| On her way home late one Friday
night, Assuntarian Pat Lu met with a near-fatal road accident. Her car
was hit by a truck.
While waiting for her turn to be
examined in the emergency ward of the hospital that night, with nothing
to do but thank God for the kind soul who sent her to the hospital and
thank God for being alive, it struck her - had she been unconscious or
called to heaven - her next-of-kin would not know of her whereabouts.
Pat's handphone was out of battery,
her identity card (then) carried her old residence adddress, her call cards
had only her office address and contact numbers; and her office is closed
Saturdays. Living on her own then, this means being in the hospital or
morgue till somebody discovers and reports her missing the following week.
Since then she keeps a list of her
family members contact numbers in the glove compartment of her car including
phone numbers of hospitals, taxis and her favourite car workshop - should
she meet with another accident or assist others on the road in emergency
situations where the least she could do was to call for the ambulance or
police for assistance instead of contributing to the traffic jam as a bystander.
Then came the call to save electricity
and the call to save water nationwide in the mid to late 90s. On many occassions
Pat wished she had the phone numbers of Tenaga Nasional Berhad and Water
Works Department on hand when she came across street lamps still lit during
the day or burst water pipes. But the list conveniently disappeared when
she needed it most.
Thus the idea of creating a glass
sticker cum road tax disc holder was born as a community project under
the Assunta Alumni. A permanent fixture on the front windscreen for easy
access to the important contact numbers in case of any emergency.
The public can buy the road tax glass
sticker for only RM3 each from the website
- proceeds from the sale of the car sticker will be channeled to the school
and other community projects in the pipeline.
When asked why are the contact numbers
of both Assunta Secondary and Primary Schools are included on the car sticker,
Pat Lu quips, "Oh, that's for parents of present pupils to contact the
school and to monitor their kids!" |