The Indomitable Spirit of Cikgu Hafika

-
Cikgu Hafika Bt Ab Karim was a recepient of Anugerah Guru Inspirasi in 2018.
Read her story here: https://www.mcdonalds.com.my/bm/anugerahguruinspirasi/winners/2018/hafika-binti-ab-karim
Do you know a teacher who deserves kudos for their efforts?
It’ll only take 10 minutes to nominate them for the 2019 Anugerah Guru Inspirasi!
Nominate at http://www.mcdonalds.com.my/bm/anugerahguruinspirasi/nominate BEFORE 31 March.
If your nominee wins the award, you get an RM200 gift certificate!
   
**Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by McDonald’s Malaysia**

As I was reading through the stories all 31 past recipients of Anugerah Guru Inspirasi, I was struck by Cikgu Hafika’s story. I paused as I reflected on the life-shattering horrors that she faced again and again within the scope of one year. Despite being bombarded by one tragic circumstance after another, she continued her efforts in helping her students excel in PT3, through various initiatives like giving extra classes and purchasing workbooks for her students. She embodies the steadfastness & grit we want in our students. I’d like to share her story with you in hopes that it will inspire you to follow her exemple &, also, take some time out to nominate an teacher whom you think deserves some recognition.


The story I’m about to share was adapted & translated from https://www.mcdonalds.com.my/bm/anugerahguruinspirasi/winners/2018/hafika-binti-ab-karim. Hailing from peninsula Malaysia, Cikgu Hafika was a strict & demanding science teacher. Her students feared her at first, but grew to appreciate her as they discovered her loving and friendly side. Three months into the academic year, Cikgu Hafika was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. She kept it from her students and carried on with her duties as usual. Her students only found out through other teachers at the school.

One day, Cikgu Hafika beamed as she shared the good news of her pregnancy and her desire to name the child, “Aurora”, as she was taken by the magnificence of the natural phenomenon. However, her joy was short-lived. Only two months later, during one of her extra classes in the evening, she complained of intense stomach pains. She fought the pain & finished the class before heading to the hospital. Later, the students found out from a third party that Aurora… was no more.

A few months later, it was time for the PT3 mock examinations. Cikgu Hafika, who was in-charge of preparing the science papers, was at a print shop in Kuching city, which was about 100km away from Lundu town, because the teachers at the school were personally responsible for printing examination papers. Unfortunately, on her way back to school, she got involved in an accident where her car overturned & skidded into a massive drain. Fortunately, she survived. Still recovering from her injuries, she made her way to school on the day of the PT3 science paper to be there for her students.




We have amazing teachers, don’t we? There are more stories worth reading & sharing here: https://www.mcdonalds.com.my/en/anugerahguruinspirasi/inspiring-stories
You can also read my summary here: https://www.jarodyong.com/2019/03/insights-from-past-winners-of-anugerah.html

Her dedication & love for her students really inspires me. I can never ever imagine what I’d do if I was in her shoes. Serving the country hundreds of miles away from family & getting slammed by incident after incident during such a short span of time, I would have quit & started selling Kolo Mee instead. Nevertheless, she persisted. Perhaps that’s what we should all do, regardless of what life throws at us.

Her students must be the primary motivator for her indomitable spirit. Nurturing their young minds & watching them learn will fill any teacher with joy. I believe that winning this award was only the icing on the cake for Cikgu Hafika, as having her students invested & paying attention in class was already an award in itself. God knows how many teachers in Malaysia do not get to enjoy this privilege & have to struggle to win the attention of their students.

Do you know a teacher like Cikgu Hafika? Think about it, if no one bothered to nominate Cikgu Hafika or thought that it was too troublesome to do so, her inspiring story would have been buried in the sands of time & she would have continued to ask herself if her efforts were really worth it.

It takes only 10 minutes to nominate a teacher. What’s stopping you? Don’t you want to encourage a teacher & help them to remain steadfast in educating new generations of leaders?

All you have to do is:
(1) Touch www.mcdonalds.com.my/anugerahguruinspirasi
(2) Fill the short & simple nomination form BEFORE 31 March.
If your nominee wins the award, you get an RM200 gift certificate!

Finally, SHARE!!! We are entering the last week for nominations!
Let’s improve our education system by empowering & inspiring our teachers!

