Bosnia : Mars Mira

saya perasan kan, saya nie makin lama makin malas nak menulis.. bila tengok betapa malasnye saya nak update blog nie, saya sangat pelik macam mana saya boleh ada blog at the firsr place.. tapi mungkin sebab life agak sibuk sikit dan saya sekarang selalu dengan family je.. lebih baek spend masa dengan diaorang dari sibuk karang blog, kan :)

semalam ada sorang kenalan, belajar kat Exeter kata dia tunggu saya post tentang Mars Mira.. dia nie lebih kurang macam pendorong untuk saya menulis post kali nie :) eh, macam nak tak nak je afiqah nie.. tapi memang nak share pun pengalaman mars mira :DD cuma pemalas nak tulis, bercerita saya suka! :)

sehari selepas mars mira, saya ada tulis pengalaman saya kat sana... time tu semua mende masih ingat, kan.. kalau tunggu lama2, nanti apa pun tak de.. saya nie kan pelupa..

dah tu, saya tulis semua pengalaman tu kat BB sebab senang nak type, keypad dia best :D tapi maklumlah, BB saya nie klasik, ntah zaman mana punye.. susah bebenar nak guna internet dia.. first2 guna wifi, dia kata tak bleh connect sebab tak de data plan.. then, tukar sim card yang ada data plan kat BB tu, pun tak bleh connect.. dia kata sebab tak de wifi.. pulak dahhhhh.. cuba punye cuba sampai dah malas nak cuba dan akhirnye tukar sim card yang memang sepatutnye untuk BB.. on je phone, BB hantar message kata "your handheld has been registered with the wireless network".. saya macam, woaaahhhh... dah dekat 3 ke 4 tahun pakai phone nie, tak pernah register dengan BB punye network rupanye, LOL

dan seterusnye saya hantar non-edited journal tu kat kenalan Exeter tu.. bila baca balik, rasa nak tutup muka pun ada.. segan..

grammartical error tu memang tak payah cite lah kan.. kadang2 tu bila saya baca balik, ayat dia banyak tak make sense.. hurrmmmmmm.. walaupun post nie saya dah edit, please dont expect for perfect english eyh :) english saya tak best pun.. saya pun kurang pasti kenape saya tulis dalam english.. mungkin sebab masa tu keadaan sekeliling semua cakap english kot.. saya pun macam terikut ikut..

okay, behenti membebel dan terus ke hikayat mars mira :)


Mars Mira

Day 1

Lucy asked us to be ready and leave the house by 5.30 in the morning and apparently she was just trying to be safe. She wants us to be ready 30 minutes earlier.. and Samir was trying being safe as well, she told Lucy 30 minutes earlier than the real time we need to start moving.. and Lucy add another 30 minutes before she told the volunteers.. can you see it? I was one hour early than I should be.. I waited for an hour for Samir and leave the house.. I was really pissed off to be honest..I woke up at 3.30 because I don't want to be late which could be a very useful sleep for me.. I slept less than 4 hours because Cawa and I was busy packing the night before..

Anyway, when we were about to start the march, we made a new bosnian brother, Mahmed.. He joined us from the beginning till the end.. He saved our life, which will be told in day 3 :D

point permulaan :) i know, i have a bizzare hat :P

It was tough since it was our first day.. But I didn't cry. So, okay laaa.. When we finished the trek of the first day, all of us felt like we can do more.. Plus, we got to the camp site so much ealier then last years' batch, even though we were the last group to finish it.. LOL

Btw, I fell before we manage to get to the camp site.. My ankle was a bit swollen.. Lucy gave me an anti swollen pill and apparently I'm allergic to it.. My eyes was swollen up to the extent I can't open my eyes.. It was really funny though.. I slept early that night cause I felt irritated with my eyes and plus, I felt ashmed to faced other people.. Seriously, I felt like, I looked really hideous..

Oh ya, I met some malaysian brothers.. There were 3 of them.. One of them was so handddssooommmeee :DDD I can't remember his name though.. He took a picture with me and he asked for my facebook :DD That night they were looking for me and the next morning as well but I just can't see anyone at that moment.. Because of my swollen eyes..

Day 2

Early in the morning the malaysian brothers were looking for me but I totally ignored them.. The reason being, I didn't look like me at all and I don't want to embarass myself in front of them..

taking picture with the locals.. they were very happy to have us with them :D

my group was far ahead in front... we had a rest and took some pictures! :)

Okay, now let's talk about the march shall we?  okay, this day is the best day ever! even though I cried most of the day.. Today is the killer! The trek was extremely extremely difficult.. Trust me, it really was.. I cried more than an hour without stopping and at the same time struggling to get out of the forest..

