CHECKING AND REPAIRING

 Here was the sight that greeted me when I went to the District Education Office to send the 7 1Malaysia Lanterns that was prepared by my colleagues, students and me.  In total there should be 700 lanterns.  As there are about 100 secondary and primary schools in the district, each school was delegated the task of making 7.  However, only 20 schools will be representing the district, including my school.  The representative school will bring along 25 lanterns.

 Here is one of the officers of the district office checking to see if the lanterns were well made and the light bulbs were working.  I am sorry to say that he was really disappointed as quite a number of lanterns were made in a slipshod manner. Quite a number of the lanterns were falling apart when he checked them.  So he and his colleagues had to repair the lanterns there and then.

I was to attend a briefing at 3 in the afternoon and after the meeting, I were to collect 35 lanterns.  No way, was I going to leave the lanterns that my colleagues, students and I had made so carefully and let them be taken by some other school.  I requested to take back my lanterns and also 28 others first and they agreed.

 After attending the briefing, I got three of my Form 4 librarians to help me check and repair the 28 lanterns that I had brought back from the district education office.  In this picture, my student is holding a lantern where a portion had come apart.

 The girls stapled the wobbly parts and added tape to reinforce the lanterns.  It would be embarrassing if the lanterns were to fall apart or if the bulbs won't light when the students are holding them in the stadium.

My girl is adding tape to the hold the battery in place for the light bulb.  We found 13 lanterns with bulbs that were not working.  Tomorrow I will send them to the workshop to get them repaired.
Hmm... if people were more conscientious and a bit more careful when making the lanterns, I wouldn't have to go through the trouble that I had to this evening.  My girls and I worked until 5.20 p.m.