Ramadhan house visits

It's the first day of Ramadhan.

As planned, after my pasar tani routine, off I went to deliver the many things already loaded into my car since Thursday. For the past 2 days, if anyone needed to hitch a ride in my car, I would have had to turn them down. Luckily I didn't come across anyone needing a lift from me.

Other than the groceries bought on Thursday, I also brought along some clothes. I had earlier received a package from a blog reader and regular commenter (guess who?) - a big box of new and used clothes to be distributed amongst the poor families I'm dealing with. There were new clothes for Sofie's family, and there were used (but still looking new) clothes which were left up to me to decide whom to send to. I decided to take a look first to decide who the clothes were more suitable for.

Well, it was quite tough really. Most of the baju kurungs are rather big if compared to most of my clients, but I finally managed to sort them out. There were also 2 pieces of cloth not sewn yet - which I decided to give to Lin because she can sew.

5 minutes past 9 am, I made a move. First destination - Sofie's house. I had sent a text message to Sofie yesterday to inform her I'd be coming today. When I got to her house, her 2 youngest were already waiting for me on their buaian hijau outside their house. Yep, the buaian hijau Sofie mentioned as the landmark when I first asked how to get find her house. The broad smiles on the children's faces were enough to make me feel welcomed.

I saw even broader smiles when they saw their baju raya. This time around, even Along and Angah, the 2 older boys, sat and chatted with me instead of shying away like they used to do. Yayy, the ice is finally broken! Ahh, moment of satisfaction!

I couldn't stay long at Sofie's house as I needed to unload more things from my car to the homes of other families.

Next stop - Fuzi's house. It had been a while since my last visit to her house. I didn't tell her I was coming since Fuzi is the type who seldom goes out. Besides, I didn't really have to detour that much to get to her house. It was just on the way as I headed back to Ipoh from Sofie's house. Just a little detour from the main road to get to her kampong.

Fuzi's children were already asking about the family day photos. Alamak... I hadn't had the time to send the photos for printing. After the family day I was busy preparing for the Bali trip and when I got back from Bali I totally forgot about it. I myself keep my own copy of those photos on my pen-drive, making it easier for me to forget sending the photos for printing - to be given to the families who joined us at the National Stud Farm. The kids (and their mothers) must be excited to see how they look like on a horse... :)  I must make it a point to print the photos soon and hopefully give them to the various families before Raya.

I took the opportunity to ask Fuzi about her children's performance in school. Since they are all under the sponsorship programme, I will need to send reports to the various sponsors. Well, it seems the girls are doing much better than the boys. The eldest daughter was 2nd in her class, while the 2nd daughter was 9th in her class. And the two younger boys were also 2nd their respective classes... but from the bottom.

After Fuzi's house, I headed off to my next destination - a totally different direction from Sofie's and Fuzi's. Another house which I had not been visiting for quite a while - that of Mr and Mrs K. Yep, the family which always seem to find themselves short of cash and always wanting to borrow money (which they don't get yet they still try their luck every time). Only Mr K was home when I got there, so I didn't go in. I just sent the things to the door. I was told that Mrs K was at the hospital waiting for Baby K who had to be warded again at Ipoh GH. Shah, their eldest son, too had to be warded at the hospital near their town.

I asked Mr K what was wrong with Shah. According to him, Shah came back from his usual football game and suddenly just felt weak and vomited at home. So they brought him to the hospital and he had to be warded since. It has been 3 days now. Mr K did mention something but I couldn't quite understand what Shah's illness was.

Sigh... macam-macam problem lah this family. And worst, it is very difficult to help them financially because they don't seem to spend the money on the right things! I did have with me some money meant to be given to these families during Ramadhan, but since Mrs K and her daughter had mentioned earlier that they suspect Mr K is back on drugs, I didn't dare leave the money with him. It is probably better to put the money in Mrs K's bank account.

My last stop was Lin's house. By then it was already 11.40 am. Lin and her daughters were busy making some jelly to be sold during Pasar Ramadhan later in the day.

And I made the right decision to give the 2 pieces of cloth to Lin. Outside her house was a sign saying, "Menerima tempahan baju kurung. RM25." At least I don't have to worry about her having to find a tailor...

I was happy to see how helpful her daughters were. The eldest who is now studying at a nursing college, came home for the weekend while her 2nd daughter, who studies medicine overseas, is back for holidays until after raya. Her 3rd daughter, who is also in a college for further studies, is having her exams now and cannot come home this week. And thank God they were around when Lin fainted at her goreng pisang stall 2 weeks ago (when I was in Bali).

As for her boys... oh well, they were still sleeping when I visited them today, and when I left around noon, they were still not up yet.

By the time I got home, it was about 12.45 pm.

Families visited - 4.

Time taken - 3 hours 40 minutes.

Total mileage - 125 kms.

Hey, not bad! It is after all only the first day of Ramadhan...