Since I was wearing a trainer and not my "expensive" boot, it was really difficult for me to walk down the hills especially on rocky ground.. So, what happened was, Ishfaq hold on to the back of my t shirt and I hold on to his bag.. Sit for a while and try to imagine that! I felt really uncomfortable to be honest.. I just wish to hold on to his bag and avoid direct contact.. but he just didn't let me because he worried that I may fall.. But I can't lie that I did feel safe cause I know I won't fall when he did that.. Every time I go down the hill on rocky ground, I always hope that Ishfaq would be behind me so that he can help me get through it..

Later on, we were in a forest.. It was tough.. I didn't refill my bottle before I get into it cause I thought there will be water available soon.. I only had one small normal mineral water bottle.. And I had to live with only that for more than 2 hours and not to forget I was climbing a hill with inclination of literally 85 degree.. Just imagine that!

I had my breakdown when I was extremely tired and when I look up, there were still so much to climb.. And I just sat for a moment and cried.. Shumon was there.. The moment he saw me crying, he said " afiqah, stop! Please don't! Hold on to my bag! (and he gave me his back)" and I said no, I can't do it anymore.. And he keep on saying hold on to his bag until I did.. And he pulled me up.. Amazing righttt :DD

Then, after like 5 minutes walk we saw Nora sit down.. Shumon stopped.. Maybe he was thinking to pull both of us.. Maybe.. That's more amazing! Few seconds after that Sharafath came and I just hold on to his bag.. And I keep on doing that until we get out of the forest.. And at the same time, I cried.. every single minute! LOL

Oh, I've been walking with Sharafath and Naba throughout the way and some other team member on and off.. Naba was such a strong girl, she didn't require any help from the guys.. And at the same time she was carrying a bag!

Oh, on our way out we had a rest with those who were at the front.. As soon as I sit, I almost fell asleep.. You know what, Marouf shouted "afiqah, don't fall asleep!! Naba, keep afiqah awake!" I genuinely felt touched how the group was very concern about me.. before we came we had a training saying that we cannot sleep when we are exhausted or dehydrated because we may not wake up again... peergghh, takut kot!

When I was almost out of the forest and saw some banner in bosanski with some word of dobro which means good, I was ....... Alhamdulillah :DDD I can't explain how happy I was and when I saw the water tank, I just can't wait to wet my throat.. I didn't care about the possibility that I may need to go to the loo cause I drank few bottles of water in one go..

After I had a rest for almost half an hour, I saw Lucy came out of the forest and I just cried.. She asked all of us to go to the nearest masjid to pray.. And I just cried.. I walked to the masjid with moazzam and he helped me to get there.. And again, I cried.. Moazzam offered to carry me, LOL!! and of course i didn't accept that offer! :)

After we had our lunch which I didn't have, I went home to asif and samira's house by car.. I genuinely cannot walk at all.. Oh ya, when I wanted to leave the masjid, Ishfaq called me and insist that I eat some sandwich.. Again, I felt touched.. When I told him I'm going home, he said some supportive words and he almost hug me but he didn't.. Ffuuhhhhh, legaaaa...

When I got home, I just sleep.. Sleep sleep and sleep.. Then I had a shower and few hours later, my other team mates came.. I'm glad nora and shumon are staying there.. Nora told me about Shareef.. He was just so amazing.. The part where I cried most of the time, Shareef were carrying 3 heavy bags.. Nora were pulled by Shumon and Shareef carried her bag.. Shareef also carried Sabiha's bag and trust me, I tried to lift it and it was heavy!

And you know what, after we get out of the forest, of course we would like to drink some water and have some rest.. But Shareef didn't.. He filled few bottles and ran back into the forest to give it to those left behind.. He is such an amazing guy..

That night, I was a bit upset because I didn't get my night pack.. I had to wear everything I had on me for the next day.. So, I borrowed samira and nora's t shirt...  anyway, with shumon around, you can never be sad and bored.. We had quiet a good night lying on the ground and watch the stars.. SubhanAllah, it was amazing.. we saw lots of stars and Emir taught us a bit of astronomy about how to read the stars.. it was a very calm night, just lying around, talk and relax.. and not to forget, Emir's mother served us two trays full of watermelon :D

Day 3

Since I stayed at Emir's house, it only took us less than five minutes to get to the starting point.. We were the first to arrive even though we were the last to leave the house.. We didn't even bother to go to the front and we were literally the last to leave the camp site.. I was in Ghaz group.. I don't know why, but my group must always be at the front :D

Shumon and I, we were waiting for the others

Lucy told us the first part of today gonna be really difficult and those who want to forfeit, please do so before we start.. None of us did.. Alhamdulillah, I didn't forfeit :)

I thought I'm gonna cry the whole day but apparently I didn't.. Yeah, it was difficult at first, but it was achievable..

