Chapter 1: Winter Retreat 2008 - Everything I had hoped for and more.

Assalamualaikum~

I went to Glasgow because MSM's Winter Retreat this year was held there. The exact location was Loch Lomond, which was simply breathtaking. The place we stayed in was like a castle or something. Last year's Winter Retreat was in a basketball court, and this year it's in a freakin' castle, haha. talk about improvements. here be a picture;

though that picture was blatantly taken in Summer, and this here date is definitely not Summer at all. well at least it didn't rain. i was the photographer and thus i took hundreds of pictures and have in total 3 pictures of myself. which is fine with me, surprisingly. i was also the PIC for the indoor game session we had, which drove me up the walls, honestly. it's not an easy task, designing a game yang berhikmah for nearly 200 people that has to be played indoors because it's winter so it gets dark by around 4pm. i uttered 'aarghh taknak dah in charge game lepas ni!' while I was preparing stuff needed for the game and i am absolutely ashamed of myself for saying it. at one point i even told the camp commandant that if the situation doesn't get any better i'm okay if the committees want to cancel my session, because we didn't have enough time, we didn't have enough people and we didn't have enough resources.

the game turned out fine in the end, biiznillah, and after i concluded it with the pengajaran and muhasabah, one of the fascis came up to me and told me i did a good job and that somebody cried listening to my conclusions. i was pleasantly surprised by this, for i am renowned to make lots of bolok mistakes when i am put in charge of things because i worry too much and very gelabah despite trying my best to remain calm.

and then, to my absolute joy, Dr MAZA, the (ex) Mufti, made it there for his session. to have the man who's writings i absolutely admire giving a talk in an event i was a committee of (walaupun hanya sekadar fotografer cabuk dan AJK indoor game) pretty much made my week, heck it probably even made my month!

i thought it couldn't have been any better, and then on the very last day, on the very last session, this woman gave a talk and she almost instantly became the Person I Want To Be When I Grow Up (PIWTBWIGU). She is everything i wish i could be, and she did everything i've been wanting to do since i was in high school. Her name, is Yvonne Ridley.

if you Wiki her you will know her background. this woman is incredible. she and a bunch of 'other ordinary people' sailed two boats filled with nothing else but aid from Cyprus (because that's the only country that would allow it) to the Gaza strip, despite threats from the Israeli government (towards them and towards their family). and she went and spoke to a Hamas leader. when she sailed back to Cyprus, she heard that five more boats were going to sail to Gaza with more aid. such was a difference she managed. however, yesterday, Palestinkini.info put up an article saying that a boat from Cyprus that was sailing to Gaza got under attack and there is yet to be news on how many is injured. How can the Israelis break all these international laws and get away with it? I just don't get it.

Anyway i went to speak to Yvonne Ridley after the talk (i didn't get to take a picture with her because there were tons of others swarming her) when everybody had to sit in groups for LDK (woohoo for being a committee and not a participant) and she's...she's just amazing. if you ever have a chance to go to one of her talks, please do so. it's the power of hearing about raw, first-hand experiences. it's just mind blowing.

till then.

Atiqah.