The calls and SMS

I am not done yet with “my children’s” back-to-school expenses. While the uniforms, shoes, etc had been bought during the school holidays, I had to wait until school reopened before getting the amount needed for their fees, workbooks and whatever else that needed to be bought at or paid to the respective schools.

Rosnah SMSed me to inform me of her daughter’s school fees. I replied her SMS, asking if she’d be home during the day this coming week. She works on shifts, so if she’s on night shift, I can visit her during the daytime, pass her the money and collect the receipts or whatever supporting documents. Rosnah’s reply came…

“Keja pagi tapi nak jumpa dr pkr 14#1”

Huh?? After a few minutes of trying, I still could not comprehend her message. So I replied, saying I couldn’t understand what she meant. I waited, but her reply never came. Either she herself couldn’t understand her message (hehehe) or she couldn’t understand what I didn’t understand… (do YOU understand?!)

The next day Rosnah called. She told me she’d be home over the weekend if I wanted to visit. I had already planned to have a good rest at home and I was not about to change my plans unless there was any emergency. I didn’t consider this an emergency. Then she told me her appointment at the HIV clinic would be on 14th January. Ohh… so “dr pkr” is doktor pakar! (no, dr is not for “dari” and pkr doesn’t represent the political party) And 14#1 is 14/1. Aduh… pening kepala otak orang tua ni nak comprehend bahasa SMS lah!

After that another SMS came from Mrs K. Despite apologising for her earlier message, this time again she repeated her long mendayu-dayu SMS without comma and fullstop. And again she was still attempting to borrow money from me, this time even asking me to give my bank account number as well, so she could pay back the money by remitting the money direct into my bank account at the end of the month when Mr K gets his pay. If you recall in her earlier message she mentioned Mr K would get his pay on the 10th, now she says end of the month? Sheesh. Again, I just McDonno… I didn’t even bother to reply. Am getting tired of advising them… am getting tired of lecturing them. To think that Mrs K thinks I’m “garang” yet she has not given up trying to borrow money from me, I wonder how it would be if she thinks I’m so lemah-lembut and angelic… (dah, siapa pulak yang bunyi macam nak termuntah tu? ;-))

And oh, guess who called me last week? One of the most colourful characters in my 2008 postings but a bit quiet in 2009. Yep, none other than Yah. And as always, she called from a new number. Anyway, all she wanted when she called me was to ask if “pejabat BaitulMal kat sebelah kiri ke sebelah kanan?” Aduh, ini perempuan! In the first place, how on earth was I to know where she was standing/facing, for me to know if the office was on the left or on the right? And secondly, she could have easily asked anyone around the area! Maybe it was just her way to tell me that she’s still alive and kicking. Well, I was quite busy that day. A female neighbor who’s also a relative passed away and I had to guide her daughters with the pengurusan jenazah, therefore I had to cut the conversation short. So, sorry, but despite that call from Yah, no updates of whatever she’s been up to of late.

I will need to make quite a number of calls this coming week. We’re organising a gathering at the end of the month for the PLHIVs – separate gatherings for the male and female PLHIVs, to enable them to get to know one another and to open up to each other. For the female gathering, we allow them to bring their children as well. Otherwise it’ll be difficult to get them to join.

I hope I can get enough positive responses to get this thing going…