Nothing much happened until we had our lunch break.. We stopped in front of a church and honestly, we didn't care at all about the church.. So, as usual Lucy would open the clinic while having a break.. And she needs her medical kits.. Wasim had it and he went to the loo.. Lucy send Ishfaq to look for him and Ishfaq was being himself, he ran to look  for him..

Ishfaq ran up hill to the church to look for Wasim and ran back when he couldn't find Wasim.. Ishfaq didn't realise the policemen called him.. So, the police thought that Ishfaq was running from them.. The police chased Ishfaq and all the drama started in front of the group..

Alhamdulillah we had Mahmed, our bosnian brother.. He translated for us.. The police are serbs and they like to pick on the muslims.. I didn't know the police was there cause I was sleeping and I covered my face with my hat..

After I heard Mahmed said they made a mistake, I instantly asked, what mistake and I raise my voice a bit.. I shouldn't say anything that might make the situation more intense.. Apparently it was because of inappropriate behaviour.. Some of us almost laugh tho.. You call running as inappropriate behaviour? You've got be kidding me..

The police asked for some document which Wasim didn't bring.. I can't describe everyone's feeling when he said he didn't bring his passport.. That was it.. They gonna go to jail..

The police said he should bring both of them to the station but Lucy tried to slow talk with them.. We said that we are not gonna come here again.. We will behave.. Etc etc..

Alhamdulillah, we got away.. We straight away move to find another spot to sit down.. After few minute later, the police came to us and tried to pick on us, again -.-' He said we were wasting their time because we were the last group and they were just waiting for us to clear.. Plus, Ishfaq and Wasim were suspects.. I just wanna say, "whatever!" to the policemen..

The rest of the journey was okay.. Not so much of drama..

Since this is the last day, some of the volunteers had problems with their leg and feet.. Nishat was walking with flip flop because she had blisters all over her feet.. Just imagine that! The bottom part of your feet full of blisters.. So, what she did was, she wrapped her feet and the flip flop with gaffer tape.. I can see that it was really painful for her to finish the trek but she did it!

Nassima had problem with her leg and feet as well.. I'm not really sure what was it but it was really difficult for her to walk.. I wanted to carry her but she didn't let me.. She thinks I was crazy.. LOL

There were some cars stop by and offerred them a lift but they want to finish it.. It was really emotional moment when we heard the adhan for maghrib with the view of Potacari in front of us.. it signifies that we are DONE! :D

this is Potacari..Memorial place for those who were killed during the war, they are buried here..

group photo after we reached Potacari.. can you see the man with yellow shirt at the most left? Lucy said, it happens every year.. every time we take group photo, there must be random guy come in.. LOL

3 days of walking trying to experience what the refugees went through.. No matter how hard we felt it was, the real Mars Mira was harder..

My host told me that the only thing they ate was whatever they can find in the jungle.. Snails, leaves, snakes etc.. And there was 15 thousands of them.. With the Serbs army were hunting and wanted to kill them.. And lots of them died due to fatigue and when they wake up from a nap, most of them hallucinated because they were too exhausted..

While walking, I saw few people that I never thought can do the march go passed me.. One of them was a very old man with holding a normal groceries plastic bag filled with food, a sleeveless shirt and a very normal trek bottom.. And not to forget, he was barefoot.. He was faster than me.. AMAZING!

I also saw a lady with crutches.. I cannot imagine how she climbed the hill and walk through the stony ground..

saya rasa nie post terpanjang saya pernah tulis.. sebab tinggal edit je pun, bukan tulis dari scratch.. yang post pertama tu pendek sebab kena tulis dari kosong sampai lah jadi macam tu.. sebab tu dia sangat ringkas tapi tak padat.. saya harap post kali nie cukup untuk cover ketidak lengkapan post sebelum nie..

thanks sebab baca!

