Running for a Purpose

Dear neighbours,

Firstly, let me clarify that this has little to do with the RA. So if you are not interested you can stop reading here...

But if you are, let me share why I have been running since the end of last year. Health reasons aside, the reason I signed up to run the Standard Chartered KL Marathon - Half Marathon (21 km) - is to fundraise for charity. Last year I embarked on a project to set-up a 3rd party fundraising platform for charities in the region. The site is www.simplygiving.com and allows charities and NGOs to set-up fundraising activities online and accept donations as well.

It's really my way of giving back and I chose the KL Marathon as my fundraising event. I also chose to benefit the National Autism Society of Malaysia (NASOM) who are doing a fantastic work for autistic kids.   

My goal is to raise RM 5,000 for this cause and I hope some of you will give me your support. My fundraising page is http://www.simplygiving.com/fundraising/viewfund.aspx?f=running4tsb and I invite you to visit the page, and if you see fit, give a hand to the selfless people at NASOM.

This is not an Ad, just a personal message to friends and neighbours.

Thanks in advance and we will be resuming regular service soon :)

Regards
mrjefe

Latest Updates 22.5.2012

Belated Mother's Day to all the mum's in Temasya area. I hope the meals, flowers and various other presents made your day :)

OK, back to business. I just spoke with Goh about the fencing arrangements. They have communicated the new plans to MBSA but to-date have not received any formal reply. Rohaizal and Goh will follow-up on this matter. The good news is that despite all the rumours otherwise, our existing wooden fences have not been torn down.

As a result of the delay from MBSA, the planned residents' meeting is put on hold until the matter is resolved - hopefully some time soon. 

Mosquito Problem - Update

Just an update on the mosquito issue. Reply from Dr Ida of MBSA:

Apologies for the late reply.

We have done inspections on the 15th of May 2012. The construction site building shop lots had 3 breeding containers. Meanwhile the other construction site building the 0-Lot houses had also 3 containers. Both sites have been issued compounds and given notices to ensure their construction sites are always kept clean and free from mosquito breeding.

We will re inspect the construction sites in one week's time.

It is now 1 week. Anyone still facing problems with mosquitoes?

Latest updates: Fencing

Latest update: I understand from Goh that the redrawn plans for the fencing was received on Monday. This needs to be approved by MBSA before discussions with I&P.
Notice of the next neighborhood meeting is pending on the progress of these meetings.

In the meantime, as a matter of personal interest (meaning this is not a RA matter at the moment), I would like to explore the costs of mosquito fogging for our neighborhood. Does anyone have any previous experience or better yet, cost estimations? Also, would MBSA or the Ministry of Health (MOH) provide this for free?

Update dated 3rd May 2012:

I have communicated with Dr Roslan, Director of Town Services MBSA, who promptly referred me to Dr Ida, Deputy Director in the same department. Let me commend them on their speedy and helpful response. If I may extract from Dr Ida's email, the situation is as follows:

"Fogging activities are done based on dengue cases notifications that MBSA receive from the hospital via the health district. If a case has been reported, fogging activities will be done 200 meter radius from the address.

Fogging as a preventive measure as requested by individuals is not done as explained below:

1) Guideline produced by the Ministry of Health states that fogging is only done as a control measure and not as a preventive measure.

2) The mosquito cycle (from egg to adult) only takes one week. As fogging only kills the adult mosquitoes, the newly hatched adults will emerge a week later and the problem will recur.

3) Studies have shown that repeated usage of the chemical used in fogging have resulted in resistance of the mosquitoes towards the chemical. Hence, fogging will be done according to cases only.

The best for dengue prevention is active participation of the community to search and destroy potential breeding areas in their house compounds as Aedes mosquitoes only breed in clear, stagnant water. Any containers that can hold water are potential breeding sites and need to be removed immediately. This exercise should be done at least once a week."

I have pointed out that the recent spike in mosquitoes may be due to construction in our vicinity and she has promised to inspect this. The RA has been informed of this and I will update all of you later about follow-on action we could take as a community.