May God embrace this little soul

Landon Payne, a picture taken when he was 2 years old.

About 20 people gathered outside the kearneycounty Courthouse in Nebraska to remember a boy who they said, “didn’t have a chance.” The small group stood with candles in a vigil for Landon Payne, the 4-year-old victim of alleged child abuse who died in December in rural Kearney County.

Read full report http://www.kearneyhub.com/news/local/article_d85054c6-a0a3-11df-80c8-001cc4c03286.html

and

http://www.lexch.com/articles/2010/07/22/news/regional/doc4c47657653ba9068462334.txt

“It just seemed to me that this kid had nobody. He had nobody. We would have been there for him if we had known. We need to stand for him now,” said Jacque Shepard of Kearney, who helped organize the vigil on Facebook.

“He didn’t even have a chance,” Shepard said, tears in her eyes.

“Because he could not fight for himself, we are here in his stead. Because he did not have a ‘family’ we are now his family. We seek justice for Landon, we seek change so that there are no other Landons who fall through the crack, and are ignored by those who are here to serve and protect.”

Dr. Matthias Okoye, director of the Nebraska Forensic Medical Services performed an autopsy on Landon's body on Dec. 23 and said the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head. Okoye said the boy was dehydrated, malnourished and emaciated.

Court records also cite an interview with Landon's sister, who also lived at the home. She said Sharon Turnell poked the boy's feet with tacks and whipped him with a stick. She also described an instance when Sharon Turnell, Dustin Scoville and Charles Turnell had hung Landon on a hook outside at night, describing the hook as being on a wooden pole, where you could hang your hat and coat.

She said Sharon Turnell threatened to cut off Landon's penis with a knife and had heated a knife over the stove and held it next to his penis. The girl said Charles Turnell was putting hot sauce on Landon's penis while Sharon heated the knife.

Landon's sister also said Landon was not fed, and while the rest of the family ate, he would be in the corner. She said Katie Payne pulled out Landon's hair and Sharon Turnell encouraged other children in the house to pull out his hair.

My tears could not stop flowing when I read about Landon. May those responsible, the disgusting scums, be brought to justice!

Just absolutely gorgeous

My grandnieces, of Chinese, Italian and Malay parentage, daughters of my nephew Sean Woon and his wife Anita, doing a photo shoot for a woolen company in Melbourne. It is a pity I have little chance of knowing them as they stay so far away. I doubt they even know of my existence.

The bigger girl Aisha

The younger girl Keira.

“Every child born into the world is a new thought of God, an ever fresh and radiant possibility”- Kate Douglas Wiggin

Our Attitude Defines Life

Life is Best for those who want to Live it,
Life is Difficult for those who want to Analyze it,
Life is worst for those who want to Criticize it,
Our Attitude Defines Life...
-Author unknown

Things of nature

Three of my four Jasmine plants are blooming, looking gorgeous and smelling like a million dollars!

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.
- Aristotle

Happy 99th birthday!

We celebrated our father's 99th birthday on 19 July. It was a pity not everybody in the family were present. Nevertheless, my sister and me who put it together hope it had been meaningful for our father as much as it was for us.

We are keeping our finger crossed that we will be able to celebrate his 100th birthday next year and hopefully all his sons and grandchildren will make the effort to come home.


15 years ago, an office colleague of mine visited me at father's house. It was his first meeting with my father. I remember he remarked to my father, "Uncle...you are 80+? Actually you look like you are 70". At that, my father retorted, "70? what nonsence, people say I look like 50!" My friend was actually so worried that he annoyed my father. Now he is 99. Maybe now he looks like 70?

Father was quite thrilled when Brother Tai Keat showed him the pictures he had taken of the birthday party.

My niece Fatim with her hands lovingly around her grandpa. She had graduated and now works as an interior designer in Kuala Lumpur and stays with her grandpa

My Fahter's favourite food had always been the satay and nasi impit.

My brother in law Ching and my nephew Ayu.

The lychee had always been one of father's favourite fruits.

My niece Fara pretending to do the ice kacang!

Sisiter Wan Lan and her husband busy trying to make the ice kacang machine work properly.

At last...!!!

Father, our late Mother and all their 5 children in Sabak Bernam. Judging by the age of the youngest (my brother Tai Keat who is now a doctor), probably it was 1952 . If you are curious, I am the little girl right in the middle.

Father (on the left) and his best friend, Uncle Tan with my youngest brother in Sabak Bernam. Probably it was 1953. Then father was 42 years old in this picture.

