Student Life

There's a program happening today at Seminar Hall. Blood donation! It is part of the Raudhah Festival event and is organised by the RCC (Red Crescent Club).

I wan't interested in donating blood at first.. but Mujahid suddenly feel so excited about this blood donating thing and he wanted me to do it too. So he influenced me bit by bit and finally i too am excited to donate some of my blood!

The day has come. In the morning we both went to our classes like normal. My last class for the day (FIM) finishes at 3. So at that time i went to the Seminar Hall with a classmate Syed Abdurrahman. He's my only guy classmate in FIM class. He's interested in donating blood too because he heard that u can gain weight by donating blood. He's quite a skinny guy so i guess its ok. Well I hope that that story ain't true..

There were people in the sem hall but not much. Mujahid is still not there either. His class must not have finished yet i guess. Before we fill up the form, the attendant lady asked us to read the regulations first. Its like a list telling u the requirements for u to be able to donate blood. I can't remember all but remembered some of it like ur minimum weight has to be 45 kg, u need to at least eat something 3 hours before and some weird stuff like u must not have any sexual relationship with the same gender or bisexual or something like that -.-

And then they need to like poke a hole at the tip of ur finger to find what's ur blood type. The poking procedure hurts a bit but only a BIT. Like the bite of an ant. And only today i found out that my blood type is B! And then they will check our blood pressure. If u have low blood pressure u can't donate ur blood. It will only make u die faster obviously. And the last procedure before ur blood can be taken is registering ur name into their databse. We just have to give them our IC and fill up a mini form, sign here and there and we're ready!

I waited at the waiting seats because all the beds were currently occupied. So i can see some of the students who are having their blood sucked out through a small tube and into a.. kind of a plastic bag.. full of blood.. I was nervous. Because i'm scared that it will be so painful.. Blood flowing out of ur arms.. Very quickly too. I also realized that the sem hall was much more packed with people comparing to the time i entered it earlier. And most of the blood donors were the sisters! Where are the brothers?? So i waited nervously for like 5 minutes and i saw one of the girls on a bed stood up and left. So i immediately got up and lie down on the bed.

Then i was waiting for one of the nurses to attend me. I looked around and saw Mujahid in the crowd who were waiting for their turn. How unfortunate he came just a bit later than me.. After a few more minutes a nurse came and looked at my form and asked my name and blood type, just to validate that im the person in the form. After that she put the same thing that is used to calculate the blood pressure around my biceps to constrain it and she also gave me a hollow cylindrical tube for my hand to squeeze. I need to pump my hand by squeezing my hand with the tube so that the blood can flow faster. Then she applied some solution on my arm and then i saw it. The needle. A long thin sharp needle that will be injected into my veins.

Slowly i saw the needle disappearing into my arm. I have to admit that it became more painful the further the needle is pushed in but no worries :) The process only took like 2 seconds. And then she removed the needle. After that i saw her holding a BIGGER NEEDLE! WAY BIGGER than the previous one. It is the needle that is connected to the tube that will flow my blood into the bag. So i thought if the small needle was quite painful, how painful will this one be?? I almost freaked out but i was calmed when she said that this one won't be painful. She gently plunged the needle into the same hole i was injected just now. Surprisingly it doesn't hurt at all! Not even a bit i tell u. Instead, my blood immediately flowed through the tube and into the bag. Then the nurse went away to attend other students.

So there i was lying down, while watching my blood flowing out of me.. It doesn't hurt at all. Seriously guys. I imagine after all of this is done, where will my blood go? Who will it be donated to? I just pray that my blood will be given to someone who really needs it. Because of the blood we donated, they will be healthy, do their daily activities, have a household, lead a good life and live longer. My blood will become part of them forever. I think that this can be counted as sadaqah jaariyah. We will get pahala for as long as that person live because of our blood.. Ameen. Donating is a very noble act and we feel this knd of... "satisfaction" everytime we do it :D

After like 7 minutes, i can see that the bag is full, with my blood. The nurse came and disconnected the bag from the tube and put the bag near my leg. I poked the bag. Its soft. Then she pulled out the needle from my arm and put some cotton on it and asked me to press the cotton against my arm. After like a minute a guy came (he's a nurse too i guess) and put a plaster on my arm where i was injected. The plaster is still on my arm as i'm typing this :D

Then they gave us free snacks! There's an area in the corner of the seminar hall where the lady is serving hot milo and gave us some free biscuits and breads. The hot milo really hits the spot because its raining outside. So i sat there and drank hot milo with Abdurrahman. Then we walked together back to our dorms, saying all the best to Mujahid who is still waiting for his turn..

We also got like a very small booklet with Sijil/Certificate written on it. So i guess that's the certificate. In the book there are a few pages with a list of numbers. So far the only filled row in my book is No1. So everytime i donate blood it has to be recorded in this book. The highest number in the book is 112. Whose soul is kind enough to donate blood 112 times?? The book also states that there are a few privileges that one can get if they have donated blood a certain number of times. For example, its written:

So is that cool or what?? Go get your blood donated today! Its a really fun and unique experience!