Back to normal routine

Back to normal routine this week. And that doesn't mean I can relax a bit more - it only means I have more things to cover in my voluntary work instead of concentrating on just one particular case as it had been for the past 2 weeks.

That doesn't mean I no longer have to think about Sharifah and my little Cek Mek either. As a matter of fact, first thing this morning, as I was getting ready to go to my office, a call came in from SN. She wanted to inform me of Sharifah's appointment at the HIV clinic. I had informed her earlier that if the appointment is in August, then there's no need to transfer her appointment to the other hospital as Sharifah plans to leave the shelter home by then.

Indeed, SN did fix Sharifah's appointment in August; but when she mentioned 12th August, I was thinking, alamak... I won't be around then (I should be in Bali that week). I asked SN if she could change it to 5th August, so at least if Sharifah needed my help, I'd be around. Thank goodness SN didn't have any problem with that.

Later when I got to the office, I called Sharifah. When I asked how she was doing and if she had adapted herself to the new place, she just said, "OK lah kak, mula tu payah jugak. La ni buleh lah sikit kot..." Didn't sound too convincing though. And of course I asked about my little Cek Mek. The little girl is doing okay, but according to Sharifah, has some problems sleeping at night as some of the occupants can be rather noisy. You see, this shelter home takes in various types of people - the homeless, the elderly, the mentally disabled (hmmm... I think many of our politicians qualify under this third category... but I guess no shelter homes want to take them). So, it's not easy for Kak Ana to control them all.

Anyway, Kak Ana had brought Sharifah for a massage on Sunday. Aiyah, she should have told me earlier lah, I think I need a good body massage myself (ish, Kak Ana bawak budak tu gi urut lepas bersalin - I pulak sibuk nak urut lepas salin baju!!). When I called this morning, Kak Ana wasn't around. She's a rather busy woman. So, Sharifah has yet to bring my little Cek Mek to the hospital. She should be doing so within this week. I told Sharifah about her next appointment in Ipoh.

Today, I also managed to disburse all the monthly sponsorship amount to the rightful recipients. I also finally managed to get back to those who had committed to contribute to Sofie's family. We now have people willing to give monthly contributions to Sofie and her children. Some of the contributions are already in my bank account. I called Sofie to inform her about it and promised her I'd visit this week. Tak berani simpan duit orang lama-lama...

Later at about 5 pm, a fellow volunteer, our Fellowship coordinator, called. He's the one who's supposed to do all the planning for our coming Family Day in August. Today he had called the manager of the place that we intend to visit for our Family Day, trying to arrange for a day when one or two of us could drop by and check out the place so we can have a better picture of what kind of activities we can organise for the day. But although the management of the place has agreed to let us use their place for our Family Day on a Sunday (the place is not open to the public actually), if we need to check out the place before hand, we'd need to do it on a weekday - a working day. That leaves only those with flexi working hours. In other words, orang tua ni juga lah kena pergi... sigh!

But never mind, for the sake of organising a fun day out for the poor families and their children (and not forgetting, this orang tua also want to have fun!), I will try to go either on Wednesday or Thursday with another orang tua volunteer with flexi hour.

Later, I called Puan Nur, Sharifah's mom. The family's busy moving to a new house. I asked if she had already missed her daughter and grandchild. Puan Nur and Sharifah actually call each other every day! And guess what? My strategy seems to work much faster than I thought! Puan Nur is already planning to bring Sharifah home, and Sharifah is already not willing to leave her baby at the shelter home - so yeah, we may have both Sharifah and my little Cek Mek going HOME sooner than planned!

You know, I felt a bit "down" after sending my little Cek Mek to the shelter home last week. I had mixed feelings - I was so so sad for the girl... I missed the girl... I was wondering if my plan would actually work out. But after listening to Puan Nur's plan today, I feel much better already! Not that I'd be able to see my little Cek Mek more often, but at least I know she will be at a proper home with a proper family environment.

I think I can sleep better tonight...