THEY WILL ASK thee as to what they should spend on others. Say: "Whatever of your wealth you spend shall [first] be for your parents, and for the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer; and whatever good you do, verily, God has full knowledge thereof." - Al-Baqarah (2:215)
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Monday 24 September 2007

Ramadhan House Visit #2

After my usual pasar tani routine last Saturday, I went over to my NGO centre to load my car with the stuffs which I needed to send to Fuzi’s family. I was sweating by the time I finished loading the things – this time I had more stuff than usual because they include a box and a big plastic bag of goodies contributed by a blog reader, and there were also more groceries than usual due to more cash contributions received.

So off I went to Fuzi’s house. As always, the kids were smiling when they saw my car coming. I called them to help get the things out of the car. Surprised there were so many things, the eldest girl asked, “Semua ni?!”

By the time I got in and sat down, the children were already excited, curious to know what was in the box. They saw there were a few paper bags inside and they were wondering what were inside the bags. I told them the things were all theirs so they could take the things out to see for themselves. And boy, were they excited to find out that each one of them got a bag of goodies each!

I asked about the status of Fuzi’s marriage certificate… whether she managed to get it ‘legalised’ yet. According to Fuzi, the guy who promised to help her had called her and told her to see him this week to settle the marriage cert issue. Once she gets that settled she will need to go to Putrajaya to settle her children’s citizenship status. I asked if Fuzi needs to pay any more money. I was shocked when I was told that the guy asked Fuzi to pay RM1,000 to settle the whole thing!! Earlier on Fuzi had already paid RM300 to get things started. No receipts issued. Now another RM1,000? Even for me that’s a big sum of money… how on earth did he expect Fuzi to fork out the money?!

I told Fuzi that if no receipts are issued then most likely the bulk of the money may just go into the guy’s own pocket! To which Fuzi replied in her Indonesian accent, “Tapi dia nampaknya seperti orang baik-baik, kak!” Aduuuh… but of course my dear… they always act like nice people. The money is the initiative for them to help you…

Okay, so it’s not good to “buruk sangka”. Maybe there is some kind of fine Fuzi need to pay because for many years her late husband never officially registered their Narathiwat marriage. But come on… RM1,000… and no receipts whatsoever?

Or maybe the guy sincerely wants to help, but he needs the money to give “duit kopi” to whoever he needed to seek help from to get things done. Oh I don’t know!! I would love to see this guy and ask him for a breakdown of what the RM1,000 was for. But Fuzi doesn’t want me to make a hoo hah of it for fear I may jeopardize her chances of getting the whole thing settled as soon as possible. So no, she’s not keen on having me accompany her to see this guy.

Alright, but where on earth is she going to fork out the money from? I told her to be frank with the guy and tell him that she’s a non-working single mom and live solely on welfare. When I told her that her PAF application has been approved and that she’ll be getting an additional RM160 per month beginning this month, she was so happy saying she can save that money for this purpose. All she wants to do now is to make sure there are no more hiccups in her children’s citizenship status. She’s willing to “ikat perut” for it.

Up to you, Fuzi… but I’m still suspicious. I have never done all this stuff before so I don’t really know how much money is really involved to get this done. Whatever it is, I sure hope all the citizenship problem will be settled soon so that her children’s citizenship status will not be questioned in the future.

Anyway, besides Fuzi’s marriage cert and her children’s citizenship problem, the family seems to be coping well. The children looked happy and to me that’s what matters most. In fact they are already talking about going to this year’s Raya-do… like the one I organised last year. I haven’t even planned anything yet for this year…

18 comments:

david santos said...

Hello, Pi Bani!
Thanks for posting, very good.
have a good day

Pak Zawi said...

Its such innocent people that are preys to vultures in our society. Out of desperation people are willing to part with their last dollar to get something done. Why cant the relevant department take up from here? A recconmendation from an NGO should be more than enough for them to do something for someone in need.

Anonymous said...

Salam K.Pi,
Yup...something is fishy when there is RM1k to be paid without any supporting documents. There should also be a receipt for the earlier payment of RM300. How do we know if the 'help' she's receiving is genuine or not????
-niasulaiman-

Pi Bani said...

Hi David,
Thanks for visiting and you have a good day too!

Pi Bani said...

Zawi,
It's not easy for us NGOs too. When we try to assist our clients by seeing the officers (welfare, EPF, etc) we get asked with questions like, "Awak ni siapa?" They probably think we are also vultures trying to take advantage of those in need. They don't seem to believe there are people who are willing to do things voluntarily without getting any monetary benefits in return.

Pi Bani said...

Niasulaiman,
That's what I kept telling Fuzi. She's taking a big risk. But she doesn't seem to care. She's so desperate to get things done ASAP she's willing to berhutang bergolok bergadai for it. I can only hope that even if the money is indeed for duit kopi, she will at least get what she wants.

Anonymous said...

A very touching Raya ad from Indomie, I almost cried watching it. But maybe our police & some ministers think otherwise, the parents/guardian might be charged for negligence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3vXlud1DV4

Pi Bani said...

Laman,
Thanks for the link. Yep, those poor poor kids... can't really blame the parents, can we?

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

i've just got to ask this;

whats in the goodie bag? hihi...

seriously, whats in it?

winniethepooh said...

glad that at this time of the year, the children are happy receiving some joy too :)

As for Fuzi, sometimes, it is hard to advice them not to do this or that as they really are just desperate to get things done. Just pray for the best that her things can be solved once and for all when that guy gets the moni..

hv a great week ahead Pi Bani

Pi Bani said...

Kerp,
Got clothes, books, chocolates...

Teringin jugak ke? :)

Pi Bani said...

Winnie,
Yeah, hopefully she will get what she desperately wants. It's her children's future that she worries about and I can understand that.

J.T. said...

The whole deal sounds fishy. Such is our society (and some western countries too) that people who have the power to make lives easier will not budge unless there is 'incentive'. They need that little boost to lift their heavy pens to sign something into effect. ;)

I hope Fuzi will not be cheated out of her money since that man is not even producing any receipts. I would like to trust him and give him the benefit of the doubt (that he could be doing it sincerely and some people need their duit kopi)... but I just cannot help it taking into account of Fuzi's desperation to get her status and her children's status fixed.

Pi Bani said...

JT,
Fishy? Indeed! Big stinking fish. But what to do... there are so many vultures of this kind in various agencies!

I just pray that at the end of it Fuzi will get what she wants so much.

Daphne Ling said...

Hi Kak Pi,

RM 1000? I'm suspicious too...

Sounds like some 'bank money into my account, to win blah blah' scam...

I hope everything turns out, and Fuzi doesnt go all the way to Putrajaya and get nothing...

Get a receipt...

But then again, itu pun boleh tipu lar...=(

sue said...

these kind of people are everywhere..

Pi Bani said...

Daph,
Ya la... nowadays anything also can tipu lah! And it's so much easier to tipu someone desperate like Fuzi.

Pi Bani said...

Sue,
I know... we see these kind in other agencies as well...