More visits, more deliveries

As mentioned in my previous posting, I intended to deliver groceries to Sofie's family today. So right after my pasar tani routine this morning, and after cooking lunch for my mother, off I went to the minimarket which had been selected by the charity club to supply groceries worth RM300 a month per family to 2 of the poor families I'm dealing with.

Earlier this week when I went to get the groceries for Lin, I went on a weekday, so I took all the stuff in the afternoon and delivered them straight away. I had told the minimarket owner that I'd be coming again on Saturday to collect the stuff for the other family, but apparently they thought I'd be coming in the afternoon, so when I got there about 10 am, the stuff weren't ready yet. Well, I didn't tell them exactly what time I was coming, but I did ask what time they open in the morning on Saturdays, so I can't say they were totally clueless. But never mind, not one who likes to make a fuss of such things, I told them I'd wait for them to get the things ready.

The things were ready within half an hour, after which off I headed to Sofie's house, avoiding every road possibly affected by the Thaipusam procession.

Ika and Saiful were playing outside their house when I got there.

"Dah mandi belum?" I asked.

"Belum", said Ika, smiling. It was about 11.30 am by then.

Sofie was inside, grumbling while tidying up the mess her children made. When she was bed-ridden, all 4 children were very helpful in keeping the house neat and tidy. Now the good news is Sofie does seem to be better (ie can clean up, can cook etc but still tires easily) but the bad news is, the children seem to be getting lazier now that they have their mother taking care of their needs.

Well, Along & Angah were not home, so I couldn't give them a piece of my mind, but I took the opportunity to remind Ika and Saiful not to take things for granted.

Sofie admitted that it was probably her fault. When her ex-hubby was still staying with them, she took care of every single need without training the kids to help out with at least some of the house chores. Then when her husband left, and she got bed-ridden, the children somehow, due to their concern for their mother's well being, took the effort to help out with the household chores. But now that they see their mother getting a bit better, they're taking for granted that it would be just like old times.

I can understand they just want to be kids, but they must also understand that their mother is not fully recovered. Heck, even some well to do families with healthy parents train their children to do at least some of the household chores! Cannotlah manja lebih-lebih!

Anyway, after visiting Sofie's family, I headed to Wani's house, which is in the same town, but further in. Wani had sent me a text message earlier to tell that she had paid for her children's school fees etc, and that she'd send me the receipts the next time she comes to Ipoh. Since I was already in town, I figured I might as well get the receipts from her to enable me to reimburse her as both her children are under our Sponsorship program. I sent her a text message earlier informing her that I might be coming today but when I got to her house, I found out that she had lost her handphone and did not get my message. The receipts are still with the children's teachers. So I told Wani to post the receipts to Buddies centre when she gets them.

Wani's eldest boy has hearing problems (he now uses hearing aid), and goes to a special class in his school. The fees for students of this special class are higher than that of other students.

After Wani's house, I headed back to Ipoh, but not straight home. Remember in my previous posting I said I'd buy a bicycle for Rosnah's daughter on Thursday, leave it at our centre and get it back on Sunday to be delivered to Rosnah? Well, I did go to the bicycle shop on Thursday, but since the shop owner said they do open on Thaipusam, I figured rather than having to get the bicycle out of my car, leave it at the centre, and putting it back in on Sunday, I might as well get the bicycle from the shop today so I don't have to get it out of the car until I reach Rosnah's house.

So yep, I just paid a small deposit and told the taukeh I'd come to get the bicycle on Saturday ie today. And so, after coming back from today's house visits, I straight away headed to the bicycle shop and had the guy putting the bicycle into my car. All I have to do is to get the bicycle out of my car just once - when I get to Rosnah's house tomorrow morning.

On my way to the shop, I saw a Perdana, also carrying a bicycle, but with one of the tyres sticking out of the boot, and the boot having to be tied with a rope to keep the cover down.

Right now this is what the inside of my Kenari looks like...

Hah! Kecik-kecik Kenari aku pun, sekurang-kurangnya sekadar nak angkut basikal, masih boleh tutup & kunci semua pintu! (tapi kalau ada extra passenger nak menumpang, dok lah mencangkung sebelah basikal tu...)