Serial shopper strikes - 6

It was raining yesterday morning. But I had promised Fuzi earlier that I’d be fetching her and her kids at 9.30 am to shop for their schooling needs, and I didn’t want to be postponing things… and so the shopping had to go on!

But it didn’t rain too heavily by the time I reached their house. They were all ready, waiting outside their house, doors all locked. As with most of the PLHIV families under me, they always get ready before the promised time. Going jalan-jalan is not something they get to do often.

So yes, all 6 of them (Fuzi and her 5 children) got into my car. Fuzi and her youngest, Iwan, 5, at the front passenger seat, while her other 4 children aged 15,13,12 and 8 at the back. Thank goodness they’re all slim.

I had “Radio Indonesia” on all the way to the hypermarket. You see, Fuzi, an Indonesian, is very talkative, and so she talked all the way. I wish I could control the volume though… my, my, her volume was LOUD!

Anyway, yesterday wasn’t the first time I brought them shopping for their schooling needs. This was already the 3rd time, so they already knew what to look for when we reached the hypermarket – 2 pairs of uniforms, socks, 1 pair of shoes, school bag, stationeries and whatever other schooling necessities.

Iwan, not schooling yet, was quite a good boy. Despite seeing his siblings getting all sorts of things, and him not getting a thing, he wasn’t really bothered. He just enjoyed himself having his siblings push the trolley around with him inside. But at the stationeries department, he selamba-ly took a piece of cartoon sticker and put it inside the trolley. It was just RM2 anyway, so whaaaddaheck!

I then took them for lunch, and this time Iwan got to choose what he wanted. At the counter, it was Fuzi who ordered the stuff her children wanted. Imagine the look on the face of the guy who took the order when Fuzi, in her Indonesian accent, talked loudly and at a very fast pace, “Nasi goreng kampong satu! Nasi goreng USA satu! Nasi goreng paprik satu! Nasi goreng biasa satu! Nasi ayam satu!”

“Pelan, pelan… sebut satu-satu! Kawan tu nak tulis pun tak sempat!” I told her. The guy at the counter just smiled. Indeed, he was still holding the pen and piece of paper… nothing written on it yet…

Fuzi’s boys had always been the “wandering” type. It was Ijam and Iwan who made the “disappearing act” during our Family Day at Lost World of Tambun in August this year. This time, after they finished their food, they went wandering again. They even went up at the “going down” escalator. Not wanting any of them to make their disappearing act again, I got up and told them it was time to go home as I had other things to do.

Ah well, after 6 rounds of shopping so far, here are the receipts… worth well over RM3K of claims…

Serial shopper strikes - 5

Today my shopping was for Nuri’s children. I purposely chose a public holiday as I knew Nuri would be opening her food stall on a working day and I didn’t want her to close her stall just to bring her children shopping.

Since Nuri doesn’t stay in or near Ipoh, finally today I went shopping at a different place. Her place is quite far, so we made a deal. We’d meet up at a supermarket in a town in between her place and mine. Not too far for her… and not too far for me either. Fair and square!

We promised to meet at 10 am in front of the supermarket. Turned out, we were both early. I got there at approximately 9.45 am, and within a minute or so, Nuri and her 3 children arrived. The supermarket opened at 10 am, so we had to wait for a while in front of the main entrance. We weren’t the only ones though… there were quite a number of people there already.

Nuri has an older daughter now in a nursing college. She wasn’t around today. But her 3 schooling children came – a boy, going to be in form 5 next year; a girl, waiting for her PMR results; and her youngest, Farah, the HIV+ child who will be in form one next year.

Anyway, I was the second customer to walk in once the doors to the supermarket opened. I don’t think that had ever happened to me before… :)

I let Nuri and her children choose their own stuff. Again, not much problem with these kids, they just followed whatever their mother chose for them… they were just there to make sure the sizes were right. However, like Norly’s son, Saiful, who’s so small despite going into form one next year; likewise was Farah. No problem getting her baju kurung as she could always opt for the sizes meant for primary school students, but to get a turquoise kain sekolah? No way. Nuri will have no choice but to sew for her little girl.

Well, so far I’ve brought 14 children to shop for their school uniforms, shoes, bags, stationeries etc. Total spent so far RM2627.70 – and that doesn’t include their fees, workbooks and whatever else that needs to be paid to the respective schools when school reopens.

Manalah rupa orang yang sampai sedozen anak bersekolah? :(

Serial shopper strikes - 4

It was back to shopping for me again today. This time 2 young girls, aged 6 and 8, daughters of Zainab.

Since Zainab work on shifts, I had to check with her first, when she’d be working night shifts so that I’d be able to bring her and her kids out shopping for the girls’ schooling needs. Zainab told me last week she’d be on leave on Sunday and Monday (that’s yesterday and today), and since I wanted Sunday to be my rest day, I told her I’d fetch them this morning at 9.30.

Before I could even have my bath this morning, I received a text message from Zainab, asking if our date was on. She wanted to get the girls ready. I remember when I brought them shopping last year, I told them I’d be coming at 2.30 pm, they were ready by 2 pm and the older girl, affectionately called Kakak, was already asking her mother why I wasn’t there yet at 2.15 pm. The 2 girls seldom got the chance to go out shopping, so when they knew they were going shopping, they were of course very excited.

Likewise this morning, when I got to their house about 5 minutes before the promised time, they were ready. I just honked and out they came, all set to go.

I think over the weekend quite a number of people went to do their “back-to-school” shopping as well. Unlike last week when the uniforms were all still tidy and in place according to the sizes segregated by compartments, today we had a tougher time looking for the right sizes. The sizes were all mixed up, probably simply chucked by customers into the different compartments.

But we managed to find the right sizes for the girls. The girls weren’t choosy either. They just let their mother and myself choose the uniforms, shoes and other stuff for them. Even for the school bags and stationeries, they just followed our recommendations without any objections at all. So really, I had quite an easy time today.

Even when I brought them for brunch right after, they simply ordered the same things I ordered. None of those “Ibu, nak itu! Ibu, nak ini!” (they call their mother Ibu). Very obedient, well-behaved girls.

On the way back, I asked Zainab if her husband, Zaki had been looking for a job. Zainab had been the bread winner for the family ever since they (Zainab and Zaki ) were diagnosed HIV positive. Zaki had been finding any teenie weenie excuse to quit his job – first he was helping out to cook at a restaurant, then he quit because “takut nanti saya luka berdarah masuk dalam makanan, orang lain makan” (duh, so if he doesn’t have HIV it’s ok if his blood gets into the food?); then he got a job as a security guard, he quit because “tak tahanlah kawan sekerja dengan saya tu banyak songel” (seems to me he’s the one yang banyak songel!); then another security job and he quit again, “letihlah asyik kena kerja malam aje”; then he got a job as an assistant at a mamak shop, “tak sesuai lah kerja kat situ, yang lain semua bangsa asing”; oh you get the drift…

And Zainab’s answer when I asked her if Zaki had made any efforts at all to find a job?

