Marrying her late hubby’s brother…

Today being the 4th Tuesday of the month, it was time for me to head to Taiping Hospital again for clinic duty. With the other volunteer joining me for today’s support service works a doctor at Taiping Hospital, I drove alone from Ipoh.

Usually I’d drive non-stop from Ipoh to Taiping, but today somehow it was rather cold (it was rather foggy at certain stretches at the expressway) and so I had to make a pit-stop… errm… I mean pee-stop at Bukit Gantang… :) And when I reached Taiping Hospital today, I didn’t even bother to drive inside the hospital compounds to get a parking space; I headed directly to the metered parking spots right outside the hospital fences.

I headed direct to the doctor’s room to notify the nurse that I was already there, then to the nearby praying room which had been used as our counselling room ever since we started our support service in Taiping. However, there were no cases referred in the morning… thank God I brought along my netbook and wireless broadband modem. I also used the time to update the sponsorship account.

Meanwhile I had made arrangements with 2 earlier clients to meet me at the hospital. One of them was Jay, whom I met during last month’s clinic duty. I had promised her I’d help her apply for PAF, but I needed all the necessary supporting documents from her including her children’s birth certs. So yep, today she gave me all the necessary documents.

Then there was Maya, whose case I highlighted earlier in September. Well, her children are all covered under our sponsorship programme, and since the sponsors are entitled to see a picture of their sponsored child, I requested Maya to send photos of her children. So today she came to give me the photos.

We then discussed about taking her children to shop for their schooling needs for next year. My colleague who works at Taiping Hospital would be the better person to take them shopping, so I told Maya to keep in touch with my colleague.

After a while Maya said, “Kak, mak mertua saya nak saya kawin dengan adik arwah suami saya dulu kak. Macam mana?”

Me: “Dia tau tak awak ada HIV?”

Maya: “Memang keluarga semua tau.”

Me: “Ye jugak. Dia pun tau awak dapat HIV dari anak dia kan? Adik arwah tu tau tak?”

Maya: “Tau.”

Me: “Dia faham tak kesan dan akibatnya?”

Maya: “Tau. Memang selama ni pun dia yang tolong kerjakan sawah tu semenjak arwah takde.”

Me: “Kalau dia tau dan dia masih sanggup, terpulanglah pada dia. Tapi saya mintak cubalah elakkan dari berjangkit pulak HIV ke dia. Dah ada orang terangkan ke pasal pakai kondom?”

Maya: “Ya kak. Tapi kalau saya kawin, bantuan tu masih dapat ke? Dia pun bukan kerja apa sangat.”

Laaa… takut kena stop bantuan rupanya…

Well, we had already wanted to arrange for financial help for the children’s education even when Roslan, Maya’s late husband, was still alive. Right now the brother is doing the same type of job Roslan used to do. So no, they don’t earn much. Getting married is not a reason for us not to help with the children’s education.

Well, they are not married yet as Maya’s iddah is not over. Maya’s mother-in-law is arranging for them to get married after Maya’s iddah is over. Since Maya had always been dependent on her husband, I guess she needs a man in her life. I am at least happy to note that Maya’s in-laws still care about her and the children.