This is your last chance, people!
I’ve already done mine, what about you?!

Popular posts from this blog

What To Do When Your Unifi Service Suddenly Drops

-
Image
After finally putting my kid to sleep, I was about to settle into the couch with my wife & stream a movie, when my Unifi fiber optic internet connection suddenly dropped. When it didn't come back after 1 hour, I realized that I had to do something. Considering that I pay my bills promptly every month, it must be a technical issue. Here's what I did to fix the problem. It look me less than 20 minutes. 1. First, I checked my modem (the white machine). I checked the lights on the modem. When the modem is functioning properly, lights will be on for POWER, PON, LAN1 & TEL1. If the red light for LOS lights up, call 100 to resolve the issue. Also, I made sure that all the wire connections were tight. 2. Next, I checked my router (the black machine). Again, I checked the lights. When the router is functioning properly, lights will be on for POWER, GLOBE, WIFI, LAN1. My POWER light was blinking, so that means that there was no internet connection. Again, I made sure th
Open Full Post »

Understanding The New SPM (2021) English 1119 Paper Format

-
Image
This outline & those of other SPM language papers were made publicly available on the Lembaga Peperiksaan Malaysia (LPM) website . I'm sure you've seen the above being circulated on the internet. But, what does it mean? How does this paper compare to the current SPM paper for English? Do we have to change our testing practices in Form 4? At this moment, information is sparse despite great public interest. As the head of the English panel at my school, my Form 4 colleagues will come to me for what to do & parents will ask me what this is about. Until we have very specific instructions from the ministry, this is what I will be telling my colleagues & parents based on the limited amount of information available to me from my intimate experience with the current SPM paper & second-hand information about the PT3 English paper. Let me know if I got anything wrong or if you have more detailed information.
Open Full Post »

How To Fix Logitech Options Not Loading

-
Image
I use a Logitech K380 bluetooth keyboard at home & love it to bits. Very quiet & the tactile response is just perfect. Also, it's super small so easy to put away when I need to pile exam papers on my desk. Still, there's one small problem though... It is a compact keyboard so the multimedia buttons double as function keys. I use the function keys A LOT & it's really cumbersome for me to have to hold the "fn" button every time I want to use them. I.e., try pressing alt+fn+f4 with one hand. Thankfully, with the Logitech Options software, I can default to the function keys. A few months ago, I was chagrined to learn that my keyboard had spontaneously returned to factory settings. "No problem", I thought. "I'll just change the settings in Logitech Options." Only to find that the app wouldn't load on my Windows 10 machine, resulting in the blank window you see screen-captured above. "Let me try reinstalling." Uni
Open Full Post »

A Review of Mosquito Coils In The Market

-
Image
Mosquito coils = The first line of defence against savage jungle mosquitoes. Remember when there was completely no electricity at my school ? It happened during the dry season so the nights were really really warm & hard to sleep with the windows closed. Why close the windows you ask? Because if you don't close the windows, the savages from the jungle will climb in & suck your blood! Literally! I'm talking about swarms of mosquitoes gang-banging your skin & leaving you with clusters of chickenpox-like bumps on your skin in the morning! These guys even bite through clothing!! The itchiness that ensues will practically ensure that you never have a good night sleep. In order to keep those monsters at bay, I had to go really low-tech. I eventually experimented with mosquito coils. There are so many in the market & I thought that all of them worked the same since they had the same basic ingredients. I was wrong. They had different effects on the mosquitoes &am
Open Full Post »

Exotic Fruit: Buah Isu

-
Image
I've been teaching in the Iban motherland for more than 1 year now & I have tasted many exotic fruits exclusively available only within these quiet secluded timber forests. Now, don't you smirk at me! You perverted baskets I call friends are thinking about a different 'fruit'! There are no innuendos here. The exotic fruits that I'm talking about are REAL fruits. First, let me introduce you to the cousin of the king of fruits... Buah Isu Buah Isu resembles it's cousin, the Durian , but I was told that it is NOT in the Durian family. The spikes are longer & they are sharper. They are also very much smaller than the Durians. It's about the size of a man's palm. It has a pleasantly sweet fragrance which is not pungent like the Durian's. Because of it's size, it is easily opened with a cleaver. After opening my first Isu, I couldn't help but bounce off the walls in gay laughter. It was all too amusing to me! I though
Open Full Post »