“Biasalah dia tu kak. Letih sikit, dah tak nak pergi kerja. Demam sikit dah tak nak pergi kerja. Kita ni jugaklah walau sakit demam sekalipun, pergi jugak kerja pikirkan anak-anak.”

Sigh… looks like some things haven't changed...

Serial shopper strikes - 3

Today for the first time I took Aini and her children out shopping for their schooling needs. Another Malay volunteer used to be Aini’s buddy, but that volunteer has moved overseas and so I took over Aini’s case. I didn’t have any problems getting along with Aini. While my other clients call me Kak, Aini is my age. And same wavelength.

Aini has 3 children – the eldest a16 year old girl while the other 2 are boys – 13 and 11. However today the 13 year old was not around. He went to his aunt’s place in KL for the holidays and will only be back in 2 weeks time. I couldn’t wait for him to come back before taking them shopping, so Aini agreed to just bring along his measurements to enable us to buy his uniforms and shoes.

Aini had warned me earlier that none of her children knew she had HIV. Knowing that, I made sure whenever the children were around, I wouldn’t mention anything about HIV or AIDS. Today, Aini herself, whenever she wanted to tell me something about her ARV or anything to do with HIV, she’d make sure she’d come close to me while the children were quite far behind, pushing the trolley. Aini has kidney problems in addition to her HIV, so the children just thought her regular trips to the hospital were all related to her kidney problems.

The children did ask her before, what sort of NGO we were. They never fail to join us for our annual Family Day, and they are also getting their schooling needs sponsored on a yearly basis.

“Persatuan apa mak masuk ni? Persatuan ni banyak duit kan mak?” asked her daughter. Aini just told her we’re Persatuan Ibu Tunggal. Yeah right… we’re neither ibu tunggal nor banyak duit… ;-)

Well anyway, I had no problems whatsoever with Aini’s children today. Not too choosy, and as a matter of fact, whenever they got hold of something which suited them, they’d ask me first if it was within the budget. Very obedient, very disciplined. I like!

When we reached back at their home, I got in for a while to get their school exam results. The girl, who joined Sekolah Teknik after her PMR last year, is doing much better in school now that she is doing something she likes. She has applied to stay at the school hostel for next year. If approved, then there’s an even higher fee to pay, but there’s no need to pay for monthly bus fares.

The second boy hasn’t got his results yet, while the youngest boy, who will be sitting for his UPSR next year, does better in sports than studies. After looking at his results slip, I teased him, saying that he seemed to understand Chinese better than Malay… he actually scored better for his Bahasa Cina (pemahaman) than his Bahasa Melayu (penulisan)…

I’m taking a break from shopping over the weekend. Will continue next week. I’ve already made arrangements to bring Zainab’s 2 kids on Monday, then Nuri’s 3 children on Tuesday and then Fuzi’s 4 children on Thursday.

I hope the rest can buy the schooling needs on their own first before we reimburse them with either the Sponsorship amount or, for those not under sponsorship, will be covered by our Children Education Fund.

Serial shopper strikes - 2

I had initially informed Sofie that I’d be fetching them on Thursday afternoon to bring the children shopping in Ipoh for their schooling needs. Now that they have moved to a small town nearer to Ipoh, I thought I might as well bring them to Ipoh as there isn’t much choice near their new place. However, after I sent the message to Sofie, she called me to inform me of the trouble she’s having with Ika’s school transfer.

Her old school had already earlier made the school transfer arrangements for Sofie’s children, but somehow Sofie’s youngest girl’s application got returned to the school. Apparently since Sofie is divorced, the PPD requires proof of Sofie’s right of custody over the child. Sofie doesn’t have anything in black and white. Even when they were still married, her husband seldom came home. He’d come home maybe every 4 or 5 months, then he’d leave again. The last time he came home was in July 2008, and after that when Sofie told him she was going to file for divorce, the last contact made was about 3 months later when he called to threaten Sofie that he’d kill her if she filed for divorce. Sofie lodged a police report and filed for divorce anyway.

Since her ex-husband never took care of the children and seldom came home, Sofie never bothered to ask for custody of the children. She didn’t see the necessity. She didn’t think there’d be any problem as even the ex-husband’s own mother doesn’t know where he is. She figured she got everything settled once she got her divorce papers.

That was until she moved to a new house in another town recently, and her children needed to be transferred to schools nearer to their new home. I don’t think it would have been much of a problem had it been the father who arranged for the transfer, but since in this case, none of the father’s documents were submitted, the PPD returned her earlier application because it wasn’t accompanied by proof of custody. Sofie was told to do a Surat Akuan Bersumpah.

“Surat Akuan Bersumpah tu macam mana kak? Saya bukan reti semua ni. Saya pergi mahkamah, orang tu suruh saya buat sendiri surat, lepas tu bawak gi kat depa sahkan. Manalah saya tau nak buat surat tu?”

Understandably, Sofie doesn’t know how to go about. So, yesterday I called Sofie to find out some particulars and then I prepared a letter of oath for Sofie, printed 2 copies, and brought it along with me this morning when I went to fetch Sofie and her children.

Yes, since we needed to go to PPD Kinta to get the matter settled, I decided to fetch them in the morning instead of afternoon as planned earlier. I figured I might as well fetch them early, bring Sofie to a commissioner for oaths, then to PPD Kinta before taking them shopping.

There was one problem though… Sofie’s youngest girl, Ika, always suffers from car-sickness! She’d feel dizzy and this morning after a while she felt like vomiting. Luckily Sofie brought along a plastic bag with her. Ika had initially sat in front with her mother, nearer to the aircond, but I told her to move to the back seat so she could sit away from the aircond.

Anyway, I took Sofie to a commissioner of oaths whose office was at the ground floor. Sofie always had problems walking up the stairs and I knew she’d have no choice to climb up the stairs at PPD, so at least I’d save her from having to climb one more flight of stairs to see the commissioner for oaths. After paying the commissioner, we headed straight to PPD. While Azman and Saiful waited in the car, Azlan, the eldest son, came along with Sofie, Ika and myself to the office. Sofie was huffing and puffing up the stairs despite the office being only on the first floor. It didn’t take too long though. The lady at the counter, after looking at the letter, just asked Sofie to write her current address on an envelope, and told us they’d be posting the letter to Sofie within 2 weeks.

