Updates

During my clinic duty last Wednesday, I met 2 clients whom I have not been in touch with for quite some time.

Nuri, a very reserved lady, looked skinnier than before. We did help her out initially in getting welfare aid and some other financial help for her children, but after that she preferred to be independent in earning some income for her family. She now runs a food stall near a school at her hometown. Good for her!

Guess who else I met at the clinic? Ahh, someone who used to be the main cast in my blog postings once upon a time… for all the wrong reasons! Yep, Yah Ah Ngau (for those new to this blog, I initially just named her Yah, but after the episode of getting bitten by the angau bug, when she fell heads over heels over Mr Darling, I named her Yah Ah Ngau…). Mr Darling ended up marrying someone else, and after that Yah began flirting around, with the intention of taking revenge on men. From a tough, independent & responsible kampong girl, she turned into a wild, problematic woman.

I’ve sort of stopped calling Yah ever since she started flirting around. No, not because I didn’t want to have anything to do with her anymore, but because she kept changing her phone number – so I’d have to wait for her to call me. Why does she change her number so often? Because when people start harassing her with phone calls, she’d just get herself a new number.

So when I met her last week, I asked for her phone number, and as expected, she had changed to a new number yet again. Her 2 elder daughters, Along & Angah are still at an orphanage and only come home during weekends and school holidays. It has been a while since I last met them, they must have grown! But I’m glad to note they are doing quite well in school, and they still do remember me (they still kirim salam to me from time to time).

As for her son, Achik, who had always been a problematic child (he had always been hyperactive & never listens to his school teachers or anyone else for that matter), according to Yah, he is now at “sekolah budak-budak kurang upaya”. I’m not really sure what sort of “kurang upaya” Achik is, but I had always suspected him to be suffering from ADHD (after a tip from a blog reader) and had been asking Yah to bring him for proper check-up, but she never did. I’m not sure if that’s the reason for him to be placed at the special school now (not easy getting accurate info from Yah especially when it comes to the proper medical terms), but I sure hope he is getting the proper and necessary help.

Two days ago, Halimah called me up. Initially I thought she needed another favour, until she said, “Saja je telefon akak, dah lama tak dengar cerita. Nanti akak kata bila sesak aje cari akak…”

Oh well, yayy! At least someone remembers me without having any udang di sebalik batu & cicak sebalik frame…

Macam-macam hal…

I was on my way to work last week when a text message came in on my hand phone. Oh no, I don’t read text messages while driving. Too much of a hassle to even attempt it as I’d need to put on my reading glasses to be able to figure out the contents of the message! So big NO to SMS while driving.

When I got to my office, I checked out the message. It was from Rosnah, telling me that she was at the HIV clinic for her appointment and asked where I was. She probably thought I was somewhere at the hospital. I replied, saying I was at my office, adding that I had lots of work to do… in case she expected me to go to the hospital to meet up with her.

After a while, another message came from Rosnah…

“Boleh ke kak bantu saya. Kesempitan duit sangat.”

No wonderlah she was hoping to see me… got udang di sebalik batu… got cicak di sebalik frame…

Oh no! Not another Mrs K in the making!

I didn’t bother to reply. Just because she’s getting help for her daughter under our Children Education Fund, doesn’t mean we are going to help her every time she runs short of money. She is after all working, has only one child to support, and doesn’t need to pay house rental as she’s staying at her mother’s house!

People who are worse off, like Sofie for example, who has 4 schooling children, has to pay house rental, and can’t afford to get a full time job due to her poor state of health, NEVER tried to borrow money from me. She’d just make do with whatever that she has.

So Rosnah just got herself listed under my “be wary of them” clients.

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I received a text message from Sharifah yesterday morning. It was her appointment at the HIV clinic yesterday and usually she’d be spending the night before at Kak Ana’s place so she could be with her baby girl. And usually Kak Ana would drive her to Ipoh for her appointments. Well, the last time they came, they were quite late… resulting in some nagging not only from the staff nurse, but also from the doctor.

Yesterday when Sharifah sent me the text message, it was almost 10.30 am, and they (Sharifah and Kak Ana) had just made a move from their place. Usually it takes more than an hour to reach Ipoh. Uhh… late again? So Sharifah asked me to inform SN that she’d be quite late for her appointment. Maybe she thought I was at the hospital for clinic duty because the last time she went for her blood test, I was there.