Assalamualaikum :)

bosnia

hari nie dah 17 august, genap sebulan sejak saya balik dari Bosnia..  Baru sekarang rasa macam nak tulis :)

Hari tu orang Utusan email, mintak saya tulis pengalaman dan bagi sekali gambar-gambar saya kat sana untuk diaorang tulis kat surat khabar diaorang.. kat UK plak, saya mausk TV Islam Channel :) baru tadi dapat email dari orang MADE untuk saya isi borang mintak Islam Channel bagi DVD rakaman yang saya keluar TV tu.. 

i dont know what should i feel. only one word i can think of, for all the feelings that i have about it, alhamdulillah :) alhamdulillah that i'm given the opportunity to do whatever i've done.. to be given the courage to do whatever i did.. and to even have the thought of doing it :)

okay, now lets start about my journey :)

oh, just so you know this programme is under MADE in Europe and I'm the only non-british in the group.. :DD

first of all i want to apologise if you feel annoyed reading manglish because i dont think i can write everything in one language. i believe that certain things are better expressed in english and some in malay.. please bear with me :)

oh, the pictures here belongs to other volunteers.. credit to moazzam and shareef :)

hikayatnye bermula begini....

okay, cubaan pertama saya nak pergi ke bosnia adalah untuk sampai ke airport -.-'

tak sampai pun lagi airport, dah kena cobaan.. LOL

bayangkan saya bawak camping bag merah saya yang teramat sangtlah besar itu dengan bag laptop saya yang warna pink tu.. nie yang karimor pink, bukan merah tu.. so, depan belakang ada bag yang total beratnye saya rasa lebih 20 kg.. sudah pasti menjadi perhatian kan!

okay, disebabkan saya nie sangatlah tak organised orangnye, saya lambat.. dah tu, saya decide nak naek teksi ke victoria station.. lepas tu, area whitechapel nie sungguhlah susah nak dapatkan teksi.. nak call addison lee (syarikat teksi) takut diaorang lambat plak, tak sempat.. tunggu punye tunggu, alhamdulillah akhirnye ada teksi lalu :)

alhamdulillah, akhirnye saya sampai airport on time dan siap sampai awal lagi :DD tapi kena beli tiket train baru sebab terlepas train yang saya sepatutnye naek untuk ke airport... haha

kami transit di Zagreb untuk setengah jam sebelum sampai ke Sarajevo.. alhamdulillah, kami sampai dalam pukul 9 rasanye.. tak pasti pukul berapa tapi yang pasti dah malam.. tak banyak sangat yang saya nampak masa tu sebab dah gelap kan..

obviously this picture wasnt taken at night.. this is the picture of first group, they arrived earlier.. and i was in the second group  :)

we were at Sarajevo for two days before we were sent to our respective host family in Republika Srpsk.. 

the first thing i saw when i get out of our accommodation hostel was houses with bullet holes.. it felt surreal.. just imagine, they live in place that hold lots of memories of the war.. what do they feel when they see the bullet holes and abandoned houses that was bombed during the war? it's like they are constantly reminded about the war.. the nightmare keep on haunting them..

Next we went to Sarajevo tunnel of hope.. it was AMAZING! the tunnel was built under the airport during the war that was used to transport food people weapons and anything, you name it! it is so small with a width of 1 meter and i think i need to bend a bit to walk in it.. i found a video about the tunnel, please have a look :) 

we went to the museum as well.. it feels so sad to see the food they had during the war.. just imagine, america gave them leftover food from the vietnam war which was like more than 40 years before the war in Sarajevo.. there was a soldier that served Bosniak people during the war to tell us the stories.. he said, some of their foods were so bad that when a cat came near to it, the cat ran away.. just imagine, even animal cant eat it, for them it was a treasure.. they need to eat to survive.. 

actually i have more amazing stories about the tunnel that the ex soldier shared with us.. but i dont think i should write them here.. this post will be too long then.. if you want to know more, let me know and i'll tell you personally :)

What a typical mine would like like. There was approx 2,000,000 mines in Bosnia. They have disarmed the majority of them with 200,000 remaining (copied from moazzam's description of the photo)

group photo with the ex soldier, he's the one in the middle..

 after we were done with the tunnel, next destination is Sarajevo!

the city is clean and the buildings have awesome architecture :) they have lots of mosque and it was easy to eat, most of the foods are halal :) oh, the day before we came back to london, i had ice cream every hour! :) i love their ice cream and it was so cheap :DD

Sarajevo has lots of beautiful masjid like, seriously they are very beautiful... but i dont know why all the masjid are locked.. so, people pray outside and the normality of masjid where man pray in front and the women pray at the back dont work at their masjid.. maybe that system works when they pray IN the masjid..

enough with words, enjoy the pictures!

that's bosnian flag

we used all public transports Sarajevo has to offer :)

lepas dah habis menjelajah kota sarajevo, kami pun bertolak ke potacari pada hari ke 3.. alhamdulillah, my host is quiet well off.. they have a very beautiful house and a big farm.. you can see that i tried to help with the cow :D

i'm trying to help out, cleaning the barn :)

whenever i had the chance, i went to the farm to help out a bit.. even though it wasnt much, at least i get to experience a farm life :)

i can assure you, farming really is a hard work.. we only eat fresh vegetables that we pick from the farm :) raspberries, tomato, paprika, cucumber, pumpkin etc...

