Another house visit

I had promised Rosnah I'd visit her at home this week since she works night shift and so she'd be home during the daytime.

Since I was quite free today, I thought I might as well visit her before any other matters suddenly crop up.

After settling some business at the bank this afternoon, off I went equipped only with Rosnah's address. Nope, no GPS, no maps. While I've been to the town where Rosnah is staying, I've never been to her kampong before, although the kampong is just off the main road.

But I'm getting quite used to finding homes based only on addresses. Besides, I've got a phone, I can always call. I've got a mouth, I can always ask.

Getting to the town was not at all a problem, it's not that far from Ipoh anyway. I was looking around for signboards showing the kampong's name as Rosnah did mention there is a signboard by the roadside, but I couldn't find it. So I stopped at a pisang goreng stall, and asked.

I then found where the kampong was... but had another problem. You see the kampong is on both sides of the main road, so which side was I to go? And the house numbers, just like my kampong, are not in order.

So had to resort to the next step.... I called Rosnah, told her where I was and asked her which way to go. Rosnah told me she'd go out to the main road to look out for me.

Her house was just within walking distance from the main road actually, I had to reverse my car about 30 meters to get into the junction to her house. The signboard was there, but not big enough for me to see while driving on a busy road.

Rosnah is staying with her mom and daughter at their family house. The house originally belonged to Rosnah's grandma.

Her daughter wasn't home as she was in school for co-curriculum activities. The girl, 11, is quite active in school. Other than uniform activities, she's also active in sports.

Rosnah's mom was asleep when I got to their house. Apparently she did some gardening earlier in the morning and got so tired. Tak boleh dok diam, said Rosnah of her mother. How come that line sounds so familiar? ;)

The family seems to be coping quite well. While Rosnah herself initially found it hard to accept her husband's death and the fact that she too was HIV positive, she got her strength from her daughter who knows about her parent's HIV status but had always been cool and calm about the whole thing. In fact, her daughter was the one who gave her the encouragement to get on with life. Now, she sounds more like an adult rather an 11 year old, don't you think?

I invited Rosnah to join us for this Sunday's family day, and Rosnah was quite eager to join at first especially since her daughter adores horses, but she has to work on Sunday, so it's no go for them. Too bad...

But based on what I saw today, I think Rosnah can get along well with the other PLHIV ladies if I can get the chance to introduce her to them.

I didn't organise any Raya-do last year and I was also too busy to go for any Raya visits, so maybe this year I need to at least go for the Raya Sakan rounds like I did 2 years ago. It will be a good chance to introduce Rosnah to the other ladies.

I will just make sure I won't have meehoon goreng for breakfast. ;)