Sorry dearie… this time you’d better call SN yourself. So yep, I gave her SN’s number (in case she says she doesn’t have the number) and told her to call SN herself. Ni mesti takut kena marah dengan SN…

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A fellow volunteer called me yesterday. She wanted to recommend her client to be considered for our Education Sponsorship for Children Program. The client used to work as an assistant at a pharmacy, but the pharmacy has closed down and she is now out of a job. She has been trying to get a job… to no avail. So what she’s doing now is she takes care of somebody’s child during the day and gets RM250 per month. That’s not enough for her 3 schooling children. She has been keeping this to herself for quite some time, probably still having some savings to make use of; but has gotten a bit desperate of late.

Well, based on our procedures for the sponsorship program, at least 2 of the committee members need to pay her a visit first for assessment purposes. I have already reserved myself for another group this Saturday, and so I’ve arranged for the assessment visit to be done on Sunday afternoon. If and when approved, the next step will be to look for sponsors…

Various updates

Since I will be away during the last weekend of this month, I’d better make the necessary arrangements to deliver this month’s supply of groceries to Lin’s and Sofie’s family. Chances are I’d deliver the items on weekdays. Which is not really a problem for Sofie, as she’d be home most of the time. The problem is delivering the stuff for Lin, as she will be at her goreng pisang stall almost every day. The groceries cost a total of RM300 – a whole load of things, which, if I deliver to her stall, she’d have problems taking them home on her motorbike.

Usually I’d choose a weekend if I need to visit Lin at her home. She usually goes to her stall after 11 am, so I’d be able to catch her at home if I visit her in the morning. If I visit in the afternoons, I usually go straight to her stall. I don’t want her to close her stall just because I want to visit.

So how? Looks like I still need to deliver the items on a weekday, so maybe what I can do is to get the items from the minimarket during one of the weekdays next week (they usually only open after 9.30 am) and deliver the stuff early morning the next day before I go to my office. Lin’s house is about 20 – 30 minutes drive away.

As for Sofie, I’d probably send her stuff after I come back from my Kuching trip.

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On another note, the date for the HIV talk at a private college here in Ipoh has finally been fixed. Eventually, when the student in charge called me, he said it’s on the 5th of March, then later he called and said they’re rather flexible on the dates but want the talk to be held in the morning. I had asked if it is possible to hold the talk in the afternoon, but according to him, there may not be many students around if it’s held in the afternoon (takut tertidur dengar ceramah kot?). Finally we decided to hold the talk in the morning of 9th March. He requested that the talk be in Bahasa Malaysia, but since the powerpoint presentation that I have specifically for youths is in English, I will use the English slides and give the explanation in BM. Or speak my usual Manglish… as long as the message gets through, I don’t care!

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My fellow volunteer who’s the coordinator for client’s welfare has managed to get a letter from the Welfare Department, addressed to the hospital director, asking for Halimah to be exempted from paying for hospital charges. Hopefully with that letter Halimah and hubby will no longer be given the runaround the next time Halimah needs to be warded. And hopefully I no longer need to “bail” her out whenever she’s discharged but the nurses won’t let her out of the ward until they see the receipt.

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I’m done with all my reports for the coming AGM. Yaayyy!! I had given a deadline to all the respective coordinators to get their reports ready by our board meeting next week. Hopefully all the reports will be ready by then as I want to read through everything before we get our part time staff to compile everything and make enough copies of the annual report for distribution purposes.

Remember the 20K grant we got during Ramadhan last year? We’re supposed to send a report to the Yayasan after 6 months. Well, the 6 months will be up in March. So yeah, we need to get the reports ready soon!

There will be no board meeting next month as we will be having our AGM. No committee elections this year, so I hope to make it a short meeting just to adopt the reports. Then we can just makan-makan! After all, AGMs are for makan-makan, right?

Huh? No?! I thought AGM is short for Aku Guarantee Makan? Isn’t it?!

Various updates

We had our Board meeting last night. It was the first meeting for the year so there were quite a few things to discuss. Amongst others were setting the date for our coming AGM in March & setting the deadline for submission of reports by the various coordinators to be included in our annual report.

So yep, it’s report writing time again! Me? Just like last year, other than the Chair’s report, I will also have to write up the report for our Children Education Fund and Education Sponsorship for Children program. And oh, since most (if not all) photos of activities were taken using my camera, I’d have to prepare the photos of activities as well. Paperwork is the part I dislike most, especially since I have enough paperwork to be done at my office. I prefer doing groundwork like house visits & all. But having said that, when a report has to be done, I don’t like it if it’s done cincai-cincai either, especially since the reports will be given to various people/organisations, especially donors.

