Various updates

I wasn't on clinic duty on Wednesday, but I needed to see SN to get more info on Moorthy, the guy whose legs will be amputated soon and who needs a shelter after the operation is over. I managed to find a place for him but I did not take down his details earlier.

I knew SN would be busy on Wednesday morning, so I went in the afternoon. And as usual, whenever I go to see SN to discuss one case, we'd end up discussing lots of cases!

After taking down Moorthy's particulars, I took the opportunity to ask SN on a few other cases.

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Remember Nora? I met her during HIV clinic some time in March. She's the 24 year old woman who has an 11 year old child. Rather stubborn, and didn't seem to get along well with her family despite their efforts to help her. Refused to stay with family members and stayed with boyfriends instead. SN told me of Nora's new temporary place of residence. Guess where?

Staying with another boyfriend? Naah...

At a shelter home? Naah...

Back home with her family? Naah...

SHE'S IN JAIL! Reason? I don't know. But from what I understand, it had something to do with kena tangkap with her non-Muslim boyfriend, and since she couldn't afford to pay the fine, she had to spend time in jail.

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Both SN and myself are happy with Sofie's progress. Remember in my earlier postings about Sofie, I kept mentioning about how weak she was? Every time I visited she'd most probably be lying down, too weak to even get up.

Well, of late, Sofie seems a lot better. When I went to visit on Tuesday, she was even attempting to tidy up the kitchen. She still tires easily, but at least there's a whole lot of improvement in her health. Alhamdulillah. But she still needs a bit more time before she can even think of getting a job as she cannot tahan standing for too long.

I also told SN about Saiful, Sofie's son who needs to see the eye specialist. SN advised me to just bring the referral letter first without having to bring the boy, just go to the eye clinic, present the letter and set an appointment for the boy. Only bring the boy on the appointment date. Great, at least he doesn't have to miss school too often.

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On another note, I got a surprise call last night from... guess who?? Well, first I heard a man's voice - when he mentioned his "so-called" Muslim name, I suspected he was the "so-called" hubby to Anita's evil sister. When I asked, "Siapa?" he passed the phone to a lady. Yep, indeed.. Anita's evil sister, sounding so angelic.

She asked if Anita was staying with me. Ahh, they must have thought Anita was staying with me.

"Tak, dia takde dengan saya," I confidently said. I wasn't lying of course. :-)

The sister then told me that Anita "lari dari rumah" and she mentioned that they had a "small" misunderstanding on the day that Anita ran from home.

I asked if they tried calling her. She said she did but while the phone rings, Anita never answered the calls.

She claims she is worried about Anita's safety and that of the baby too. "Saya risau pasal dia orang bawah jagaan saya. Anak dia pun saya ingat nak ambil buat anak angkat saya. Laporan polis pun saya dah buat."

Laporan polis? What did she report to the police? That her 23 year old sister ran away from home? And that she took along her own child with her? Duh!

I told her that Anita does call me from time to time asking me to help out with her IC and maybe what I can do is the next time Anita calls I'd tell Anita that the sister is trying to get in touch with her.

"Tak payah bagitau saya telefon. Saya cuma mintak akak dapatkan alamat dia aje, biar saya sendiri gi jumpa dia."

Oh, like that ah? Well, I just pretended I wasn't aware of their problems. I do know the evil sister had attempted to give away the baby for adoption before, with some payment in return of course, but the couple who initially agreed to adopt the child eventually decided against it when they found out that the mother (Anita) was HIV positive.

Frankly, if the sister was really sincere in trying to patch things up, she wouldn't have told me not to tell Anita that she called.

What I know is that while their calls were not answered by Anita, the guy did send a few text messages to Anita, saying nasty things. Maybe Anita should just change to a new number.

Anyway, speaking of Anita, whatever happened to her identity card and her son's birth cert? Well, somebody managed to speak to a top-level officer in JPN, explaining to him Anita's problem. The officer told this somebody to get Anita or someone on Anita's behalf to write to him directly and furnishing him with copies of whatever supporting documents available.

Anita herself is not well educated, so I am writing the letter on her behalf. Right now I am waiting for copies of the documents (which are all at the shelter home where Anita is staying). I need to hurry, before the JPN officer forgets about his conversation with this somebody...

Am going off to KL tomorrow and will be back in Ipoh on Sunday. I hope to finalise the letter when I come back and send out the letter by Monday.

Tengah rajin ni baik siapkan apa patut. I may be hardworking at times, but at other times I am hardly working. So yes, pi siapkan kerja cepat-cepat sebelum angin malas timbul!!