Haiti Trip, in conclusion

Salam,

This will tell you about the Haiti field trip, since I arrived on the 8th, till 22nd January 2014.
Around late afternoon we (Ida and I) arrived at the Habitat compound with Polan (I did not get his name T_T), who waited for us patiently at the airport. We had a few hours delay, and we didn't had a chance to tell anyone about that then. They (the rest of the group, there were around 30 people) had started activities when we arrived.

We did some exercise on how we should conduct our PRA(participatory rural appraisal) tools with the local people in santo village, as well as in nolivos village. we were divided into 7 groups, 5 groups to tackle the question about the whole research and the other 2 groups were assigned to work on gender and spacial(on the map and layout of the villages). we had 4 solid days to gather informations, nearly 2 hours drive going there, 3 hours of activities, and nearly 2 hours coming back again. we settle down, and debrief sessions and work on the report everyday. presentation was on friday and everything turn out okay. The experience was one of a kind. It was a good experience doing it for the first time.

The journey I had was not only when I was in Haiti. I had a few (4) transits, 2 (Brussels and New York) going there and 2 (Miami and  Atlanta) coming back. I am so grateful that I was with Ida in this trip. If it was not for her, I wouldn't have done it at the first place! who would have thought of having 20 hours of transit(s)? All in all the experience was one of a kind, I believe Allah has tailor made every experience, different to one another. The sweat, tear, tiredness and sleepless night at the airport. All was good. Especially to the ones that saved me in terms of financial help, you are the greatest.

19/1/2022 update.

This post is really backdated. but will always be close to my heart.

I really got a boost to relive my DEP knowledge and share it to the world, if not my surroundings. May Allah guide me always in this life journey, the journey to eventually meet Allah. <3

the report from our trip is here

truly,Qatrun

attached to the dunia

You know you are getting attached to the dunia when;

1. You don't plan your time around solat (praying) time.

2. A whole day or two passes and you don't open your Quran because you are too ‘busy’.

3. You care so much about what people say about you.

4. All you care about is how to accumulate more and more wealth.

5. You argue unnecessarily when you are told something you are used to doing is haram.

6. You keep on delaying good deeds - I’ll do it tomorrow, or the next, etc.

7. A new gadget comes out and you’re already thinking what you’re going to sell to obtain it.

8. The lives of celebrities interests you.

9. The lifestyle of the rich impresses you.

10. You want to be the centre of attention.

11. You compete with each other for worldly matters/things.

12. Your thirst for power and glory cannot be quenched.

13. You fall into depression each time you don't get what you want.

14. Minor sins don't really mean anything to you.

15. You aren't able to stop the haram immediately and keep on procrastinating and delaying taubah.

16. You aren't ready to displease people to please Allah.

17. You care a lot about what's in vogue (you want to belong).

18. You plan far far ahead into the future.

19. Seeking for Islamic knowledge comes secondary (that's if it ever comes) after pursuing your future career.

20. Your friends aren't the type that remind you of Allah.

21. You regard people as successful according to their status in this world.

22. A whole day passes without you thinking of death.

23. You can afford to waste so much of your time doing things that wont benefit you in the hereafter.

24. Doing acts of ibadah becomes very difficult for you.

25. You can't seem to be able to change your extravagant lifestyle despite knowing Allah dislikes the extravagant.

26. You love visiting the lands of the kuffar.

27. You are told about the dangers of consuming riba yet you argue that this is the only way you can survive. You add that if you find a better halal in come you’ll change.

28. You want to live life to the fullest.

29. You care so much about your physical appearance.

30. You believe the end of time is still far far away.

31. You see things happening to others and you don't stop to think it could happen to you too.

32. You bury the dead yet you don't learn anything from it.

33. You want to ‘make ends meet’ by all means.

34. You are always in a haste to finish your prayer and continue with what your doing.

35. You don’t think that today could be your last day.

36. You are solely comforted by luxury (not by the remembrance of Allah).

37. You don’t ask Allah for paradise the way you ask for your dunia.

source

this really struck me...do pray for my steadfastness. inshaAllah. for everyone as well.

Ramadan

Salam ramadan!

How's fasting so far? No matter where you are I hope you are having a great Ramadan, filled with lots of activities that will boost your iman, and inshaAllah may Allah reward every deeds you do.
Here are some tips from facebook, kindly click the link or photo to see where I got it from.

source

apa tu mutabaah amal?
it's a list of amalan2 yang we make it into a table so we can monitor how we perform, each day, and we can see when is the time we do lots, and when we do less. like a gantt chart, sort of.

hopefully you'll have a productive ramadan and wherever you are, do pray for other people so that they will be at ease and in Allah's forgiveness as well.

InshaAllah