Meanwhile remember Azimah (the unwed mother) and Halimah (the pregnant lady) from my clinic duty last week? I had initially postponed assigning a buddy to them. I wanted to discuss during the meeting if there was anybody else amongst the female volunteers who could be assigned as their buddies. But in the end, I still ended up as their buddy. However, we also agreed that 3 of my older and not so problematic clients be handed over to other volunteers. So I “gave away” Jah, Murni and Zainab. I can bet you they will still be calling me anyway, but at least I know these ladies don’t mind if other volunteers call them.

Frankly I think we are short not only of female Malay volunteers, we are generally short of female volunteers. Besides, most of the PLHIVs needing our services are the females. Many of the HIV+ males usually would just say they’re doing okay and don’t need a buddy. Even the ones agreeing to be assigned buddies, would usually just opt to contacts by phone calls only. It is especially obvious during our annual Family Day, majority attending the event would be the female PLHIVs and their children.

But guess what? We’re organising a gathering for the male PLHIVs this coming Sunday. We were supposed to have one for the females in the afternoon, and one for the males at night. Ended up we’re calling off the gathering for the females but will go on with the gathering for male PLHIVs. Frankly for the females, those who’d come would probably be MY clients and the few I asked either need to work or have other matters to attend to this coming Sunday. Besides, most of my clients already know each other and already have each other’s contact numbers. But they still seldom contact each other because they all claim “credit habis”.

I do hope the gathering for the male PLHIVs will be a good start to get the male PLHIVs to form a peer support group.

I will not membusykan body at the male PLHIV gathering so I have made other plans for the weekend. This Saturday insyaAllah I will be doing the second round of this month’s McPi McDelivery – this time to Sofie’s house. I’m purposely visiting on a Saturday this time because Ika, Sofie’s daughter, has complained that I always visit on a weekday afternoon when she’s at school. Tak aci, she says, that her brothers all get to meet me and she can’t. So okay, once in a while I visit on a weekend when she’s home.

Before that I may need to shop for a bicycle first. Rosnah’s daughter needs a bicycle to go to school. I hope to deliver the bicycle on Sunday. So yep, probably tomorrow I’d shop for a bicycle and keep it at our centre. Then Saturday, after my pasar tani routine, off to the minimarket to get the supply of groceries for Sofie’s family and straight away deliver to Sofie. Then Sunday, get the bicycle from the centre and deliver to Rosnah.

Confirm lah my car jadi delivery van this weekend!

This and that

Sofie called me yesterday to inform me that Azlan, her eldest son, was offered a place at a Sekolah Menengah Teknik in Perak, not too far from her place. As mentioned in my posting here, Azlan’s teacher and headmaster had recommended that he applied for a place at Sekolah Menengah Teknik, noticing his interest and capability in that line. His PMR result for Kemahiran Teknikal proved so too.

Azlan is supposed to register this coming Wednesday. Sofie called to ask me if he should accept the offer. Of course, she wants what’s best for the boy but at the same time she’s worried because she fears she can’t afford to pay for all the expenses, especially if he is to stay at the school hostel.

I told Sofie to just accept the offer and worry about the payments later. As long as Azlan is eager then just go for it. He is after all under our Sponsorship Program and his schooling expenses should be covered by this fund. So yes, this Wednesday, Sofie will be going with Azlan to register him at the school and to listen to the briefing. I told her to get back to me immediately once she gets the list of whatever requirements including payments.

I don’t mind going along with them but I am on clinic duty this Wednesday. I will try to visit them after that to see to their needs.

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Mrs K has not given up trying to borrow money from me. Apparently when she didn’t get any response from me earlier, she borrowed money from somebody else, promising to pay this person back soon, within a week. Then this person started harassing her for repayment, and so Mrs K tried me yet again, hoping that I’d give in when she uses her “saya dah terdesak” line.

Before this, I’ve resorted to saying no outright. I’ve also resorted to telling her I wouldn’t entertain any requests from her to borrow my money. I’ve resorted to not responding at all to her requests to borrow my money. Didn’t seem to work, did they? Well, this time, I replied telling her that we Buddies are not allowed to lend money to our clients. She was quiet about it after that, only SMS-ing me about other matters.

I’m not sure how long it will last until her next try. I do pity the kids though… wonder if they’re getting enough to eat. Now that they’ve moved further it will be even more difficult for me to find the time to visit them.

