A day in my voluntary work…

By 9.30 this morning I was at the Buddies center, checking to see if there were any matters needing my attention. As I stepped into the office, I saw the treasurer’s file on the table. Ah, our treasurer must have been updating the accounts to report for tomorrow's board meeting. I opened the file and saw his note saying that the accounts for August didn’t balance. I then switched on the PC to check on the accounts (I had earlier on prepared and formatted everything when I was the treasurer before). Looked to me as though the accounts was balanced, so I thought maybe the treasurer managed to balance the accounts after he wrote that note. The only thing I noticed was that he had not included the FD interest.

I then sent a text message to the treasurer to inform him about the FD and also to print out the notes pages as well so we could have the breakdown of the accumulated funds. After a while he called, asking if I was busy and whether I could check out the accounts for him since he simply couldn’t balance it. When I asked him what he meant, he mentioned that the bank balance at the bank reconciliation statement did not tally with the bank balance as per the ledger.

So yeah, I took a look, and managed to correct it in 10 minutes. There was nothing wrong with the ledger or the accounts – it was his bank reconciliation statement that was wrong.

Meanwhile I noticed there was an incoming fax. It was regarding an exhibition to be held on 16th October. Initially it looked as though the documents were complete, but after looking at the fax cover sheet, there was supposed to be 7 pages altogether but I could only see 4. It was then that I noticed our fax machine had run out of paper. So, off I went to a nearby stationery shop to buy some fax rolls. I asked for 3 fax rolls, then asked for the receipt, then off I wanted to go back to the center. But I took just 2 steps and the guy who passed me the receipt asked, “Aih? Sudah bayar ka?”

Alamak, I forgot to pay! Hehehe, siap mintak receipt lepas tu selamba nak jalan keluar… adoi, so malufying! I apologised and paid. After getting my change, I apologised again. The guy then said, “Tak apa, sudah biasa kena ini macam.”

Back at the center, after putting in the fax roll into the fax machine, a text message came in on my handphone. It was from Amy. Remember Amy & Ramli? No, not Amy Search and not Ramli Sarip. Amy is Ramli’s daughter… and Ramli’s the guy who had 4 wives when he was well, with all leaving him after he got sick. (one of the wives died, the other 3 are still alive but decided to leave him as well). Now that Ramli is unable to even take care of himself, his children from wife #1 are taking over the responsibility to take care of him and his children from wife #2 who not only left him, but left her children as well with him!

With Amy (who is 21 years old) herself already married, just gave birth to her own child, and depending on her husband to support her, it definitely isn’t easy for her. Her husband doesn’t earn much, but he’s not complaining about having to support his wife’s younger siblings.

Since Ramli is unable to do or remember anything, any financial aid cannot be under Ramli’s name. Amy has to take over as the guardian to her younger siblings and so we suggested to her that she should open up a bank account so that all the financial aid can be directly credited into her account to make things easier. And since today was Ramli’s appointment at Ipoh GH, Amy had called me earlier asking if she could meet me to hand over the documents. I told her to text me once she reached the hospital so I could go over to meet her.

And so that’s what the text message I received was about… to tell me that she had just reached the hospital. I packed up my things, locked up the center, and off I went to the hospital. This time I was luckier… got myself a parking space much nearer to the specialist clinic.

As I reached the corridor outside the doctor’s room at the ID clinic, looking for Amy and her father, I simply couldn’t find them. I knew Ramli would probably be on a bed or stretcher as he is not able to sit for too long, so it would be obvious if he was already there. Instead I saw another familiar looking face… and after a while I realised it was Sharifah, my little Cek Mek’s mother! Wei, dah tembam!

“Tak datang dengan Kak Ana ke hari ni?” I asked.

“Dak.. hari ni mai teghuih sini dengan ayah tiri,” she said.

Ayah tiri did she say? Ah, so her mother must have remarried. The last time Sharifah would just describe the guy as “kawan mak”, this time it’s already “ayah tiri”.

We just had a short chat before I decided to call Amy to find out where she was. She was still outside at the registration counter. So I went out to meet her. Her father was lying down, and Amy had brought along her 3 month old son with her. Her husband just got back from photostating the documents I needed to help them apply for financial aid.

It was after 11 am by the time I settled the necessary with Amy. Next stop… the minimarket. It’s the end of the month – time to deliver groceries to the 2 families whose monthly groceries are sponsored by a club until the end of this year. Today I just went to send the list first so that by the time I go to the minimarket tomorrow, the things would be ready to be loaded into my car.

I got home just in time for lunch and decided to stay home for the rest of the day, doing my work at home.

So that was a day in my voluntary work… only for this day lah. I't’s not like this every day… sometimes I’d be busier, sometimes not busy at all.

Tomorrow and the day after? 2 deliveries and 2 meetings…