That settled, I brought them to a hypermarket to shop for their schooling needs. No problem with the 2 older boys, Azlan and Azman. But Ika had the same problem as Marlia, Lin’s daughter – choosy and fickle minded. I told her, “Kalau tak nak yang ada kat sini, tak apa. Tapi makcik takde nak bawak gi tempat lain dah. Kalau tak beli hari ni kat sini, tak payah beli langsung. Pakai aje yang tahun sudah punya.” It didn’t take long after that for her to find the ones she wanted… :-)

There wasn’t much I could do with Saiful though. If you may recall, Saiful is the one with the very thick glasses. He will be in form one next year, but he is just as small in size as his 8 year old sister. Not much problem finding him his school shirt… he could always opt for the ones meant for primary school children, but where on earth were we to find him green trousers for secondary school, small enough for him? Even the promoter told me, “Yang ni kena tempah kat kedai kak, takkan jumpa jual yang dah siap saiz kecik untuk dia.” (Yes, yes! She called me KAK, not makcik! Hehehe..)

So yep, I told Sofie to bring Saiful to a tailor, and I will reimburse whatever amount charged using the sponsorship fund.

I then brought them for lunch before sending them home.

Tomorrow I will bring Aini’s children shopping…

 

Serial shopper strikes - 1

My usual year-end shopping spree begins!

Nope, not for myself, and not my money either. It’s for the children of the PLHIV families under our sponsorship or CEF programme. Someone did suggest that I bring them all together shopping and settle everything in one day. But oh, no thanks, I don’t think I can handle all the children at the same time! Pening!

Since I usually deliver sponsored groceries to Lin’s and Sofie’s families at the end/beginning of each month, I decided to start with their families first, so I don’t have to go to their homes twice in a month.

So yes, today, after getting the supply of groceries from the minimarket, I went over to Lin’s house. Other than Rahim and Marlia, the 2 sponsored children, Lin’s older daughter was also home. She is currently on study leave before her exam begins in about a week’s time. She came along with us to shop for her younger sibling’s schooling needs.

Rahim and Marlia are both in secondary school, so there shouldn’t be any problem. Or so I thought.

Well, there wasn’t really much problem with Rahim, except that he loves to tease his sister, but my oh my, we had such a hard time trying to find school stuff for Marlia, being the manja type (because she’s the youngest? Oh, I’m the youngest in my family too!). Too jarang, too keras, tak best, you name them! No wonder Lin insisted that her older daughter come along. Marlia wouldn’t listen to Lin, being an old timer (like me!), but at least Marlia would consider her sister’s suggestions.

I just kept quiet at first, but after more than an hour and after seeing Marlia being so choosy and fickle-minded, I finally told them I’d only wait for another 10 minutes otherwise they’d have to pay for everything themselves. :-)

It was 12 noon by then and I was getting hungry. Despite it being a working day, there was still quite a queue at the cashiers. The receipt for Rahim’s and Marlia’s schooling stuff came out to more than 1 foot in length (including all the small stuff).

We then went straight for lunch at the same shopping complex. Luckily this time Marlia wasn’t fickle-minded in her choice of food.

By the time I sent them home, it was already 1pm.

Tomorrow will be the turn of Sofie’s children – all 4 of them. Double today’s number, with one 8 year old girl in tow. I hope none of them are as choosy and fickle-minded as Marlia!

 

Shopping for schooling needs – Round 5

I promised Lin I’d fetch her and her 2 schooling children to shop for their schooling needs today. This morning while I was still at my office I called her up to ask if I should fetch her at home or at her goreng pisang stall. She told me her stall is closed for today, so I should fetch them at home.

I got to Lin’s house at 3 pm – on the dot. After I honked, I saw Lin coming out with a girl. At first I thought the girl was Marlia, Lin’s youngest daughter, but when I looked again, eh… lain pulak muka! After a while, Rahim, Lin’s son came out. When they got into my car, Lin introduced the girl as her niece who spent time at her house during the school holidays. Lin’s brother (the girl’s father) knew about my role and so it wasn’t a problem for the girl to tag along as she knew me as the lady from the charitable organisation helping Lin’s family out.

But Marlia was not around. She was still at her Opah’s kampong house. She was supposed to be back on Sunday (yesterday) but with so many cousins around, she postponed it to this coming weekend. When Lin called her last night to inform her that Makcik Afizah would bring them shopping for their schooling needs today, her reaction was, “Alaaaa…. NAK IKUT!” But I wasn’t about to postpone my plan just because she was not back, so today we went ahead without Marlia. Marlia’s father had already bought her school uniforms and work/exercise books from school, but had yet to buy her shoes, school bag and other stationeries.

So today we just went to buy uniforms, school bag and a pair of school shoes for Rahim and stationeries for both Rahim and Marlia. Although Marlia did mention what type of school bag she wanted and what size her shoes were, we figured it’s better for Lin to wait for Marlia to come back and let her choose her own bag and shoes, and then Lin would submit the receipts to me so I could reimburse her.

Well, I think I’m done with shopping for schooling needs  for this year. Next year is just a few days away anyway. There are still a few families who have yet to submit their claims to me, but at least I’m not the one who has to bring them out shopping…

Anyway, I was informed by Lin that her ex-hubby, Mr Darling has begun to slack in paying the monthly alimony of RM300 ordered by the court. He’s either paying it late, or less; giving all sorts of excuses. His present father-in-law got sick and he needed to spend extra lah (that’s not Lin’s problem is it?), he had bought Marlia’s uniforms and workbooks lah (isn’t that his responsibility? That shouldn’t be deducted from the alimony!).

So guess what? I told Lin to do a few things…

1. Since Mr Darling works with a government agency, I told Lin to arrange for the alimony to be automatically deducted from his salary. At least he cannot give any more excuses such as the above.

2. I got Lin to give me the whole list of Marlia’s schooling needs that had been paid for by Mr Darling so I could reimburse Lin with the money. At least it would cover for the alimony that he’s not paying her.

3. I told Lin to remind her children NEVER to inform their father that they are getting financial help for their schooling needs. If he finds out, chances are he’d leave his children’s financial needs totally to our care!

Another reason for Lin to arrange for the alimony to be deducted from Mr Darling’s salary is to save him the trouble of having to come over to send the money to Lin. In the first place, even without salary deduction, all he needed to do was to bank in the money into Lin’s bank account. But he’s not doing that. The salary deduction may also save Lin the trouble of having Mr Darling come over to the house, sometimes at odd hours. He recently came over at night to give October’s alimony – knowing pretty well that his 2 younger children were at their Opah’s kampong house. Luckily their 18 year old son was home, so at least Lin was not alone. But since he came at night, Lin was already in her sleep clothes (her baju kelawar).

