A new beginning for Sofie?

Remember in my posting here, I mentioned about Sofie and her children feeling uncomfortable staying at her sister's house?

Well, thanks to kind-hearted blog readers, Sofie and her children have now moved to another house, quite near her sister's house - so her sister is still nearby to look out for her, and Sofie and her children no longer need to feel as though they are burdensome to her sister's family.

And remember in my last posting I mentioned about Sofie seeking my favour to get a referral letter from SN so I could pass it to her during my next visit? Sofie needs the letter to be passed to the Penghulu at her place to apply for financial assistance for her family. I got the letter from SN on Thursday.

Since I will be away in Bali for a whole week in 2 weeks time, I figured if I need to visit any of my clients before Ramadhan, I'd better do so within the coming week. I'd be meeting quite a number of my clients during our family day next Sunday, but there are 2 cases needing more attention right now, and these 2 aren't joining the family day - Sofie, and Rosnah.

I had promised Rosnah I'd visit her during one of the weekdays this coming week - she'd be working night shifts then, so she'd be home during the day.

Since I was free today, I decided to visit Sofie. I did ask 2 trainee volunteers if they'd like to join me for the visit, but since they had other matters to attend to, today I went alone.

First I went to the Buddies Center to grab some groceries - rice, flour, cooking oil, noodles, etc (we have supplies of those donated by some good Samaritans almost every month), then I went over to a fast food outlet to buy something for the children. It is easier now that they are staying on their own.

I did ask Sofie for the address of her new home, but she couldn't remember her address and only managed to describe the place.

"Dulu gi rumah kakak saya masuk lorong kanan kan? Ni masuk lorong kiri, lepas tu jalan depan sikit ada buaian warna hijau kat luar tu, rumah saya lah tu!"

So yeah, I belok kiri and looked around for a house with a buaian hijau outside. Coudn't find it at first, and initially wanted to ask around, but I wasn't sure what to ask. Should I ask, "Kawasan ni rumah mana ada buaian hijau?" Naaah... I decided not to ask. Worse comes to worse, I'd call Sofie and get one of her kids to stand outside and look out for me. As I turned around I saw one house with a buaian hijau - didn't see it when I first drove into the road as I actually needed to get into another lorong to find the house.

I knew I got the right house as the door was opened and I could clearly see from outside Sofie lying down on a queen-sized mattress.

As I got down from my car, Sofie's 2 younger children were smiling sweetly at the door. Both of them, with their dimples, certainly look so so sweet when they smile. I called them both to help carry out the stuffs from my car.

"Ni semua-semua ni?" asked the boy.

"Ha'ah", I said, "angkut semua!"

The house is rather small, the queen-sized mattress alone seemed to fill up most of the space in the hall (if I can call it the hall lah). Then there was a small lorong going towards the kitchen with one small bedroom beside the lorong.

Sofie sat up and invited me to sit on the mattress.

The 2 older boys had gone out somewhere. Only the 2 younger ones were around.

Anyway, both the younger kids are used to me by now, and in fact, since this was my first visit to their new home, where their cousins were not around, they seemed to be such a talkative pair, especially the girl! I had fun joking around with them. Somehow I feel they did not talk much earlier because they were scared to say much at their aunt's house.

The boy, now 11, and the girl, 7, are about the same size. I think I've mentioned in one of my earlier postings that the boy's growth were rather stunted after a high fever he got when he was about 2 or 3. Both of them have yet to be tested for HIV - Sofie promised she'd bring them for tests during the coming school holidays. I truly hope they are not infected.

What I like about Sofie's children is that they are all very helpful. The eldest boy, Along, 15, is the one who always cleans up the house. The second boy, Angah, 13, helps to cook. The third, Abang Chik, 11, helps to wash the clothes (with the help of their old semi-auto washing machine lah). In fact, when I was at their house today, Abang Chik was actually helping to wash their clothes. I asked the youngest girl, whom they call Adik, "Adik pulak rajin buat apa?" "Adik rajin sapu sampah kat luar rumah!" she said. There are times though, when her Along just told her, "Adik masuk dalam tolong jaga mak je lah!"

Before the kids go to school in the morning, Along would send their mother to their aunt's house (the one they had been staying with before this), by bicycle. Yes, they all now use the bicycles bought, thanks to the kind donors who responded to my first posting on Sofie.

By 3 pm, after Along gets back from school, he'd fetch their mother and bring her home. Imagine... these kids are only 7 to 15 years of age and yet they are so responsible!

At their age, I was too lazy to do even the simplest house chore!

Sofie is still rather weak and needs one of her children to accompany her every time she needs to go to the hospital in Ipoh, but based on what I saw today, she did look a lot better than the last time I visited her.

The house she's staying in now doesn't look as comfortable as her sister's house, but somehow Sofie and her children themselves did look a lot more comfortable. They talked a lot more, they smiled a lot more, they laughed a lot more.

I love seeing the smiles on their faces! I love listening to their laughter! Ahh... I feel so blessed!

There is still a lot that can be done to help them, and we don't know what kind of future lies in store for them, but somehow I drove home today feeling satisfied.

Ramadhan is just around the corner. My next mission is to get some goodies which I hope to deliver to Sofie and other poor families under my care before Hari Raya. I want to see more of the children's smiles. I want to hear more of the children's laughter.