Father and his 5 children in Parit Buntar, infront of the first government quarters we stayed in. It could be 1954.

Child labourer found chained in Delhi eatery, rescued

A child labourer, who was trafficked from his home in Bihar to Delhi, was found chained and working in a roadside restaurant. He was later rescued by the Labour department and a child rights NGO.

The rescued boy said: "I was working in this dhaba for the last three months. One day the dhaba owner accused me of stealing Rs.50,000 from his home and started torturing me physically.

"A fortnight ago, he decided to chain me. I could move in the radius of one metre only and worked for more than 15 hours a day with hardly any protection from the cold. Police personnel kept coming to the dhaba, but did nothing to rescue me. Even people saw me like this everyday but nobody did anything," he added.

For more information, please read http://sify.com/news/child-labourer-found-chained-in-delhi-eatery-rescued-news-national-kbht6eieehj.html

Child labor is a human rights issue of immense sensitivity. Child labor is considered exploitative by the United Nations and International Labor Organization. “States recognize the right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or to interfere with the child’s education, or to be harmful to the child’s health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social development.” - quoted from http://www.childlabor.in/

"If you don't want them, give them to social services. Don't kill them."

A fruitless search was on for a missing 2-year-old boy with an infectious smile. Now authorities believe that all along he was buried under 400 pounds of concrete in a trash can.

In Moncks_Corner,_South_Carolina USA, a boy's father and his girlfriend were arrested,two days after the couple concocted a story about the boy falling into the Charleston Harbor near a popular tourist destination, authorities said.

Human remains were found that matched the description of the boy the couple had given. The body was wrapped in 32-gallon trash bags encased in concrete in a bin so heavy a farmer had to hoist it onto a county vehicle using a backhoe.

Authorities are awaiting DNA to confirm that it is Rodricus Williams, but they left little doubt they believe it is by charging Roger Williams and Grace Nichole Trotman with homicide by child abuse.

A neighbour who lives acrosss the street said "if you don't want them, give them to social services. Don't kill them."

Read full article: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gdEUbyl5tt72NmunIbgGQsHJzi1QD9GRHCPO0

Work that is fulfilling

Today, drowned in housework...

and...paper work...almost non-stop...from 7 am until 1/2 hour ago at 10 pm

I am actually so blessed ...I still have the strength to do the housework and the brains to do the paper work that helps me pay the bills!

If you don't find a way to do something as work that is fulfilling and enjoyable, then your life is going to be really sad - RUDOLPH GIULIANI

The litle things in life

My little front yard looking a little bit more decent with new additions from the nursery not far from the house. A fragrant Jasmine plant bloomed for the first time!

Delight in the little things. ~ Rudyard Kipling

The most important things in life...

Chicken rice dinner with relatives and friends.

Chicken rice dinner cooked with the help of Sister Wan Lan

Sis Wan Lan putting the finishing touches

My son Farouk's Father and Mother-in-law

My very good friends of 40 years, Mr. Puteh and his wife Mei

My son Farouk and Puteh

My elder son Feris, clowning around even when he is eating!

The ladies with PakKo Yee Mai, fruits and rambutans for desert

"The most important things in life are your friends, family, health, good humor and a positive attitude towards life. If you have these then you have everything!"
(Author Unknown)

True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be

I was totally moved by this story:

"It was a busy morning, about 8:30, when an elderly gentleman in his 80s arrived to have stitches removed from his thumb. He said he was in a hurry as he had an appointment at 9:00.

I took his vital signs and had him take a seat, knowing it would be over an hour before someone would be able to see him. I saw him looking at his watch and decided since I wasn’t busy with another patient, I would evaluate his wound. On examining it I saw it was well healed, so I talked to one of the doctors and got the needed supplies to remove his sutures and redress his wound.

While taking care of his wound, I asked him if he had another doctor's appointment this morning, as he was in such a hurry. The gentleman told me no, that he needed to go to the nursing home to eat breakfast with his wife. I inquired as to her health. He told me that she had been there for a while, as she is a victim of Alzheimer's disease.

As we talked, I asked if she would be upset if he was a bit late. He replied that she no longer knew who he was, that she had not recognized him for five years now. I was surprised and asked him, 'And you still go every morning, even though she doesn't know who you are?' He smiled as he patted my hand and said, 'She doesn't know me but I still know who she is.'

I had to hold back tears as he left, I had goose bumps on my arm and thought, 'That is the kind of love I want in my life. True love is neither physical nor romantic'. True love is an acceptance of all that is, has been, will be, and will not be."

Source: unknown