Last week I received a few used SPM reference books from a friend, asking me to distribute them to any of my clients' children who may need them. Since most of the books were Add Maths, and not many of these children take the subject, this morning I decided to send them to Rosiah, a client whose daughter is the only one I know taking the subject for this year's SPM.
Rosiah sells nasi lemak and kuih in the mornings, so instead of heading over to her house, I went straight to her stall. It was 10 am by the time I got there, and usually when business is good, she'd be packing up by 10. When business isn't too good, she'd be there until about 11 am or so.
Anyway, Rosiah was happy to get the books. I sat down with her for a few minutes to have a short chat. It was good to know that based on the last blood tests done, client's CD4 has increased to over 1,000 while her viral load was undetected. Great news indeed.
After visiting Rosiah at her stall, I went to a book shop to buy a few books for Dilla, the teenage mom who will be sitting for SPM this year as a private candidate. I did get a whole box of books from a donor to be given to Dilla, but there were a few subjects missing, and although the donor did promise to send more books to cover those subjects, I figured I can always buy a few books using the funds I got from donors. At least the girl can start off with something while waiting for the other books to arrive.
While I was at the book shop, a nurse from the Ipoh ID Clinic called, seeking my assistance to follow up on a case of a homeless HIV+ guy who's currently warded at the hospital.
After my asar prayer, I headed off to the hospital to visit the homeless guy. I decided not to take the shuttle van as it was getting late and I wasn't sure how frequent the shuttle vans would be at that hour. I didn't expect to get a parking within the hospital compound, if I had to walk a distance, I'd walk. But I guess it was my lucky day. Just as I was about to turn the last corner before exiting through the hospital's back gate, the hospital guard waved to me and showed me a vacant space where I could park my car. It wasn't a proper parking space, but hey, since the hospital guard himself told me to park there, who was I to argue? Besides, parking my car there wouldn't obstruct any other vehicles.
With a few lifts out of order and quite a number of people were waiting for the lifts, I decided to take the stairs. This time up to level 5. The moment I got to the ward, the first thing I did was to check the list of names outside the door, to find out the bed number of the homeless guy. To my surprise, I saw the name "Afizah" as one of the patients. Hey, that's my name (the exact spelling), and it was a male ward! Oh well...
The homeless guy, Din, is 52 years old, but he looked much older. So frail and skinny. He had been in and out of Pusat Serenti before, and he has an older sister in Ipoh, who's a widow, and who doesn't mind if her brother stays with her. So, there shouldn't be any problem, right?
Wrong! Although the sister doesn't mind, her children does. They don't like the idea of their uncle staying with their mother. They don't even dare share utensils with their uncle, and to them their uncle is a burden to their mother. Din knew he wasn't welcomed, so he moved out. Since then, he had been homeless, sleeping wherever he could get cover from the sun and the rain.
How about food? Who supports him? He supports himself by doing odd jobs here and there, getting paid by the day. Not much, just enough to survive, barely. But he needs to start on his anti-retroviral soon, and if he continues living as a homeless person, chances are, he wouldn't strictly adhere to his medication. He needs to be sent to a shelter home, where at least someone can supervise and remind him to take his medication on time. But he said if possible he doesn't want to be placed outside of Perak, aa he'd be far from his sister. Despite all that had happened, he still loves his sister and he knows his sister loves him too.
I will have to discuss the matter further with the doctor/nurse at the clinic ID before we decide where to send him to.
With a few lifts out of order and quite a number of people were waiting for the lifts, I decided to take the stairs. This time up to level 5. The moment I got to the ward, the first thing I did was to check the list of names outside the door, to find out the bed number of the homeless guy. To my surprise, I saw the name "Afizah" as one of the patients. Hey, that's my name (the exact spelling), and it was a male ward! Oh well...
The homeless guy, Din, is 52 years old, but he looked much older. So frail and skinny. He had been in and out of Pusat Serenti before, and he has an older sister in Ipoh, who's a widow, and who doesn't mind if her brother stays with her. So, there shouldn't be any problem, right?
Wrong! Although the sister doesn't mind, her children does. They don't like the idea of their uncle staying with their mother. They don't even dare share utensils with their uncle, and to them their uncle is a burden to their mother. Din knew he wasn't welcomed, so he moved out. Since then, he had been homeless, sleeping wherever he could get cover from the sun and the rain.
How about food? Who supports him? He supports himself by doing odd jobs here and there, getting paid by the day. Not much, just enough to survive, barely. But he needs to start on his anti-retroviral soon, and if he continues living as a homeless person, chances are, he wouldn't strictly adhere to his medication. He needs to be sent to a shelter home, where at least someone can supervise and remind him to take his medication on time. But he said if possible he doesn't want to be placed outside of Perak, aa he'd be far from his sister. Despite all that had happened, he still loves his sister and he knows his sister loves him too.
I will have to discuss the matter further with the doctor/nurse at the clinic ID before we decide where to send him to.
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