On the way to Medan from Kuala Lumpur LCCT I met a foreigner named Jarlaith Gallagher who was on his way to be a volunteer worker in Aceh as part of Hope International’s tsunami relief effort. At first i thought that he was a tourist, and it’s quiet seldom to see foreigner coming to Medan these days.Yet, I noticed him sitting infront of T7 gate which is the departure gate for Air Asia Flight to Medan that night.He could be going to some other tourist places such as Bangkok or Bali. But When the PA voice ask us to be prepared for departure, he stood up and asked me whether it was the flight to Medan - (he failed to pronounce it correctly actually. hehehe, nevermind, i failed to pronouce his name too, i thought it was Charllotte) . And as i thought, that was his first time coming to Medan. Later on i knew that it was actually his fisrt time coming to this part of the world.
We were chatting quiet lots of topic on the way walking to, and on the plane as well. It was a pleasure to talk to him that time, as that was suppose to be my Journey of Reflection but turned out to be a journey of enrichment. That day was the exact same day I first came to KL for study.
He is working in one of Irish biggest bank, AIB, as a property advisor. It was a big-pay job back there i guess. You know…bank. He was actually sacrificing 6 months of his job to be a volunteer. And he said that it was not an easy effort to propose the company to let him out for 6 months and come back. Interestingly, his motivation of becoming a volunteer and risking his job is to help others who are in need. I can say here that he is truly a noble man. Well, some of us might think twice or thrice to sacrifice our job, leaving things behind and paying our own expenses just to help people in other part of the world that we’ve never been in to, or are hardly recognized. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people died and more hundred of thousands lived unsheltered reminded him of what happened to his family back a century ago. He told me that Ireland was once lost thousands of its people because food supply was cut by the British. People died of starvation. I never knew that this kind of thing could’ve happened in Europe.
It was his empathy that lead him to help the people in Aceh. He saw it as an opportunity to recover his nation’s misery back a century ago. He would’ve helped them if he could, but since he hadn’t lived that time he did it this time. This is a good example for us especially in Asia who are supposedly living in a region of ‘Gotong Royong’, but lately we are kind of living individually side-by-side. May this spirit stays forever with him…..with us.
7.5.06 / 11am
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