Yah's kampong revisited

During the Buddies Family Day held recently, one of Yah’s daughters asked, “Kenapa makcik dah lama tak datang rumah?” Alamak…. guilty as charged….

The truth is, ever since Yah and her children moved further up north, I simply couldn’t find the time to visit them as often as I did before. Usually those with babies I’d visit more often to send them the baby necessities like milk powder and diapers, but since this family is staying further and Yah for the past few months had been traveling to Ipoh quite often to get things done (hospital appointments, blood tests, EPF withdrawal applications etc) I’d just hand over to her 1 or 2 packet of milk powder for her to bring home each time. I couldn’t give more as it would be troublesome for her to bring the bulky things up and down the buses.

But after her daughter asked me why I hadn’t been visiting them for so long, I thought I’d better make it a point to spare one Saturday or Sunday to do so.

So, yesterday I made sure I had no other commitments. I had called Jah earlier to ask her if she’d like to follow me. Being someone who loves to “jalan-jalan” but never really having the chance to do so, Jah agreed to follow me even before I could tell her where we were going! Jah is the easy-going, fun-to-be-with type of person, so I figured bringing her along for my house visits would not only be good for Jah, but also to the PLWHA families I visit.

I told Jah to be at the bus-station by 9.30 am, but she called me before 9.00 am to say she was already there!! I just came home after my Saturday pasar tani routine… so had to rush off immediately to the bus-station to fetch Jah. Jah was all excited. She had never been anywhere north of Ipoh before, so her excitement was understandable. Anyway, Jah had always been a highly excitable kind of specie…:). The journey at the highway was smooth, but after having to exit the highway and follow the trunk road to go to Yah’s kampong, there were so many lorries on the road. Sigh!

By the time we got to Yah’s house, it was already after 11 am. Yah and the kids were already waiting for me. Yah’s son, Abang Chik was his usual naughty self. Upon seeing visitors coming in, he rode his bicycle into the house, prompting his grandma to shout at him. The more I see Abang Chik, the more convinced I am that he has ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). Not that I’m an expert, but after listening to Yah’s stories about him, and seeing for myself the kind of kid Abang Chik is, I’ve been searching on the internet on this kind of kids. He never pays attention, he never listens and he’s always up to something. Tak makan saman! Even his teachers in school can’t cope with him. Scolding him day in day out will not help him. I advised Yah that Abang Chik may need professional help. Yah agreed to bring Abang Chik along to the hospital the next time she needs to bring baby Aini to see the doctor.

As for baby Aini, she’s doing just fine. Aini’s already 1 year plus now and she’s a chubby little baby (banyak telan susu free… so her mother says!). During my last visit (I think it was in May) Aini would cry at the sight of strangers in her house. This time she no longer cries. Her grandma (Yah’s mom) kept telling her to “pergi kat mama”, referring to me as the “mama” because I’m the milk supplier (not my own milk, of course… this is a case of lembu punya susu, si Pi dapat nama… haha!). Of course, baby Aini was very cautious… probably afraid that I may take her away from her family… I don’t really visit that often anyway.

Remember I mentioned earlier that Yah has got her EPF money and that she wanted to buy the piece of land her aunt wanted to sell? Well, Yah had already taken out some of the money and went to KL to meet the aunt. But the aunt ended up canceling her intentions to sell the piece of land because her children disagreed. Although nobody stays there any longer, they wanted to keep the house as their “balik kampong” spot.

So, Yah is back to square one… still has to stay in the same old house on a rented piece of land, which, although the landlord has given the OK for them to keep on renting, is still subject to the landlord’s son’s change of mind anytime.

And as for the money that Yah withdrew from her bank account? Well, she put them all back in. That’s how trustworthy Yah is when it comes to money. She doesn’t spend as she likes and she always think of her future. If the money is for the purpose of buying a land, she won’t spend it on anything else even though nobody can stop her from doing so.

Some of the poor, like I said before, would finish off their money in no time the moment they get their hands on a lump sum of money… like Mr. K’s family for example. Aah… this one’s another story… I’d better give them a pep talk soon before they get their EPF money. It will be fasting month soon and they may be tempted to spend and finish the money before Raya!!

Anyway, after leaving Yah’s house yesterday, I brought Jah for lunch… she’s always game for makan free! I even tapau-ed some food for her before I sent her home. Just as we were approaching the town where Jah lives, suddenly I saw a bus heading right towards my car. For a while there I thought I was on the wrong side of the road. Then I realized the bus was trying to overtake a tractor. Lucky thing there was enough space on the left for me to swerve to before I flashed the lights to the bus driver. Knowing pretty well he was in the wrong, the bus driver raised his right hand and smiled to me. Sheeeesh!! The cheek of him! He could still smile!

Thank God nothing bad happened and I am still here to post this entry. It will be fasting month soon and I will have lots of house visits to do to send some Raya goodies to the poor families…