Not wanting to let Mr Darling in, Lin just stood at the door to take the money from him. Lin didn’t realise that with the light from inside her house, and Mr Darling outside in the dark, her baju kelawar was rather see-through. And Mr Darling had the cheek to say, “Jaranglah baju. Tak tahan tengok.”

Gatal punya jantan! Dah ada bini baru pun masih tak hilang miang lagi!

Shopping for schooling needs – Round 4

Yesterday was the turn of Fuzi’s children to go shopping for their schooling needs. Last year Fuzi bought the necessities first and then claimed from me. However this year, Fuzi had used her money to buy bicycles for her 2 older daughters and so she ran out of cash. It had been quite some time since I last brought her kids out anyway, and so I promised to fetch them yesterday afternoon to buy the necessities.

As always, by the time I got to their house, all of them were waiting outside, all set to go. So we immediately headed to Ipoh, as there wasn’t much choice at the little town that they’re staying in.

However, it being almost the end of the year, we had quite a tough time looking for the right sizes, especially for Fuzi’s 2 boys. Most of the sizes available were either too big or too small for them. It didn’t help that the 2 boys, aged 7 and 10, were more interested in playing with the shopping cart they were pushing. When we finally got the right sizes, we quickly grabbed 2 of each before anybody else took it.

There weren’t really much problem with the other things (except for the price…). But all their old uniforms, bags etc were already in bad shape (Fuzi opted for cheaper stuff when she had to buy them first last year) and so almost every single thing had to be bought. And with the eldest daughter being a prefect, she needed extra stuff, like black shoes. But the girls were rather disciplined. Anything they wanted to take, they’d seek my approval first.

With all the things needed for the 4 schooling kids, by the time we got to the cashier, the cart was full of stuff. The bill came up to over RM600. And the receipt I got came up to about 1 1/2 ft in length! The only one who didn’t get anything was Iwan, Fuzi’s youngest boy who was happy enough to be following us shopping.

Anyway, after paying for all the stuff, I took them to the food court. At least the little boy got something to drink and eat at the food court, rather than not getting anything at all.

I then sent them home, thinking that would be the last of my school shopping spree for this year. My claims now, inclusive of both Sponsorship Fund and Children Education Fund, is already over RM4K. I’d better submit my claims before the end of the year so that the amount will be reflected in this year’s financial report. I hope the other Buddies assigned to other poor families will also submit their claims soon, although I know for a fact, their claims won’t be as much as mine. Most of the poor families are my cases.

When I got home, I SMSed Lin to ask if she had bought her children’s schooling needs so I could reimburse her from the Sponsorship Fund, but I was told that she hadn’t bought anything, hoping her ex-hubby would help buy their schooling needs. They are after all, his children too. He never did. He just gave a small amount just enough to cover for their youngest girl’s workbooks.

With her goreng pisang business not doing too well ever since a new supermarket opened at their town (many customers prefer to go to the food stalls nearer to the supermarket), Lin doesn’t really have much money in hand.

Oh well, I guess no harm going for one more round of shopping. Lin was thinking of bringing her kids shopping next Monday with whatever little cash that she has, probably thinking of just buying one pair each first. So I told her I’d fetch her on Monday afternoon and we’d go shopping together.

That means… yes, I’ve got another round of shopping to go!

Shopping for schooling needs – Round 3

Done with Sofie’s and Yati’s family, today I brought Zainab and her daughters to shop for their schooling needs. Since it was Zainab’s off day at work, I promised to fetch Zainab and her girls at 2.30 pm today.

The moment they knew I was going to bring them shopping, the 2 girls got excited. I promised them 2.30 pm, and I got there on time (in fact I think I was a few minutes early) but apparently the girls were ready by 2 pm and by 2.15, kakak was already asking, “Mana makcik tak sampai-sampai lagi ni?!” When I got to their house, the 2 girls were already waiting outside the house, all set to go.

Oh well, I guess I can understand their excitement. Usually they’d only go to kedai runcit or at the most, minimarkets. Although I didn’t tell them where I was taking them, the thought of going “shopping” was enough to excite them. Imagine the looks on their faces when they saw the hypermarket I took them to – priceless!

Zainab’s kids were just about the same age as Yati’s but much easier to control. I guess because they were both girls? They didn’t go around touching this and that saying nak ini or nak itu. I never had to step in to say NO to unnecessary requests. In fact, for school bags for example, I chose the bags and let them choose the colour they wanted. They never complained.

Anyway, the girls were so excited knowing I was coming to take them shopping, they refused to have lunch at home earlier. Probably they figured I’d take them makan-makan somewhere too. Well yes, I did bring them to a fast food outlet at the shopping complex. After all, they were such good girls during shopping time, I guess they deserved some sort of reward.

Done with 3 families, a few other families to cover – most of the rest would probably buy first and we’d reimburse them later. This morning Murni was at the hospital for her daughter’s appointment and she passed to my colleague some receipts of purchases she made for her children’s schooling needs. Once I get the receipts, I will reimburse her from our Children Education Fund (CEF).

Hana too had bought one pair of uniforms each for her children (they are entitled to 2 pairs each but Hana didn’t have enough cash to buy 2 pairs) and so I will reimburse her with whatever she had spent, after which she will buy another pair each for her children.

I’d better call and check on Lin and Mrs K to find out if they’re done with their children’s schooling needs.

Asiah would usually buy first and claim later, but she’s due to deliver her baby soon, and so I’m not sure if she has settled her children’s school needs yet.

Yah? Well, the 2 older daughters are at an orphanage, and as for the 3rd child, I recall Yah did mention about wanting to send him to an orphanage too, so she’s no longer entitled to be reimbursed for any school necessities. But I’d better still check on her, if she hasn’t changed her phone number again lah…

Fuzi called while I was out with Zainab and the children today. Last year she bought her children’s schooling needs first before we reimbursed her, but this year she’s running out of cash after having to spend on some other things. So I told her I’d probably bring her family out next week to settle their schooling needs.

As for our other PLHIV clients not assigned to me, I shall leave it to their respective Buddies to check their needs, and submit whatever claims, if any. We do have enough funds in our CEF this time, part of which were allocated from the grant we received earlier from Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah. And today we received another cheque of substantial amount meant for CEF. So we didn’t really have to resort to our in-house “professional beggars” for the funds this time. The latest cheque especially, came rather unexpectedly. Alhamdulillah.

Besides, some of these children are covered by our Education Sponsorship programme. Which reminds me, I’d better start doing up the reports to be sent to the individual sponsors under this programme so I can ask them for next year’s sponsorship amount.

Tomorrow, to bring the representative of a particular organisation to Hana’s old house to assess if they are willing to help with the house repairs.

This weekend, I shall be heading to KL to attend my alumni dinner and hopefully to meet up with a few other friends the next day.