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Sharifah (Cek Mek’s mom) sent me a text message last week saying she’d be going for her hospital appointment this coming Wednesday. She plans to go to Kak Ana’s shelter home today and spend 2 days with Cek Mek before coming over to Ipoh for her appointment and then back to her hometown.

Sharifah did mention she’s beginning to get rashes and was wondering if it had anything to do with her HIV. Coincidentally I will be on clinic duty this Wednesday so I told her to look for me at our usual room. InsyaAllah I will be getting more updates about her when we meet.

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I was outside doing my routine kampong exercise yesterday morning when a child who was cycling by, upon seeing me pruning the trees, stopped to ask, “Makcik, makcik tengah buat kerja ke?”

I was tempted to say “Tak, tengah main pondok-pondok” but oh well, she’s just a child…

Macam-macam…

My colleague who was on clinic duty last week called me to inform me that there was a lady needing our Children Education Fund (CEF) assistance. He promised her that one of us Buddies would be calling her within a week for that matter. However, as at yesterday when I went to the Buddies Centre, I couldn’t find the contact report for the lady. Neither had I received any text message from our HIV Clinic coordinator giving me the name and contact number of the lady. So I had to call up my colleague again and a few minutes later the clinic coordinator called me up and promised me to SMS me the name and number of the lady.

So finally this morning, exactly a week after my colleague informed her that somebody from Buddies would be calling within a week, I called the house number. A boy answered the phone, and when I asked for Selvi, I just heard the boy shouting to somebody. I waited for a while, until the boy came back to me and spoke to me in Tamil!

“Boleh cakap Melayu ka?” I asked.

He then passed me to another lady. I asked if she was Selvi, but nope, it was her “amma”. For some reason which I couldn’t understand, Selvi couldn’t come to the phone. I then asked for Mr Subra, Selvi’s father. According to Selvi’s amma, Mr Subra just went out. So I left my number asking her to get Mr Subra to call me back.

Within just 15 minutes, I got a call from Mr Subra. I explained that I called regarding financial assistance for his grandchildren’s education. After getting directions to get to his house, I told him I’d try to drop by after 3 pm to get all the necessary particulars and receipts. My colleague did tell me earlier that it wouldn’t be necessary to go to their home as Selvi’s father can bring her to our centre. But to me, I’d rather visit them so I could assess their real situation at home.

And so I did visit them at their rented terrace house. I got all the necessary receipts. Initially I thought if the total amount needed was between two to three hundred ringgit, I’d just use the cash in my purse first to reimburse them and then claim later. After all they were not claiming for purchases of uniforms, but more for workbooks and whatever fees. Fuhh! Seems that Tamil schools charge much higher fees. Each of them needed to pay at least RM200 to their respective schools for fees and workbooks. After calculating everything, the total came up close to RM700. So no, I couldn’t give them cash there and then. Instead I took down Selvi’s bank account number and told her that once payment is approved, I’d bank in the money into her account.

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A particular charity club has agreed to sponsor groceries for 2 of my HIV families on a monthly basis. Beginning the end of this month, all I have to do is to get the supply of groceries from a minimarket near my office and deliver them monthly to Sofie and Lin. The total amount is definitely more than what I usually deliver during my previous visits. The bills will be paid direct by the charity club to the minimarket.

Now I can use the money donated by various donors to buy more necessities for other needy families.

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I stopped by an ATM this morning on my way to work to withdraw some money. The bank was not open yet and there was also nobody else at the cubicle although I could see the bank’s guard inside the bank. Just as I was done withdrawing some cash, a Mat Bangla walked in, saw me, and asked, “Makcik, sini boleh masuk wang ka?” I said yes and showed him the cash deposit machine. “Makcik boleh tolong ka, saya tatau macam mana mau buat.” (ish, mamat sorang ni… I know la I no longer qualify to be called adik manis, tapi kalau ya pun nak mintak tolong, panggil la akak ke… bagi chan la sikit kat orang tua ni)

The guy then proceeded to give me RM400 in cash, so if anybody was to run away with somebody else’s money, it would have been me who ran away with his money! Anyway, nothing untoward happened. Saja nak cerita that a Mat Bangla called me makcik this morning… hehehe…

The calls and SMS

I am not done yet with “my children’s” back-to-school expenses. While the uniforms, shoes, etc had been bought during the school holidays, I had to wait until school reopened before getting the amount needed for their fees, workbooks and whatever else that needed to be bought at or paid to the respective schools.

