Having completed my puasa 6 last Saturday, this week I decided to start visiting my clients. Wan, a pregnant client of mine, had been asking me to come by her roti canai stall since last week. I told her I wanted to finish the additional 6 days of fasting first.
So yesterday I decided to start off my Raya rounds by visiting her roti canai stall. Hey, it's not often that you get served with roti canai for Raya ok? Wan looked a whole lot happier compared to the last time I met her in Ipoh GH in June. Back then she was almost at the verge of crying with the problems she had to face (in fact when I spoke to her earlier on the phone, she was actually crying, I couldn't understand what she was saying). Later when she mentioned about needing some cash to start selling roti canai after Raya, I gave them a small amount from my charity account, courtesy of generous friends who donated money through me.
They started the roti canai stall on the 2nd day of Raya. And business so far had been good. The best part was that the lady who owns the stall, let them sell roti canai there without charging them anything. She felt she too would benefit by having them there, because she only sells drinks, rice & other dishes. So by having Wan and her husband selling roti canai there, those who do not wish to have rice may still drop by to eat roti canai, and the drinks will still have to be ordered from the stall owner. She even allowed Wan & husband to use her tables, plates, etc.
I told Wan to make sure they keep a good relationship with the stall owner, and once they start making enough money, to at least give the lady a token amount on monthly basis.
As I was about to leave and wanted to pay, Wan's husband insisted that it was on them. Both Wan and himself repeatedly thanked me for helping out with the initial capital. It may have been just a small amount (I only gave them RM200), but to them it was huge.
I then headed over to visit Fuzi, who stays nearby. I called her first, just to be sure she was home. She took the day off from work at a vegetable farm, so she was home. Some of you blog readers may still remember Fuzi, the Indonesian lady who was facing all sorts of problems when I was first assigned to her case. I used to visit her on monthly basis without fail not only to send groceries but also to check on the problems she had to face. Some problems involving her children's ICs and citizenship status were eventually solved, but her youngest son's problem has yet to be resolved. The boy was born out of a rape case after Fuzi's husband died, and so, unlike his older siblings, he doesn't have a Malaysian father. In fact, he doesn't even have a father. His main problem now is, despite being 10 years of age, he still can't go to school except a Sekolah Agama Rakyat.
Despite all that, Fuzi's family is living a better life now. With her eldest daughter in a local university and her 2nd daughter waiting for the results of her UPU application, things are going quite well. Even Fuzi's son Hafiz (Fuzi's 3rd child) who had been giving his mother problems all these while and stopped going to school after form 4, is a changed young man. He started working in another state, away from his old gang of naughty boys, and since then, has become more responsible. He even buys clothes and shoes for his mother now.
Not bad for one day of Raya rounds, getting positive feedback from the 2 families. Hope to visit more families later this week.
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