So, no more shopping for this week. To be continued next week.

Shopping for schooling needs – Round 2

Monday came and as I had mentioned in my previous posting, I’d be bringing Yati’s children to shop for their schooling needs. Since Yati doesn’t want me to visit them at home to avoid “interrogations” by Yati’s mother, I told Yati to meet me at the main entrance of the hypermarket where I had intended to take them shopping. AJ was still in the hospital, and so it was just Yati and the kids.

The moment Yati saw me she asked, “Tak ada orang lain ke kak?” She probably thought we’d be having a whole group of children at one time to shop for their schooling needs.

“Takde. Saya bawa satu keluarga je satu masa. Tak nak pening-pening kepala bawa ramai-ramai sekali,” I said.

Well, it was proven later that I had made the right move. Yati’s 2 children, aged 6 and 8, were so… errmmm… shall I say over active??

“Ibu, nak ni!”

“Ibu, nak tu!”

“Ibu, tengok adik!”

“Ibu, kakak dapat, adik pun nak!”

Their mother couldn’t really say much. The kids don’t listen to her. Apparently they do listen to their father but he wasn’t around. Sometimes the kids would insist they wanted something no matter what their mother said. I had to step in and give them a firm, “TAK BOLEH!”

The worse, again, just like it was with Ika earlier, was at the school bags and the stationeries section. You know how it is with kids… they’d go for the ones with famous cartoon or comic characters. And you know this kind of bags or stationeries can cost a bomb, more so due to the branding. It wasn’t too bad at the stationeries section but for the school bags, I set a limit to the price. We were there to help them with their schooling needs, not to pamper them. So, they only qualify for the simple school bags – but realizing how heavy these bags can be when they put in all the school books, I agreed to let them buy the trolley bags.

Anyway, after making sure we got all that was necessary, the kids were still running around here and there. Before they started grabbing and insisting they wanted this and that again, I asked them, “Nak gi minum tak?”

“Nak! Nak!” they said excitedly.

“Nak, jom gi bayar dulu.”

It worked. They stopped running around and followed us to the cashier.

“Maaflah kak, anak-anak saya ni tak reti dok diam.” said Yati while we were heading down to the food corner.

“Tu pasal saya cuma bawa satu keluarga satu masa. Tak ke haru kalau saya bawa ramai-ramai sekali?” I responded.

“Ya tak ya juga ek? Anak saya baru 2 orang dah macam 20 orang!” she said.

Hah, tau takper!

While we having the drinks, Yati told me how her mother wanted to come along to follow her shopping. Yati had told her earlier that she’d bring her children to buy their schooling needs. Konon-konon she had just got her duit kutu and she’d be using that money. In actual fact, she did get her duit kutu but had finished them paying off her debts.

Yati gave all sorts of excuses to her mother so that her mother wouldn’t come along. She didn’t want her mother to ask me all sorts of things. She was afraid her mother may finally suspect what AJ’s illness really was.

I advised Yati that if in any event her mother asks her who I was, just tell her mother that I’m from a “Pertubuhan Kebajikan”. The mother is fully aware that AJ is unwell and unable to work for the time being and so the family does need financial assistance. That’s where I come in.

“Ya jugak, kak. Budak-budak ni bukan boleh simpan rahsia. Nanti karang balik, depa gi cerita kata Makcik yang bayar. Mesti mak saya tanya.”

I’m not too sure how long Yati and AJ would be able to keep the secret (about AJ’s HIV) from the rest of the family though…

Shopping for schooling needs – Round 1

I had promised Sofie I’d be coming around 3 pm to bring her kids shop for their schooling needs. I actually reached their house at 3 pm sharp, only to see that there were 3 other people around and they were about to have lunch. Lunch? At 3 pm? Waaa… so late! Ika and Azman came out to help carry down some groceries from my car. Even Saiful came out, in his kain pelekat (he was just circumcised last week).

The other 3 people whom I had not met before were Sofie’s sister, brother-in-law and niece who came all the way from up north to visit Sofie.

Today’s visit exposed me to another thing about their family. Remember the older sister who Sofie had been staying with before this? Well, apparently Sofie wasn’t the only one who couldn’t really get along with that sister. This other sister couldn’t either due to the older sister’s mulut laser.

Although Sofie’s nephew (the older sister’s son) was the one that prompted Sofie to move out of the sister’s house; the sister actually preferred Sofie to stay with her so that she and her family could ‘tumpang sekaki’ whatever assistance Sofie got. She particularly knew about the assistance we Buddies had been giving Sofie. After Sofie moved out of the house, the sister started telling her other siblings that Sofie never gave her a single sen (in actual fact, whenever Sofie got any assistance from us, she’d share with her sister’s family). Now, even worse still, the sister had been telling the kampong folks that Sofie has HIV. As a result, Sofie stays inside her house most of the time, not wanting to show her face outside.

Sofie is now looking for another house – if possible she wants to move to another house in another taman – away from the present kampong where she stays.

As we were chatting, the older sister came (her house is within the same kampong). When she saw me, she started talking about her children not having any new clothes etc. I played dumb – an expertise I’ve been born with. :-)

Anyway, back to the purpose of my visit today - after about half an hour or so, they were finally ready to go out shopping. I was pleased to note that Sofie herself wanted to join us. Before this, due to her health, whenever I wanted to bring her children out anywhere, she never followed as she was too weak. Imagine the satisfaction I got upon seeing the improvement in the life of the lady whom I had been giving support to. Who says voluntary work doesn’t pay?

We were very lucky today… not only did we manage to get a car park under the shade, it was also right in front of the supermarket’s entrance! And the schooling needs too were placed right after the entrance. So, we didn’t have to worry about Sofie, or even Saiful (for today we called him the budak dalam pantang), having to walk too far.

Getting the uniforms and shoes weren’t too bad. But when it came to the school bags and stationeries section, Ika, the youngest girl, went rambang mata! Her 2 older siblings seemed very responsible though… they told their younger siblings that certain stationeries like pencils, erasers, pens, etc would be cheaper if bought in one pack and shared amongst the 4 of them. If it was up to Ika, she’d want one of everything to herself!

The total amount spent for the 4 of them today? RM587-85. Definitely an amount Sofie wouldn’t be able to afford to if it was up to her. Oh, her older sister’s gonna be so jealous if she hears about this…

I had initially wanted to bring them for minum-minum after shopping, but due to Ika’s ‘rambang mata’ness, we finished rather late. So I just sent them home. As we brought the things down from my car, Sofie’s sister (the one visiting from up north) and her husband, who were still around, said, “Terima kasihlah kak, tolong tengok-tengokkan dia orang ni. Harapkan kami, kami pun cukup makan je.”