Rosnah SMSed me to inform me of her daughter’s school fees. I replied her SMS, asking if she’d be home during the day this coming week. She works on shifts, so if she’s on night shift, I can visit her during the daytime, pass her the money and collect the receipts or whatever supporting documents. Rosnah’s reply came…

“Keja pagi tapi nak jumpa dr pkr 14#1”

Huh?? After a few minutes of trying, I still could not comprehend her message. So I replied, saying I couldn’t understand what she meant. I waited, but her reply never came. Either she herself couldn’t understand her message (hehehe) or she couldn’t understand what I didn’t understand… (do YOU understand?!)

The next day Rosnah called. She told me she’d be home over the weekend if I wanted to visit. I had already planned to have a good rest at home and I was not about to change my plans unless there was any emergency. I didn’t consider this an emergency. Then she told me her appointment at the HIV clinic would be on 14th January. Ohh… so “dr pkr” is doktor pakar! (no, dr is not for “dari” and pkr doesn’t represent the political party) And 14#1 is 14/1. Aduh… pening kepala otak orang tua ni nak comprehend bahasa SMS lah!

After that another SMS came from Mrs K. Despite apologising for her earlier message, this time again she repeated her long mendayu-dayu SMS without comma and fullstop. And again she was still attempting to borrow money from me, this time even asking me to give my bank account number as well, so she could pay back the money by remitting the money direct into my bank account at the end of the month when Mr K gets his pay. If you recall in her earlier message she mentioned Mr K would get his pay on the 10th, now she says end of the month? Sheesh. Again, I just McDonno… I didn’t even bother to reply. Am getting tired of advising them… am getting tired of lecturing them. To think that Mrs K thinks I’m “garang” yet she has not given up trying to borrow money from me, I wonder how it would be if she thinks I’m so lemah-lembut and angelic… (dah, siapa pulak yang bunyi macam nak termuntah tu? ;-))

And oh, guess who called me last week? One of the most colourful characters in my 2008 postings but a bit quiet in 2009. Yep, none other than Yah. And as always, she called from a new number. Anyway, all she wanted when she called me was to ask if “pejabat BaitulMal kat sebelah kiri ke sebelah kanan?” Aduh, ini perempuan! In the first place, how on earth was I to know where she was standing/facing, for me to know if the office was on the left or on the right? And secondly, she could have easily asked anyone around the area! Maybe it was just her way to tell me that she’s still alive and kicking. Well, I was quite busy that day. A female neighbor who’s also a relative passed away and I had to guide her daughters with the pengurusan jenazah, therefore I had to cut the conversation short. So, sorry, but despite that call from Yah, no updates of whatever she’s been up to of late.

I will need to make quite a number of calls this coming week. We’re organising a gathering at the end of the month for the PLHIVs – separate gatherings for the male and female PLHIVs, to enable them to get to know one another and to open up to each other. For the female gathering, we allow them to bring their children as well. Otherwise it’ll be difficult to get them to join.

I hope I can get enough positive responses to get this thing going…

Updates

I was the lone volunteer on duty during HIV clinic last Wednesday. The 2 trainee volunteers in my team had work-related matters to attend to.

But it was no big deal, really. SN too was not around since she had to attend a course elsewhere and so I had to postpone whatever matters I needed to discuss with her.

Only the junior nurse was around to refer any cases to us but according to her, although there were supposed to be 4 new cases that day, only one turned up. So yes, I only met one new patient.

As I was getting bored waiting, in case the other 3 patients may turn up, I decided to text Asiah. It had been quite some time since my last contact with her – she had then just been confirmed pregnant and if I recalled correctly, she should be due to deliver anytime soon.

Coincidentally Asiah was at the hospital for her blood test when I sent her the text message. I took the opportunity to go down to meet her since there weren’t any more cases referred to me. Asiah and her husband were at the canteen having a drink. Usually her husband would shy away from me but since he was having a drink, he couldn’t simply get up and sit elsewhere. I finally got a clearer picture of how he looked like!

Anyway, Asiah’s full term of pregnancy is in early January. Although she has not got the confirmation from the doctor, chances are her c-sect will be scheduled 2 weeks earlier. That’ll be soon enough. She promised she’d inform me once she knows when she needs to be warded at Ipoh GH. It’ll be easier for me to visit her then.

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I called up Sofie yesterday to find out how her family was doing. Sofie had brought Saiful to the Ipoh GH to set an appointment with the eye specialist. His appointment is set in February 2010. Hmmm… must be a long list of patients waiting to see the specialist.

