miss this bunch of people) |
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| The place we slept for that 4 nights |
That Sunday after PTM, I flew into Kuching and Bong hosted
me for that night. It happened that the Kuching Food Fest was on so she and her
mom brought me to try the food stalls there. Early next morning I booked a taxi
for half a day to JKN to report duty. The taxi driver was a retired policeman
and he filled me with stories of his dangerous experience guarding the coast of
Sabah from pirate as we made our way to Petra Jaya. A total of 9 new DO were
send to Sarawak. Most of us arrived by 7:30 am and we were usher by a sister
into the meeting room; all of us anxiously awaiting to be told the place we
will call home for the next one year. As I look across the unfamiliar face
around the table, I felt a sense of loneliness as I was the only one among my
batchmates who got posted here. After what seems like forever, we were greeted
by Dr. Shirley Hu, the person in-charge of FYDO placement. We went around the
table with a brief self- introduction before she read out our district (called
Bahagian in Sarawak) placement. My name was the last off the list and I was
praying so hard to get Kuching. However, the Lord’s Will is that I go to a
small town called Sarikei. I was actually shocked of my placement. I remembered
Bharavi jokingly asked me during PTM “What if you get Sarikei huh?”
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| Solo travel begins now |
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| Bound for Cat Land |
My mind was disoriented and unable to accept this
arrangement. I wanted to run away from reality, like how Jonah attempted to
escape when God ask him to go to Nineveh. Knowing that I would regret if I did
not put up a fight, I tried to ask for a possibility to change to Miri but I
was shot down by Dr Shirley “If you are prepared to do voluntary work (do not
receive salary), I can let you come to work in Kuching or Miri.” – That was
like a slap across my face.
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| Map of Sarikei if you are interested to know |
That time reality sank in and I look across to the faces of
my new colleague who receive the same fate as I, all wearing that confused
dejected faces. The next instant, all 4 of us were relentlessly searching for
flight tickets with our phones. My mind was fill with questions of why God want
to send me to Sarikei, envying the 5 others who got placement in either Kuching
or Miri. Once we were all dismissed, 4 of us who got placement in Sarikei came
together to discuss how we would travel to our new work place. Three of us
agreed to take the last flight by MasWings that night. On the way, back to Bong’s
house, I tried to keep the conversation with the taxi driver going, trying not
to think about my utter disappointment in my placement posting, almost at the
brink of tears. After booking my flight, I actually planned to skip lunch and
sleep off the negative feeling but Bong and her mom encouraged me to have lunch
and took me out. I felt much better after food. That evening, Bong brought me
to the airport after her work and we had dinner at Secret Recipe. She jokingly
told me that this might be the last chance to have proper Western food before
flying off to an unknown land with two new friends, Aileen (from Sibu) and Ling
(from Kuching). Two of them have the most interesting personality and I thought
to myself, maybe it won’t be that lonely in Sarikei after all. Our flight got
delayed by an hour and we arrived at Sibu around 11 pm. Ling and I bunked into
Aileen’s in law house for the night. It was really awkward to sleep over at a
newly made friend in law’s house and more so to share the same queen size bed
with her. Truly that was really God’s hands moving in the most secret way.
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| MasWing for the first time |
Early next morning, we travelled down to Sarikei. The journey
took about an hour from Sibu. They first dropped off Ling’s and my luggage at
Hotel 808 before going to Klinik Pergigian Sarikei. Since our District Dental
Officer was on leave on that day, we were told to straight report duty to our
DOIC. After a quick briefing, we were taken downstairs by Sister to complete
our medical checkup. We were required to redo our urine test for drug clearance
and have a Chest radiograph done. We were given the afternoon off to find a
place to rent and settle down.
I solely relied on Aileen’s and Ling’s contact to find a
place to rent as Sarikei is a small town, rarely people advertise their
properties online. After visiting 10 or more places for the three days,
suddenly we came across a minimally furnished double story terraced house which
Aileen and I couldn’t resist. After 3 days of staying over at a hotel, I finally
found a place to stay for the year.
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| Moving in! |
My FYDOship consists of 8 months Primary care in KP Sarikei
followed by 4 months Oral Surgery posting in Klinik Pakar Hospital Sarikei. Our
DOIC asked us to observe the seniors and the clinic system flow for the first
week before taking up cases. Also, it took around two weeks to complete all our
paperwork.
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| Never knew the existence of the Blue passport till recently |
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My unit, nampak kemas oh!
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Currently am happy with the exposure I am getting in this
place, still trying to gain back the lost confidence. As a new DO, I am still
not use to making the decision for patient treatment plan, sometimes running to
my seniors for a confirmation. I guess with time I will be more independent.
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| One day, my senior decided to do a candid camera on me. |
Entering a new place without knowing anyone and trying to
settle down can be difficult and taxing. I think I can now relate why no one
from the west wants to serve here. I can relate what home sick feels like. I
can relate what being trap in feels like. But God have been good to me, surrounding me
with helpful and supportive people. I am grateful for the friends and colleague
I have met. Sarikei would have been that much gloomier and lonely without them.
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| Celebrating 25th Birthday with the lovely colleagues |
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| You can count on her for the most random questions ever |
I trust that every cloud has a silver lining and God will
continue to lead the way, you just need to trust and obey.
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| Sarikei, why you so hot?! |