Well, that’s one round of shopping done. Next round will be on Monday – for Yati’s children…

Meetings & shopping

I hate meetings. But we need to have meetings especially to get things organised and to ensure that plans are carried out.

Well, Buddies was invited to send a representative to a meeting called by Jabatan Kesihatan Negeri Perak to discuss the state level of the National Strategic Plans for HIV/AIDS – for Perak Departments & Agencies. It was important to know the latest updates on the issue, and since I was free this afternoon, I went.

It was quite a pleasant surprise to notice that quite a big number of government agencies were represented this time around. The last time I attended a similar meeting sometime mid-year, many agencies did not send any reps.

Good for me, the more agencies represented, the more networking I get. As a matter of fact, since the Welfare Department was also represented this time, and questions were raised as to whether they’d be setting up any shelter homes for HIV infected women and children in Perak, I took the opportunity to meet up with the lady personally after the meeting. I asked if there was a policy for existing shelter homes under the welfare department (like the ones for problematic teenagers) to reject HIV cases.

She told me there was no such policy and that the homes should still accept such cases as long as the criteria is met ie pregnant or problematic teenagers. So I told her about Sharifah’s case earlier this year. I told her that while initially the lady whom my colleague spoke to had no objections to accepting Sharifah, the moment my colleague told her Sharifah has HIV, the lady immediately said no. The officer I met told me by right Sharifah should have been accepted. Well then, she’d better disseminate the info to all their staff. Otherwise, we’d be getting different answers from different officers all the time.

And oh, an officer who sat beside me, a lady doctor representing one of the PKDs, when given my card, first kept quiet. But after a while, she asked about the pronunciation of my NGO. She was quiet at first thinking the society was a Buddhist association. I highlighted to her about the difference in the spelling between Buddies and Buddhist. Sigh… don’t people know of the word buddy, which would be buddies when it becomes plural? Thank goodness, the officer who presented the papers for today pronounced our name correctly. In fact he expressed his appreciation for our assistance in providing support to PLHIVs especially at the ID clinic.

Ah well, no meetings tomorrow, but I will instead be going shopping.

Oh, I used to hate shopping too – and I still hate shopping on weekends. But for the children of the poor families under my care, I will still go shopping but I will make myself hate it less by going on a weekday instead of a weekend.

Tomorrow it will be Sofie’s children. Then on Monday I will take Yati’s children.

Join me shopping, anyone?

Back to school: house visits and shopping!

This week is the “back to school” rounds for me. Despite not having any children of my own, somehow there are so many children’s educational needs I have to look after. Thank goodness the welfare of Hana’s children is being looked after by Pat, a fellow volunteer who stays in the same town as Hana.

My first visit this week was on Monday to Mrs. K’s house. I dropped by their house after settling some things to do in another town near their place. Although the main reason for the visit was to bring this month’s supply of diapers, milk powder and groceries, I also needed to make sure the children’s educational needs are met.

They have yet to buy the necessary school necessities. Mrs. K said she wanted to go after Christmas. Since I didn’t have the time to bring them out to shop for their uniforms etc, I gave Mrs. K some money first and told her to get the necessary receipts when she buys the schooling necessities.

Mrs. K’s second child will be in form one in 2008, so she definitely cannot use her old uniforms. When I asked for the list provided by the school for things to be bought at the school co-op and fees to be paid to the school, what was shown to me confirmed my doubts when the budget was announced earlier about school fees being abolished. I knew all along that amongst the fees that needed to be paid to the school, only a small amount consists of “school fees”. And so that means only a small portion need not be paid this coming year, the rest are just the same.

Included in the list of “compulsory contribution” were fees for the school’s internal exams, Majlis Sukan Negeri, co-curriculum and school magazine. In addition there are workbooks and sports attire that must be bought from the school co-op, not from anywhere else. So Mrs. K’s daughter’s list totaled to almost RM100. And while it’s true that certain fees/contribution need not necessary be paid if they can’t afford it, in reality many children do get pressured by their class teacher to pay up even the so-called “derma” PIBG. True, the school can’t do anything if the students don’t pay up, but when the children get pressured by their teachers, don’t you think they will become reluctant to go to school?

Well, I do hope Mrs. K’s daughter will get more understanding teachers… unlike the teachers at her brother’s school who kept pressuring him last year.

My next visit was to Shila’s house on Christmas day. Shila had been unwell and the visit was mainly to find out how she was doing. Initially Shila thought she had measles. While her fever subsided, the so-called measles did not. When she showed me her legs, I knew it wasn’t measles. It looked reddish here and there and some blue-black here and there. It was either some side effects from the HIV medication which she just started to take about 2 weeks ago… or she may have some other blood related problems. But no, definitely not measles. Her appointment at the HIV clinic will be some time in January 2008 but I told her to call SN the very next morning to get an earlier appointment. Shila’s mother actually suggested that Shila stopped taking the medication but I told her to consult the HIV clinic before she takes any action on her own.

Anyway, Shila had already bought Laila’s schooling needs and showed me the list provided by the school. I reimbursed Shila (and my NGO will have to reimburse me later) a total amount of RM220. And Laila’s only going to be in standard 2…

Then last night, at midnight while I was asleep, a text message came in on my hand phone. Being the light sleeper that I am, I woke up at the sound of the SMS tone. (My hand phone is on 24/7 in case of emergencies.) With my blurry vision (especially so when I was just partially awaken from my precious sleep!) and without my reading glasses anywhere near, I could only figure out it had something to do with joining the Buddies. I just went back to sleep… if it was an emergency that person would have called.

This morning when I was fully awake, and with reading glasses on, I read the message:
“Saya xxxx (name of the person). Saya nak tau macam mana nak join the buddies.”

I wasn’t really sure what this person wanted. To join Buddies as a volunteer or to seek our support services? So I replied her message asking if she wanted to join us as a volunteer.

Her reply came when I was at my office this morning:
“Tak… saya ada hiv… saya dapat dari suami yang tak bertanggungjawab… saya rasa tertekan sangat…”

I told her I’d call her later today. I was pretty busy in my office this morning with calls coming in and my staff consulting me with lots of things, so there was not enough privacy to talk with a depressed HIV infected person. The lady told me the best time to call would be between 3 to 4 pm.

Anyway, I promised Fuzi I’d bring her and her children to go shopping for schooling needs today, so after lunch and after my zuhr prayer, off I went to fetch them. They were already waiting outside their house when I got there. House already locked, all set to go!

While in the car, Fuzi told me she met up with Yah at the hospital a few weeks ago. Yah told Fuzi that I was upset with her. Hah! At least even with her lack of focus, Yah noticed I was upset with her! Fuzi told me that once Yah even called her asking if she could sleep over at Fuzi’s house. Not knowing anything, Fuzi just said yes. But Yah didn’t call again later, so I guess she slept over at somebody else’s house.