nak tau sesuatu tak? tomato dalam bahasa bosnia paradise... LOL rasanye timun dalam bahasa diaorang pun macam kelakar jgak, tapi tak ingat... nanti saya ingat saya tulis ye :)

you can see from the picture below that bosnia has a very beautiful scenery :) they have lots of untouched forests and clean air as well.. i know, you can even get that at any outskirt malaysia :D the fact that it's in europe, it makes all the difference, i guess so :)

our last day at potacari :)

somehow, i feel Bosnia is almost like malaysia.. the weather... the mountains.. the pace of life.. except for their language and their people.. because i always feel that malaysians are the best! :)

insyaAllah i will make another post specifically on Mars Mira, where my team walked for 110 km from Tusla to Sebrenica to experience what the refugees went through during the war to save their life.. i can say for sure, the real mars mira was so much harder than what we went through.. and what we went through was hard enough for me..

i know i wrote a very brief story about my stay in Potacari with my host family.. it's just that i'm not really in the mood to write about it.. if you want to know about it, please let me know and i'll tell you personally :D

owh, malam nie flight saya balik rumah dari sabah.. doakan semua berjalan lancar ye :)

kepada anda yang baca blog nie, terima kasih sebab luagkan masa untuk penulisan saya :)


Have a nice day!

so.. to be continued :)

mama oh mama

beberapa hari lepas mama ada hantar email untuk minta saya kurang makan chocolate.. saya tanye anisah, normal ke mak hantar email minta anak dia kurangkan makan chocolate?

dan anisah jawab, bahagian mak pesan tu biasa... tapi pesan kurang makan chocolate (??), tu mungkin luar biasa sikit..

mama saya luar biasa kan? :D

tadi ada baca post2 lama dan terbaca post masa saya demam kat ktj.. akhir tu saya tulis, nak kena out sebab mama dah call suruh tido dan rehat.. apparently dari dulu mama dah biasa pesan mende2 pelik :)

so, akhir kata... love your parents :D

And your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him, and to parents, good treatment. Whether one or both of them reach old age [while] with you, say not to them [so much as], "uff," and do not repel them but speak to them a noble word.

Surat Al-'Isrā' , 17:23

thanks singgah blog nie :D
Have a nice day! :D

so.. to be continued :)

snow

okay, untuk makluman semua sekarang adalah spring dan winter bulan 12 dulu..
cuma saya baru sekarang nak upload..

so.. to be continued :)

winter break

bila tengah seronok jalan2, rasa suka nye UK.. seronok nye hidup.. siap bawak usul kat ayah, jom semua pindah sini! :D

di sini saya masukkan gamba berjalan jalan.. enjoy! :D

in front of university of leeds.. my third stop :D

at german market with kak shaz, leeds

weston park museum, sheffield... my last stop for that week! :D

during twins of faith.. not yet school break

my 2nd week of tour, windermere... winter gathering (PMS)

i cant remember where was it.. newcastle maybe

i bet you can guess where the last 3 pictures were taken.. liverpool! :D

i learned and saw lots of new things throughout the jouney..

the first half of the journey, i had it with ameenah and another half alone..

with ameenah, i went to manchester, liverpool, leeds and sheffield.. then i went home for the weekend because i had friends coming over..

the next week, i went to abang's place, sunderland.. while in sunderland, i went to durham and newcastle.. and next, my last stop was windermere, program musim sejuk (PMS)..

it was an eye-opening journey.. i met lots of incredible people.. that was when i really want mama ayah kakak yanie and adik to come here.. migrate here..

but now, i have 3 more days before the school starts :(

whenever i think about going to school, the only thing came to my mind was :(

bila kena siapkan homework, tidak bertido membuat essay accounting, rasa macam nak berlari dan berenang merentasi benua untuk balik malaysia sekarang jgak.. siap ada tengok harga tiket balik lagi.. hahhaa.. homesick bebenar saya nie..

okay, dah lama sangat cuba karang post nie sampai sekarang, dah masuk sekolah pun...

start dari balik dari bercuti, akhirnye sekarang baru berjaya post..

1 post yang dikarang lebih dari 2 minggu.. perrgghhhhhhh!!

tapi hasilnye, biasa jeee..

cukup lah setakat di sini..

kepada anda, have a nice day! :D

so.. to be continued :)