the use of ‘allah’ in herald

few days ago in one of my post on this issue, someone commented about being curious to see how herald use ‘allah’. well… i’m not surprise of course… not that he/she wanted to know but he/she didn’t know because he/she cannot get hold of a copy of the herald. see, told you herald is not that easy available as they (herald) are sent to catholic churches only.

then after his/her comment, i did mentioned that i will post one article showing the use of allah. well now i’m going to do it. this article happened to be my own article (told ya, i contribute articles to herald, remember?). of course i wrote in english. it was the herald staff who translated it to bahasa. sometimes if the bahasa section does not have enough news, they (herald) will take some articles in english to translate to bahasa.

this article (event report actually)i wrote, which i’m going to show, happens to be an article about migrant workers and whom mostly understand only bahasa, hence the ‘recollection’ that they attended was fully in bahasa! (‘recollection’ is our catholic term for something like seminar). see, there are lots of bahasa speaking catholics in the penisular too. oh this article appears in the latest herald issue, i.e. 23 dec. (no publication on 30 dec, being the christmas season).

ok, without further ado, here’s the article, first in english, then in bahasa.

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Recollection for Migrant Workers

PENANG: The 61 migrant workers, some as young as 16 years old were at Domus St Anne for the annual Penang Diocese Recollection for migrant workers.

Organised by the Penang Diocese Migrant Workers Support Centre (MWSC), it was conducted in Bahasa Malaysia and facilitated by Fr Robert Daniels.

The day began with ice-breakers and an introduction address by Ruth Mary Paul, the Coordinator for MWSC.  Ruth remarked that, as children of God, all those who are working abroad should be thankful to God for the gift of life and for God’s protection and guidance at their work-places.

The following day, the morning began with Prayer & Worship. It was a solemn and prayerful moment for the migrant workers as they remembered their families whom they had left behind to come to Malaysia to work.
The session with Fr Robert was full of fun as he was very humorous in his sharing, especially when he shared his experience as a ‘migrant worker’ when he was away on study leave in Italy.

During the games session, everyone joined in, including the facilitator and volunteers. They had so much fun interacting with one another through the lively and interesting games.

After letting their hair down during the games, it was time for serious work when the migrant workers got into groups to discuss The gifts of God —  how have they used it in the Malaysian Church?

The last session was personal sharing and confession. Many of them shared that they were very grateful to the Catholic Church for their support and solidarity with migrant workers.

It was indeed a fruitful and meaningful recollection day for the migrant workers as they left with fond memories and sense of motivation to continue their journey as migrant workers.

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Rekoleksi untuk para migran

PULAU PINANG: Seramai 61 pekerja migrant mengikuti rekoleksi yang dianjurkan oleh Penang Diocese Migrant Workes Support Center (MWSC), di Domus St Anne baru-baru ini.

Rekoleksi ini dikendalikan di dalam Bahasa Malaysia dan dipimpin oleh Paderi Robert Daniels.

Sesi bermula dengan acara berkenalan yang dikendalikan oleh Penyelaras MWSC iaitu Sdri Ruth Mary Paul. Sdri Ruth menekankan bahawa walaupun bekerja di luar negara, namun sebagai anak Allah, kita mesti bersyukur dan berterima kasih di atas pemberian, perlindungan dan bimbingan Tuhan semasa di berada di tempat asing.

Pada hari berikutnya, sesi dikendalikan oleh Paderi Robert. Ianya dimulakan dengan Pujian dan Penyembahan. Sesi ini begitu menyentuh hati sambil para peserta mengenang keluarga yang mereka tinggalkan untuk bekerja di Malaysia.

Paderi Robert mengendalikan sesinya dengan ceria dan bertenaga. Beliau turut mengongsikan pengalamannya menjadi “pekerja migran” semasa belajar di Itali.

Para peserta juga dibahagikan di dalam kumpulan untuk merenung soalan “Karunia Allah — bagaimana menggunakannya di Gereja Malaysia?”

Sesi terakhir ialah perkongsian iman dan Sakramen Tobat. Ramai yang mengongsikan bahawa mereka amat bersyukur kerana Gereja Katolik  sentiasa menyokong dan tidak meminggirkan pekerja migran.

Rekoleksi ini meninggalkan kesan mendalam terhadap pembangunan rohani para peserta dan sebagai satu motivasi di dalam menempuh perjalanan kehidupan mereka seharian sebagai pekerja migran.