Wakanda Forever!

Posted by Gilbert Guerra on June 10, 2018 in pulse | 12 Comments

“I have lost my way. I have lost my very soul. To get back, I must see beyond myself, beyond my deepest truths. To get back, I must see things not as I feel them to be, but as they are.” – Black Panther

Wakanda is a great and powerful nation in Africa as depicted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is at the epitome of its success on technology due to the strongest metal on Earth that can be found only within its centre – the vibranium. And more importantly this nation is led by its king – the Black Panther.

“Wakanda Forever!“ is an expression of its people for their great love, loyalty and support to the nation. It is portrayed by putting a cross-armed salute within the chest area. It is also a symbol of great excellence.

Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman) and Shuri (Letitia Wright) greeting each other using Wakanda Forever salute. Photo taken from scatteredquotes.com

A nation or an individual cannot be successful on something without the support from its people. It’s difficult to do something good if you are doing it alone and no one appreciates or notices it. We all need support from everyone especially our significant others and family. And speaking of support, my Filipino friends and colleagues here in Malaysia demonstrate it tremendously when me and Alfer were selected for PULSE assignment.

Team Pinoy, as we call our group, are mostly individuals working in Finance Services in GSK Business Service Centre – Kuala Lumpur. Others already left the company but still working here in Malaysia. We’ve been together for around 5 years. And we’ve already witnessed as well the journey of the first two PULSE volunteers previously from our group.

Since the day that I passed the initial selection for PULSE, I had been informing the team on the result and progress of my application. When I told them that I would be assigned probably in Africa (the country was not yet confirmed that time), there’s one thing that came up commonly to our mind – I might be assigned in Wakanda and would be searching for the Black Panther for the next six months lol. Every time someone is asking me where I will be assigned in Africa, my first answer will be Wakanda and after the smile and laughter, I will tell that its really in Malawi.

As a token of appreciation for their support and “side comments”, I organized a simple boodle fight dinner last 9^th June 2018 Saturday in a Filipino Restaurant near our area. The dinner was a tradition for Filipinos who would be going somewhere else and it’s called “despedida” or farewell party. Boodle fight, as you all know, was a military style of eating in long table with banana leaf and the foods were on top. Most of the foods served were grilled or fried. Rice, noodles and veggie sides could be found as well as partner for viands. Filipino style sauces were also available to make our dinner more sumptuous. All of us ate together happily using our bare hands.

Team Pinoy in Malaysia. Majority are current GSK employees. There’s the flag of our country the Philippines on the upper right corner.

When food is life.

We could not easily digest all those foods we ate hence the team decided to go for a walk on a nearby market place. Suddenly we found ourselves shopping some items on a gadget & accessories store. The walk continued and few hundred meters away, we settled down on Alfer’s place to have a drink and videoke/karaoke sing-along session. (whatever you call that on your country)

After the boodle fight dinner, we’re ready to digest the food through walking. (c) Gelo.

Wine, beer, chips, cake and other finger foods were available. Thanks to Alfer for hosting that night. Most of my friends wanted to have a high score in the videoke. It was a challenge for everyone that night to beat my high score of 99. I even reached 100 in the middle of the song but ended up 99, 98, 97 or 94. (Disclaimer: I am not a good singer.) Everybody enjoyed and stayed for the whole night and until early morning. Yes, this is how we party!

Hitting the score of 100 on one of my songs on that epic night.

Beer Addict. The beer cans tower which we finished that night.

It is always a great experience to build memories with Team Pinoy. They are not only my friends but also a family to me. I appreciate their presence and support for my upcoming PULSE journey. I may not be able to see them for the next six months but those memories with them will be one of my most cherished.

Wakanda Forever! Or I’d rather say, Team Pinoy Forever! (a little bit corny, but for the sake of the blog hahahaha)