Even Fuzi noticed that Yah seemed to spend a lot of time elsewhere instead of at home where her children are. And one thing Yah never dared tell me was that some of her out-of-town visits were not really necessary. She went karaoke-ing!!! She has 4 children at home… she gets welfare help… her 2 older children wants to go to an orphanage… AND SHE WENT KARAOKE-ING????!!! And then asked Fuzi if she could sleep over at Fuzi’s house? Is that her way of trying to get Mr. Darling out of her mind?! Sheeesh!

Anyway, let’s forget about Yah for the moment. Let’s get back to Fuzi’s children. Brought them to a hypermarket, and let them choose their needs. It wasn’t an easy task when you have to buy schooling needs for 1 secondary school child, 2 primary school kids and 1 more going into kindergarten. The one for kindergarten needed shoes, socks, stationeries and school bag. The rest needed uniforms, shoes, socks, stationeries and school bags.

While waiting for them to find the various sizes for themselves, I decided to go to a quiet corner and call the depressed lady. I just needed to find out some basic info first and then follow up with her later.

Lin is a 41 year old lady with 6 children – ranging from 10 to 20 years old. She got my number from the HIV clinic. She is no longer staying with her husband. (She said dah berpisah, but I’m not too sure if she meant divorced or separated – cannot drill her with too many questions just yet) Lin was a full time housewife, so after her separation, she and her children had been staying with Lin’s 70 year old father. Her husband gives them money once in a while, as and when he likes… as and when he has money.

Since Lin stays in another town, and I am a bit tied up for the moment to visit her at her house, I asked if she’d be coming to Ipoh anytime soon. She is supposed to come for her blood test some time in early January, I asked her to call me then so we could meet up. It is much easier to talk face to face rather than on the phone.

So, more about Lin later after I meet up with her…

Back to Fuzi and her children… again…

After getting all the necessary schooling items, plus diapers and milk powder for little Iwan, off we went to the counter to pay. Today being a working day and after Christmas, the queue wasn’t too bad. And the bill… came up to… a whopping RM600 - for Fuzi’s children alone… and we haven’t included the amount that needs to be paid to their school yet!

Then I took them to the food court for some makan-makan and minum-minum before sending them back home. And before I went off, I left Fuzi whatever necessary amount that’s needed to be paid to the school.

I think this weekend I should be able to relax a bit… or at least I hope so…

Over the weekend...

I had so many plans for the weekend. I had shopping to do, I had weddings to attend, and I had PLWHA clients to visit. But so many things cropped up, I had to cancel my plans to visit the PLWHA clients.

On Saturday morning, I received a text message from Yah. She was coming to Ipoh that afternoon to attend a wedding (no, not hers lah… hehehe) and if possible wanted to get some things from me the next morning. Since I didn’t reply her message immediately, just as I was about to go to the kitchen to cook for lunch, she decided to call me. She said she’d wait for me at Medan Kidd the next morning. I told her to be there at 9.30 am as I needed to pass her some things for the children.

There was a wedding for me to attend in the afternoon at my kampong but I still had to cook for lunch as my mom no longer go to kenduris due to her knee problems. As I was cooking (the menu yesterday was gulai asam kepala ikan) another call came in. No, it wasn’t the James Bond ring tone for my PLWHA clients, but this time it was the Beverly Hillbillies ring tone, the assigned ring tone for my fellow Buddies volunteers. (I assign different ring tones for different groups of people to enable me to easily identify the incoming calls.)

The call actually came from Pat, a fellow volunteer, who updated me on the needs of the poor clients at her area. I had earlier called her up to tell her that the Children Education Fund had been approved for the few children of our clients there and sought her help to get the full details of the amount needed. Pat promised to fax me the list on Monday. Yayy!! So I don’t have to worry about Hana, Pushpa and Valli. Pat will take care of them and submit whatever claims to me later.

I still needed to shop for some things but since I had another appointment on Saturday, I simply didn’t have the time to go shopping. And since I’m the type who hates to go out at night (unless I really have to), I didn’t go shopping on Saturday night even though I had no other plans that night.

Like it or not, I had to go shopping this morning. Luckily the supermarkets open early so by 8.30 this morning, off I went to shop for some babies’ needs and also some groceries for the poor families. I had promised to meet up with Yah at 9.30 am, so I had to shop earlier.

As I was pushing a trolley full of baby’s diapers and milk powder, I bumped into a kampong folk of mine. Imagine the shock on her face upon seeing the loads of diapers and milk powder in the trolley. As expected, the first question she asked was, “Siapa yang pakai pampers ni?!” As far as she knew, there were no babies at my house. She probably wouldn’t be as surprised if I had bought adult diapers since she knew I have a bedridden grandma. (But just for the record, my grandma refuses to wear diapers so we have to carry her to the toilet every time.) Anyway, I just told her the things were for poor families. I didn’t mention anything about HIV though – the story would have ended longer if I had brought that topic up.

After loading everything into my car, off I went to Medan Kidd as I promised Yah. Usually she’d say she’d meet up with me at the bus station (which is across the road) but since this time she was the one who specifically mentioned Medan Kidd, I thought she may have had her own reasons to wait there instead. And it is easier for me too as there are ample parking space there. When I got there, I couldn’t see her anywhere. So I called her to ask where exactly she was.

Yah: “Kat Medan Kidd lah.”
Me: “Medan Kidd ke atau stesen bas? Medan Kidd ni yang kat seberang jalan ni.”
Yah: “Kat stesen bas lah, tempat akak selalu tunggu tu.”

First she said “Kat Medan Kidd lah” then she said “Kat stesen bas lah”. All I can say is WHAT LAH!! And she always assumes people would automatically understand what she means when she says anything. Aduuuh… her lack of focus is beginning to drive me up the wall…

Sabar Pi, sabar…

I handed over some diapers and milk powder for Yah’s baby, and some books for her two girls who did well in their last exams.

Anyway, I was supposed to go elsewhere this morning and on the way to visit Shila as well. Shila had not been feeling well for the past week. She was down with measles and she was also having very high fever. Since I had to cancel my plan, I called her up to find out how she was doing. Thank goodness she said her fever had subsided, although she has yet to fully recover from her measles. I will try to visit her within this week, not only to check on her but also to find out if her daughter’s schooling needs are settled.

Tomorrow I have some business to attend to in another town, and I will be passing by the small town where Mr. and Mrs. K live. I will drop by their home on my way back. And so when I go to my office tomorrow, my car will be full of diapers, milk powder and groceries.

I also promised to bring Fuzi’s children to buy their schooling needs on Wednesday. I purposely chose a working day as I can imagine the horror of queuing up to pay if I go on a public holiday. Oh no, no, no...

