Cheers to Cheers and Dinie

This is not about Cheers the TV sit-com, which happens to be one of my all-time faves ......Its about CHEEERS the convenience store .

Before going up to my office, I dropped by the CHEERS at Lau Pa Sat this morning ......After paying, I walked off ....not realising that I had not brought out the stuff i had bought . Errr , the mind must have either been elsewhere or not warmed up yet ....well, it was about 7.10am ......most people would still not be out of their homes yet .....anyway, bad, bad , bad of me .

Anyway, back to my story ....when i had reached the doorway, I realised that the cashier was trying to say something ....I turned around and saw her gesticulating frantically at the bag I left on the counter ......Yup, silly me .

But it was then that I knew that the cashier was audibly-challenged . I confess I did not understand what she was saying or trying to say , but she was doing her best to make me understand. When I finally retrieved my bag of purchase, she even gave me a 'how-could-you-be-so-forgetful? Look " ..Oops, yes, sorry .

As I walked away, I somehow felt uplifted . You see - this was not the first time I had ever seen this young girl at this CHEERS outlet,but I had never realised she could not hear. She had always given a bright smile to everyone and never for one minute did she expect any favours or special treatment from anyone .

To CHEERS, Big Cheers to you for giving employment to all .....

And a big knock on my head for my forgetfulness...but maybe, it was all for a purpose .
.................................................................

Now on to my Hallmark moment in today's Straits Times Forum Page

Nov 10, 2009
Thanks, Mendaki, for the award
I WOULD like to thank Mendaki for giving a special achievement award to my nephew, Dinie Razak, at Furama Hotel on Oct 24.

This category of award is the first to be presented this year besides the other academic and non-academic categories. This means a lot to my nephew, who achieved excellent results in the Primary School Leaving Examination, despite adversities he has had to face since he was four years old.

Having appeared in Berita Minggu headlines the following day, my nephew, albeit a bit embarrassed, was grateful that Mendaki chose him. We both feel strongly that such an award will help spur other candidates in the years to come. Kudos to Mendaki for recognising 'challenged' students like my nephew for their great effort in school, despite the setbacks they face.

We would like to thank the Mendaki panel of juries, management and supporting team for making this possible for my nephew and all students who received awards in other categories at the event, Anugerah Mendaki-cum-Goh Chok Tong Youth Promise Award Presentation 2009.

Dalilah Hamid (Ms)



I was there that day and I saw Dinie receiving the award . Shy, slightly awkward , he looked relieved once he got off the stage. But his life story is inspiring . According to someone I know, his story will make you cry. Out of respect for him, I will not divulge anything here .

But Dinie's story reminds me so much of a case I handled about 10 year ago ..it's probably archived in the New Paper somewhere ( I didnt keep a copy) . I was assigned to act for a young single mother who lived under a staircase in a HDB block with her 2 year-old daughter .....Theirs was such a spartan existence ...entertainment was sitting at the playground watching residents playing.....

One day, in a state of despair after failing repeatedly to contact her male friend ( she had no handphone, so had to walk far away to find a payphone ) ..., she completely snapped and accidentally killed her daughter with a rice pot .

I will never forget that case . And whenever I walk past a HDB staircase, I will inevitably glance at the storeroom under it and recall that case .....and wonder why no one did anything about this young girl and her toddler....

But when I read about Dinie and his HDB staircase story .....I have renewed hope .....and I wish for Dinie to go all the way from here to succeed even more .....so that he can inspire others who may think there is no way up from where they find themselves .....

Way to go, Dinie ...