Family Day : My Observations

Although during our Family Day outing last Sunday, we made sure we didn’t mention anything about HIV or related topics, I still managed to observe the PLWHA families, especially those under my care.

Hey, why the raised eye-brow? Just because I was enjoying myself silly, it didn’t mean I never bothered to observe the people around me, okay?! I always like to observe people (although I don’t usually notice things like new jewellery or new watch or the likes as I am not bothered by them) and so even while sliding down the Tube Raiders…

OR

Cliff Racer…

OR floating along the Adventure River… passing by the big monkey (not a blogger) with the bulging tummy…

I still OBSERVE people!

Of course, there may be other people observing me… and probably wondering why on earth was this makcik behaving like a hyperactive child (*chuckle*)… but I was not at all bothered by that.

I was actually observing how they got along with each other…

What I noticed was that there were a few groups. One group was the not-getting-wet mothers group. They sat there chit-chatting while watching over their children who were having fun getting themselves all wet. In this group were Yah, Fuzi and Aini and they were accompanied by a trainee volunteer who also did not want to get wet.

Zainab and Mrs. K did make friends with them but at the same time they had younger kids who needed to be supervised at the pool while Mr. K was not feeling well enough to be moving around too much. So he just sat under the hut and relaxed.

It was nice to note that Mrs. K’s 12 year old daughter and Aini’s 13 year old daughter got along really well as though they had known each other for years. In fact while I was floating along the adventure river they were on another tube nearby and kept warning me, “Makcik jaga-jaga Makcik, nanti basah!” every time we were about to pass any sensor-activated “animals” (monkeys, frogs, whatever) which would spray water on us when we pass by. Yeah, right, jaga-jaga nanti basah… as though we weren’t already wet…

On the contrary, Shila’s daughter Laila was so attached to her mother that she didn’t make any new friends despite there being a few other children around her age. As a matter of fact, she got along better with Jah, the happy-go-lucky PLWHA who became close friends with Shila ever since they met during the International Aids Memorial Day (IAMD) in May. But Jah can actually get along well with simply anybody… even the Thai lady (married to a Malaysian Chinese) who couldn’t speak Malay or English. How did they communicate? Like chicken and duck…

There was one particular PLWHA I was interested to get to know. From day one at the HIV clinic, Miera, a young Malay lady, specified that she didn’t want a Malay buddy. Initially she was also to attend the IAMD in May, but when she found out that the accompanying buddy was a Malay lady (yours truly lah) she was quite reluctant. She withdrew. She was afraid that fellow Malays would look down on her, it didn’t matter that her buddy (a Chinese lady) told her many times that I was alright. So when Miera joined our Family Day outing, I thought it was a good chance to get her to mix with the rest without having any fear of being looked down upon.

What I noticed was that Miera was the quiet type. Yes, she finally did make some new friends with other PLWHAs, Malays and non-Malays, but she didn’t really talk much. Since she was single, she didn’t have any kids to look after and so she joined us volunteers… Malays, Chinese, Indians… for the fun rides and slides. When we queued up for the Cliff Racer, coincidentally I was right behind her and so she had no choice but to become my partner sharing one tube. And while climbing up to the starting point of the slides, she finally talked to me! I gave her the choice whether she wanted to sit in front or at the back when sliding down. Just like my fellow volunteer who partnered me for the Tube Raider, Miera too preferred the back seat for the Cliff Racer! (I guess they were thinking whatever happens let me face it first!!)

Well, thank God I didn’t break any bones in me, but the Cliff Racer definitely broke the ice between me and Miera.

At the end of the day, some of the PLWHAs did exchange phone numbers, but knowing them, the “credit habis” excuse will be used most of the time when I ask them if they have been contacting each other…