A new beginning

After my lawn-mowing on Sunday, when I got back into my house, I noticed there were 3 missed calls on my handphone. The calls were all from Rozi, Sofie’s sister who is now taking care of Sofie’s children. After not getting any answers, she finally sent me a text message… “kak… azlan xbuat apa pn lgi. bleh ka bsok p ikm? lau sy bwa p bsok dpa sruh blk ja buang msa sy jla mcm 2.”

Yep, Azlan who came back on Saturday morning still had not done a single thing. Rozi worked whole day on Saturday and she was hoping Azlan would have at least got something done. But nope, the boy was waiting for someone to help him out, even with the simplest things.

So, medical check-up not done yet. Bank account not opened yet. Registration was supposed to be the next day. Rozi was wondering if IKM would accept their registration if they simply went without getting all those things done. She didn’t want to waste her time and her leave from work all for nothing.

Rozi had asked Azlan if he indeed wanted to further his studies. The boy without a doubt said yes. Last year when he was still in form 5, this very same boy told his mother he wanted to work immediately after SPM and didn’t want to study anymore. I finally managed to coax him into getting at least a cert in any skills he’s interested in. His change of mind was also probably encouraged by the fact that I got his younger brother to take up a culinary course instead of quitting school after PMR. But now that I’ve got him interested to further his studies, he seemed to be totally dependent on others to bring him around to do whatever necessary whereas he is big enough to do those things himself.

I told Rozi to go early in the morning. Registration was supposed to be from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm, and so if they got to the town early, they could get Azlan to have his medical check up done in the morning, open up a bank account and then immediately register him. If they were to do all those in Ipoh before going over to that town, they may not get there on time.

I called Rozi after 7 pm yesterday to find out if they had managed to get things done for Azlan. Rozi and her husband borrowed a friend’s car to send Azlan. They only got to the place after 9 am because they got lost finding the place, and ended up getting Azlan to do his medical check up at a private clinic, having to pay RM120 for everything, including the x-ray. And they also managed to open up a bank account for Azlan at the bank specified by IKM. Even then, every time he needed to go somewhere to do something (like needing to go next door to get some things photostated), he’d pull his aunt along… “Jom la Ma…” (the children call their aunt Ma). Sigh…

Whatever it is, with hostel provided, they left the place at about 2 pm, leaving Azlan to start a new life. I honestly hope the 2 year course will help him become more independent, and more importantly to build a brighter future for himself.

Me? Right now I am happy enough that the path for 2 of Sofie’s children had already been laid down. Last year both Azlan and Azman had wanted to quit studying immediately after SPM & PMR respectively. They wanted to start their working life with just their SPM & PMR qualifications. But I managed to coax them to continue studying by applying for vocational courses according to their interests. That is about all I can do for them. It is now up to them to make good use of the opportunity they are getting…