A strong-willed teenage mom

When Dahlia first told me last year that her daughter Dilla (who was only 15 at that time) was raped, I feared the worst. I feared that the girl may give up on her future. I feared the girl would just lock herself at home, not wanting to see anybody, or worse, that she’d run away from home. Those who may have missed her stories earlier, can read about her here, here and here.

Dilla started going for her culinary course only 2 weeks after she gave birth to her baby girl, Cek Mek 2 (CM2). She is so determined to take care of her own baby, she told her mom she’d run away from home if her mom decides to give the baby away for adoption. Obviously Dilla loves children. Even her younger siblings listen to her more than their own mother.

With good PT3 results despite being pregnant during the exams, some friends asked me why Dilla decided to take up the culinary course instead of continuing school up to form 5. Dilla had always been interested to take up culinary course. The rape case only made her decide to start doing the course earlier, especially when the opportunity arose just when she needed it most. She is so determined to take care of her baby, she wants to finish her course as soon as possible so that she can start earning some income and reduce the burden on her own mother. To me personally, I was happy enough she decided to continue studying, albeit just for a skill certificate. During the 2 years she needs to complete the course, chances are very likely she may decide to continue her studies to diploma level, or maybe even higher. I didn’t want to push her into doing something she wasn’t ready for (like going back to school after all that had happened). As long as she wanted to continue studying, I’m happy enough.

Well, today after my clinic duty, I went to visit them. The college Dilla goes to for her culinary course is having a short break and so Dilla was home when I got there. At least for the moment her mother Dahlia gets a helping hand at home. It had never been easy for Dahlia especially during the daytime after Dilla cycles to her college, and 2 other children goes to school. Dahlia needs to take care of not only her grandchild, CM2, but also her own 2 other toddlers at home. And she also needs to send and fetch her 4th son to/from a kindergarten. She usually drags along her 2 youngest kids and her grandchild when she walks her son to/from the kindergarten. Tough, but she’s doing it. To earn some extra income to support her family, she provides tuition at home to children staying around the area. Getting a full time job elsewhere is out of the question… who will be taking care of her children and her grandchild?

Anyway, Dilla was all smiles today when I saw her, taking care of her baby. CM2 is 5 months old, but looks more like a 3 month old baby. Her growth seem to be quite slow. Dilla herself has ran out of breastmilk to feed her baby, so they have no choice but to feed the little girl with infant formula. That means more expenses for the family now. I have a feeling CM2 is not being fed enough, hence the slow growth. The little girl does however look healthy. What I need to do now is to source for infant formula and baby food to reduce Dahlia’s financial burden.

As for Dilla herself, I am happy with her progress. A bright girl (scoring 6A 2B for her PT3 was not an easy feat, especially after all she went through), it would be a shame if she decided not to continue her studies. Today, she confidently told me she wants to continue up to diploma level after she completes her certificate course. And at the same time, she also plans to sit for her SPM next year as a private candidate.

Obviously she has not given up. For a very young girl having to go through all that she had to go through, she is such a strong-willed and positive thinking person. She has vision. She has ambition. I like her attitude. And I like helping out cases like these.

You go girl! As long as you don’t give up, I won’t give up on you either!

p/s
Update on her rape case. So far no action taken on the perpetrator. DNA taken from baby after birth. When Dahlia went to check with the officer in charge recently, she was told that they had not received the results of the DNA tests. But when Dahlia went to the hospital after that, she was told the DNA results had already been sent to the police. Looks like she is being pushed around.