Another busy week it will be...

I'd better get started...

It’s the 5th day of Ramadhan. I haven’t started my house visits yet. Contributions are already coming in. In fact a blog reader has sent some stuff in boxes ready to be sent to 3 families – Fuzi’s, Yah’s and Mrs. K’s. Their blog names were already written on the boxes. I had to cancel all the names and put down their real names. I don’t want them to get curious as to whose names were written on the boxes…

I have also received some cash to buy goodies for these families including other families not mentioned above. I haven’t bought the goodies yet… still trying to come up with a proper list of things to buy.

I don’t want to send the stuff too early. I want the children to feel the raya atmosphere. But if I wait till later I may not have enough time to visit all the families that need help. So, I’ve made up my mind… by this weekend I’ve got to start visiting and send the Raya goodies to the families.

Supply of milk powder for Fuzi’s baby I think is probably running low now. So I’d better visit them first. I’m sure her other kids are already expecting me to come anytime soon.

Mr. K is still in the hospital. Last week Mrs. K called me. “Kak, tadi doktor datang… dia kata nak ambik abang punya air tulang belakang. Tak apa ke kak? Saya serba salah laa… ada makcik sebelah ni kata kalau boleh, jangan, takut lumpuh. Macam mana ni kak?” Hmmm… she’s asking ME to advise her? I told her the doctor should know better than I do…

Anyway, this only means the children are still by themselves at home - which makes me wonder what they eat for sahur and buka puasa. When I visit them I’d better make sure I buy something for their buka puasa as well.

My main problem is to send stuff to Yah’s house. That will definitely need to be done on a weekend or a public holiday as her place is quite far. I need to go in the morning so that I won’t come home too late. I don’t like the idea of rushing home for buka puasa and I’m not the type to buka puasa outside. So yep, definitely need to put aside a Saturday or Sunday for that purpose!

There shouldn’t be any problem sending stuff to Zainab’s house. Her house is nearby my office so I can go during any of the weekdays. Will also need to send stuff to Shida and Rashid’s wife… and Nuri and Ani… and Aini, and oh, not forgetting, Lily’s children.

WHOA! I can’t postpone this any longer. I have to start soon!

You know what this means?

It means tomorrow I’d better start SHOPPING!!

Shopping with the children

I don’t like shopping. Call me weird if you want but I just don’t like shopping, especially on weekends when there are so many people at the mall. If I need to shop, I’d usually go on weekdays during office hours. With my flexi working hours, that’s possible.

But at the end of last year, when people were busy buying schooling needs for their school-going children, I had to go shopping for schooling needs too… not once… not twice… but 3 times within 3 days and one more time 2 weeks later! Buying the same things… only different sizes. And I don’t even have any children of my own!!

You see, out of the many volunteers in my NGO, I’m the one who has the most children from the families under my care. Not only are these families with the most children, they are also the poor ones. (Yeah, the poor families do seem to have more children, don’t they? The rich ones usually don't have that many.) When we approved the Children Education Fund for 17 children, 11 of them were children of my clients.

Of course I didn’t bring them all together – they wouldn’t fit in my car! It had to be one family at a time, and I had 4 families to handle. Thank goodness my other clients either don’t have school-going children yet, or the few others who have, can afford to buy the schooling needs although they may not be rich.

So first up was Mrs.K’s family. Since I needed to bring Mrs.K to open up a bank account to apply for MAC’s Pediatric Aids Funds, we went on a Friday, after Friday prayers. Mrs. K only had 2 school-going children, but her 5 year old girl tagged along. She was happy enough she could follow, she wasn’t bothered she didn’t get anything. We had to spend quite some time at the bank, after which we immediately went shopping and after that I had to rush back to Ipoh as it was getting late. So, I didn’t have time to bring them for makan-makan…

Next day it was Fuzi’s family. We went on a Saturday morning. Fuzi’s children were very excited, not just because they were going shopping in Ipoh, but also because they got to ride in a car. By the time I reached their home to fetch them, they were already waiting outside their house, doors all locked, all set to go. And mind you, I was not late (in fact I am very particular about punctuality). Fuzi had 3 school-going children but the other 2 children also followed as there was nobody home to take care of them.

Since it was a Saturday, and it was during the year-end sale, imagine the crowd...

While Fuzi and her other children were choosing the uniforms, shoes, etc, I took care of Iwan, her then 6 month old baby boy. Good thing I didn’t meet any kepochis who knew me… they’d be wondering whose baby I was carrying… and I wonder what kind of stories they may come up with…

Anyway, since only 3 of the children were at school-going age, the 4th child put on a sour face when he didn’t get anything. And it was tough walking past the toys department. He kept pulling his mom’s baju kurung. I didn’t want to start buying toys for him, he may think I’d buy one for him every time I bring them out. Besides, this is not the only family under my care. But I had other plans they didn’t know about.

After taking them for lunch, I brought them to my NGO center. There were a few boxes of used items in good condition donated to us to be handed over to the needy. There was a box of toys and a box of story books. I told them to choose whatever they wanted from the boxes. They got excited and kept asking me again and again if they could take more than one, no matter how many times I told them to take all they wanted! By the time we headed back to their home, the 4th child was already smiling from ear to ear… this time he got some toys with him… it didn’t matter that they were used toys.

Came Sunday, it was the turn of Lily’s family to go shopping. Since I had other things to do in the morning, we went in the afternoon. Again, the place was packed… even worse than Saturday. Lily’s youngest child didn’t get to choose anything because he was only 4+, but he was happy enough when I brought them out for some ais kacang (actually it was ME who got tempted with the ais kacang… the weather was hot!).

The next family was Yah’s but at that time Yah’s husband, Azman, was warded at the Ipoh GH while the kids were with Yah’s parents. So, it was only 2 weeks later after Azman was discharged, Yah came to Ipoh with her 3 school-going children and I brought them to the same shopping mall where I took Fuzi and Lily. The only problem was that Yah’s son was a bit small for his age and we couldn’t find a uniform for his size. I had to seek the help of a salesgirl who finally found 2 pairs of uniforms for him. His was of better quality so they were more expensive than the rest…

Lunchtime came and I purposely asked the children if they wanted to eat rice or fried chicken. I knew the answer would be fried chicken but I just loved to see their excitement when answering…

So there you go. Now, for someone who doesn’t like shopping, I’d call that an award-winning achievement!

And I haven’t even told you about my monthly shopping for diapers and milk powders! I do get cash contributions from my friends asking me to buy all the necessities for these poor families. So imagine the amused looks I get when my trolley is full of diapers of various sizes and milk powder for various ages.

Hmmm… they may think I’m a mean baby-producing machine!!!