.::. sangap .::.

its been quite sometimes since i updated this blog.. as usual, i will update it based on monthly event.. this time it was september and at the same time it was fasting month.. ramadhan al-mubarak..

i had experienced fasting away from family through out my tertiary education.. the difference is in the distance.. i was in johor then, which is approx. 300km away, whereas now i’m in lebanon, a distance of more than 4000km..

fasting here in kaokaba is just like any other day.. except there’s no breakfast, morning break, lunch and tea but only sahur, berbuka and dinner..

ramadhan here is not like malaysia.. in malaysia its like celebration with food exhibition especially in the evening.. we have lots of food to choose for our berbuka at our pasar ramadhan (param is the short-form i used at johor).. but here.. just like i said.. it was just like any other day.. this is probably because the muslims & non-muslims here are almost balance - a 50-50 ratio.. there’s no param to buy foods for our berbuka.. but fortunately our cooks are creative enough to prepare the meals for berbuka so that we don’t have to eat the same for everyday.. the only problem we faced was in findings raw ingredients to make the meals just like it is in malaysia
to make it more meaningful, we had setup tents in front of our surau so that all of us (officers & other ranks) will berbuka together.. later on, we also had our dinner together in the tents in front of the surau, albeit a bit cold when the wind blows..

we also invited our compatriots from Indonesia to berbuka with us.. on that occasion, we had extra delicacies such as lamb BBQ and murtabaks.. the next day, we were honoured by the presence of our malaysian ambassador to lebanon, his excellency dato’ halim and wife, for berbuka with us..

by middle of september / ramadhan, the camp was alived with coloured lamps in strategic places.. the coloured lamps were later extended through out the camp in participation of the month of syawal - counting down to aidilfitri celebration.. the raya songs were already being played since early ramadhan though.. the commander planned to have a raya celebration on saturday, 4th of october.. and he wanted to do it at night so that we can decorate the camp with more lamps to light up the celebration.. but this will be on the next update..

as a parting shot.. all i can say is - it was truly another memorable & meaningful experience.. it might be my once in a lifetime experience of celebrating ramadhan here in lebanon

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 12:11 pm and is filed under Malcon East 3 UNIFIL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.