THEY WILL ASK thee as to what they should spend on others. Say: "Whatever of your wealth you spend shall [first] be for your parents, and for the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer; and whatever good you do, verily, God has full knowledge thereof." - Al-Baqarah (2:215)
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Monday 1 February 2010

The bicycle

Not wanting to go through the trouble of taking the bicycle out of my car and having to load it back in again to deliver it, and not wanting to keep the bicycle in my car for too long, I decided to deliver the bicycle yesterday morning to Rosnah’s daughter.

Right after my routine kampong exercise, I headed straight to Rosnah’s house, about 20 minutes via highway. Her house is very near the highway exit. Good thing the guy from the bicycle shop had loaded the bicycle into my car in such a secure position, despite me driving at 110 km/h, the bike didn’t move a bit, even when I stepped on the brakes.

When I reached Rosnah’s house, both mother and daughter were already waiting for me. They were ready to go to the market but when I told them I was coming (I sent Rosnah a text message right before making a move from my house), they decided to wait.

Despite knowing I was bringing along a bicycle for the daughter’s schooling needs, both Rosnah and daughter looked pleasantly surprised when they saw the bicycle. I think Rosnah had probably expected to see a second hand bicycle or an “orang tua” looking kinda bike.

Berapa ni kak?” she asked, thinking it was a rather expensive bike.

Satu”, I said selamba-ly. Yeah, I knew what she meant, but a loyar buruk is a loyar buruk… that’s who I am… so get used to it!

I never did tell her the actual price. Let her think it’s expensive.

During the last board meeting, one of our members suggested that we buy a second-hand bicycle… he said he should be able to get one for RM150. But I figured, why buy a second hand bike for that price when I could get a brand new one for just an additional RM20? Yep, I bought the bicycle for RM170.

Had I left it up to the respective families to buy the bicycles on their own and claim the amount later either from our CEF or Sponsorship fund, they’d probably buy at a more expensive shop near their place. Fuzi recently bought a bicycle for her daughter and she paid RM260 for it!

RM90 difference but didn’t look any more expensive than the one I bought for Rosnah’s daughter. Rosnah’s daughter loved it, saying “Terima kasih makcik” repeatedly.

In fact, mother and daughter were so happy they both kissed my hands! Thank goodness I didn’t eat any sambal tempoyak earlier, otherwise cium tangan sure ada bau!!

And despite already thanking me when I delivered the bike, when I got home, a text message came in from Rosnah, to thank me yet again. That’s how appreciative some people can be, compared to some others who tend to take for granted that we are there to help them whereas all the bicycles and educational help are just part of our “extra” services.

Ah well, it takes all kinds to make this world! So live with it!

On to my next mission. Nope, no deliveries until the end of February (I think!). I need to visit Azimah, the unwed mother I met during my last clinic duty. There wasn’t enough privacy at the hospital room, so I wasn’t able to dig much from Azimah then. She prefers to meet outside, so I don’t think I’d be visiting her at home. Within these next few days I’d better call to fix a “date” with her… and since this will be my first visit, I won’t be inviting any trainees to tag along. The +ve ladies I’m assigned to usually don’t talk much when I bring somebody else along. At least not during the first visit.

So I’ll be going… alone again… naturally…

6 comments:

mamasita said...

Pi..you memang patut dapat anugerah Datukship for all your very unlimited and out of the way efforts..I'm sure ramai bloggers agree..

Tahun ni Rocky dapat..tahun depan you pulak okay..Datuk Pi Bani..hmmm..sounds great!!

Pi Bani said...

Mamasita,
Datuk Pi? Wei, tak sesuai langsung!! I like Opah Pi better...

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Pi,
Apasal orang perempuan nak panggil Datuk? Pelik kan? Yes, Opah Pi sounds more dignified. Aunty Pi should skip all these Datuk business, kalau nak, kasilah pingat Tun ke, barulah best. Kan? purrr....meow!

Pi Bani said...

C-i-S,
Tun? Baik bagi I duit ke... kereta baru ke... boleh juga I guna for my charity work!

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

They're grateful for the effort you put yourself into, in order to ease someone else's burden. So yes, they're appreciative lot. Maybe its the way Rosnah was brought up, and she's passed it on to her daughter, which is a great thing.

Pi Bani said...

Kerp,
One thing about Rosnah's daughter is that although she's only 12, she is her mother's pillar of strength. Bagus budaknya. Hopefully she will remain as responsible sampai bila-bila.