I have yet to visit any of my clients ever since my last visit during Ramadan. I can’t seem to find the time to do so - been busy doing I don’t know what! I think ever since my daily routine changed after my mother’s knee operation, I have yet to adjust myself to get back to my previous normal routine although my mother’s condition has improved a whole lot (dah keluar menebas dah… so what does that tell you?).
Yesterday Fuzi called me, just to ask me about the Paediatric Aids Fund (PAF) which she has yet to get for this month. I am only handling our Sponsorship Account for her children, so I wouldn’t be able to answer off hand about her PAF. The PAF is handled by Malaysian Aids Council.
I think Fuzi knew that, it’s just that she was finding an excuse to call me to wish me Selamat Hari Raya. She probably didn’t want to disturb me earlier because she knew I was busy.
Later yesterday a staff of the Perak Family Health Association (PFHA) called. A guy, infected with HIV, called up PFHA asking how to register with the Buddies as a client. You see, during our early stages, Buddies was a wing under the PFHA before we “grew up” and moved out to be on our own as an independent society registered with the Registrar of Societies.
The guy who called PFHA had been trying to call our center but since we don’t have any full time staff, nobody answered his call. (Usually we’d just give the hand phone number of one of our volunteers. We just recently got a new hotline number – a mobile number whereby the phone will be with any one of our Board members; but the number has not been widely distributed yet.)
I was driving when the PFHA staff called me, so I couldn’t take down the guy’s phone number. I just told her to get this guy to call me after half an hour.
Well, this guy gave me 45 minutes before he called. Majid sounded like a young guy (well, I have not met him but he does have a “young” voice!). He said he has been regularly going for appointments at the Ipoh HIV clinic for 2 years now but has never been referred to us during his appointments. Probably his earlier appointments never coincided with our clinic duties. He has heard about the Buddies, though, and was very much interested in getting our services.
Majid is not yet on medication, so I guess his CD4 count is still okay. From the tone of his voice, he didn’t sound depressed either. I guess he just wanted a friend he could easily talk to without fear of getting looked down upon.
I told him we’d usually want to meet up with our clients first before we assign any buddies to them, and he was agreeable to the idea of meeting up one of these days. I promised I’d call him back next week as I know I definitely won’t be able to find the time this week. This weekend is definitely out.
Whether Majid is really a young guy and whether he is really not depressed, I will only find out after I meet up with him…
Today while I was at a hypermarket (BUSY shopping!), SN called me from the HIV clinic. She needed a favour from me. Remember Zali whose wife left him and their 2 young kids? Well, he now needs to change to another regime for his ARV medication. Since the government only provides the first regime free, now that he is into his second regime, he will have to buy the ARV drugs on his own. Well, he hardly earns enough to buy food for himself and his kids (oh, let me rephrase that… he hardly earns anything at all!), how on earth is he supposed to buy those expensive ARV drugs?
SN had already called a particular association which does provide such assistance, but they would need Zali to go personally to their center together with the referral letter from the HIV clinic. But Zali doesn’t know where the place is even after given the address. So SN sought my help to assist Zali in this matter. No problemo, accompanying him to the association’s center is small matter. If I can’t go, I can always get a fellow volunteer to do so.
SN also told me about a few clients who have been missing their appointments. A few familiar names were given… ehem… either my clients or their husbands! And when SN called they wouldn’t answer the calls either – they probably recognized the number and wanted to avoid the anticipated babbling from SN! So SN is seeking my help to get hold of them.
Hmmm… does that mean it’s my turn to do the babbling?
Yesterday Fuzi called me, just to ask me about the Paediatric Aids Fund (PAF) which she has yet to get for this month. I am only handling our Sponsorship Account for her children, so I wouldn’t be able to answer off hand about her PAF. The PAF is handled by Malaysian Aids Council.
I think Fuzi knew that, it’s just that she was finding an excuse to call me to wish me Selamat Hari Raya. She probably didn’t want to disturb me earlier because she knew I was busy.
Later yesterday a staff of the Perak Family Health Association (PFHA) called. A guy, infected with HIV, called up PFHA asking how to register with the Buddies as a client. You see, during our early stages, Buddies was a wing under the PFHA before we “grew up” and moved out to be on our own as an independent society registered with the Registrar of Societies.
The guy who called PFHA had been trying to call our center but since we don’t have any full time staff, nobody answered his call. (Usually we’d just give the hand phone number of one of our volunteers. We just recently got a new hotline number – a mobile number whereby the phone will be with any one of our Board members; but the number has not been widely distributed yet.)
I was driving when the PFHA staff called me, so I couldn’t take down the guy’s phone number. I just told her to get this guy to call me after half an hour.
Well, this guy gave me 45 minutes before he called. Majid sounded like a young guy (well, I have not met him but he does have a “young” voice!). He said he has been regularly going for appointments at the Ipoh HIV clinic for 2 years now but has never been referred to us during his appointments. Probably his earlier appointments never coincided with our clinic duties. He has heard about the Buddies, though, and was very much interested in getting our services.
Majid is not yet on medication, so I guess his CD4 count is still okay. From the tone of his voice, he didn’t sound depressed either. I guess he just wanted a friend he could easily talk to without fear of getting looked down upon.
I told him we’d usually want to meet up with our clients first before we assign any buddies to them, and he was agreeable to the idea of meeting up one of these days. I promised I’d call him back next week as I know I definitely won’t be able to find the time this week. This weekend is definitely out.
Whether Majid is really a young guy and whether he is really not depressed, I will only find out after I meet up with him…
Today while I was at a hypermarket (BUSY shopping!), SN called me from the HIV clinic. She needed a favour from me. Remember Zali whose wife left him and their 2 young kids? Well, he now needs to change to another regime for his ARV medication. Since the government only provides the first regime free, now that he is into his second regime, he will have to buy the ARV drugs on his own. Well, he hardly earns enough to buy food for himself and his kids (oh, let me rephrase that… he hardly earns anything at all!), how on earth is he supposed to buy those expensive ARV drugs?
SN had already called a particular association which does provide such assistance, but they would need Zali to go personally to their center together with the referral letter from the HIV clinic. But Zali doesn’t know where the place is even after given the address. So SN sought my help to assist Zali in this matter. No problemo, accompanying him to the association’s center is small matter. If I can’t go, I can always get a fellow volunteer to do so.
SN also told me about a few clients who have been missing their appointments. A few familiar names were given… ehem… either my clients or their husbands! And when SN called they wouldn’t answer the calls either – they probably recognized the number and wanted to avoid the anticipated babbling from SN! So SN is seeking my help to get hold of them.
Hmmm… does that mean it’s my turn to do the babbling?
2 comments:
Hi,
Dah lama tak jengok. I see that you're still busy doing all the good work. Challenging ya?:)
Hi Hazia! Sempat lagi ke nak ucap selamat hari raya? :)
Well yes, voluntary work can be challenging but if the end result is good, it is satisfying. Only problem is, the end result is not always good.. :(
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