I had initially planned to bring Sofie’s children to shop for their schooling needs early next week, but according to Sofie, Saiful is scheduled to be circumcised today. So I think I’ll give him a bit more time. I’ll wait until later next week to bring them shopping.

Maybe before that I can bring Yati’s children to shop for their schooling needs first. Yati texted me last night, telling me that her husband AJ seemed to be getting weaker but simply refused to go to the clinic or hospital. He seemed to think there is no hope for him anymore and as such no point getting treatment. Yati is beginning to lose her patience with him.

I told Yati that AJ may need a bit more time to get out of it and that she should keep on coaxing him to go for treatment. I even told her to threaten him that I’d be visiting them at home if he refuses to go to the clinic/hospital (her family that they’re staying with are not aware of his HIV and so they don’t want us Buddies to visit them at home in case her family becomes suspicious). No, we don’t visit them at home without their permission… I just wanted Yati to threaten him a bit…

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For the first time ever, Buddies will be organizing our own World AIDS Day programme instead of joining the programmes of other NGOs. About 7 or 8 of us will be going to an Orang Asli village for an HIV awareness programme. I’ve finally got my powerpoint presentation ready. I had to redo the slides as the ones I had previously were either in English or the one or two I had in Malay were a bit more technical. We have been advised to keep the presentation in simple Malay and without too much statistics which may just confuse them further. The important thing is to inform them on the basics of HIV.

So yeah, my next blog posting will probably be about the visit to the Orang Asli village.

Updates

Baby K, the hole-in-the-heart toddler, underwent her heart op on Wednesday afternoon. When I sent Mrs K a text message around 2.30 pm to ask on the little girl's update, I was told Baby K was just wheeled into the operation theatre. They were told the op would take between 2 to 3 hours, after which they'd be allowed to see the girl, from outside the ICU.

By Thursday afternoon, Baby K was sent to the ward to enable her parents to see and touch her. By Friday, she was already crying asking for more milk but Mrs K was advised not to give too much for fear of the girl ending up vomiting.

Well, so far so good... alhamdulillah. More updates later.

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Our Fellowship Committee met up on Wednesday night to discuss on our upcoming Fellowship Night, scheduled to be held on 1st December. The last DeepaRaya gathering we had back in 2007, the theme was "Sarong Night" where everybody had to come with a sarong - didn't matter how they wear them. Most wore their sarongs outside their normal clothes.

This time too we opted for something that wouldn't require the volunteers to take too much time to get ready especially since some of them would be coming right after work. So the theme this year is "Fancy Headgears". Any kind of headgear with the exception of sports caps are allowed.

Hmmm... so what kind of headgear should I be wearing huh?

Cowboy?

Red Indian?

Boxing?

Witch?

Or if I'm too lazy to find a suitable headgear, just put a wastebasket on my head and call it a headgear?

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Our awareness campaign for the Orang Asli community is on. Today our vice-chair and myself met up with 3 ladies who stay at Orang Asli settlements although they themselves are not OA's. Through them, we are arranging for the awareness campaign to be held on Sunday 6th December, in conjunction with World Aids Day. The kampong is easily accessible by car, which was what we were looking for since this the first of such programme for us. Depending on the outcome of this one, hopefully next time we will be able to conduct a similar programme at other OA settlements.

Finally we get to do our own programme for World Aids Day instead of the usually "tumpang sekaki" of whatever events organised by other organisations!

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The Ipoh International Friendship Night will be held at a Golf & Country Club next Sunday. With the aim of bringing together foreigners working or staying in or around Ipoh, and familiarising them with the various community associations and programmes in Ipoh, some NGOs were invited to showcase their services or programmes. Buddies were invited as well.

I have managed to get 4 volunteers other than myself to join me at our booth. It will be a good opportunity for Buddies to make ourselves known to more people around Ipoh.

*All pictures taken from photobucket.com

Various updates

I wasn't on clinic duty on Wednesday, but I needed to see SN to get more info on Moorthy, the guy whose legs will be amputated soon and who needs a shelter after the operation is over. I managed to find a place for him but I did not take down his details earlier.

I knew SN would be busy on Wednesday morning, so I went in the afternoon. And as usual, whenever I go to see SN to discuss one case, we'd end up discussing lots of cases!

After taking down Moorthy's particulars, I took the opportunity to ask SN on a few other cases.

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Remember Nora? I met her during HIV clinic some time in March. She's the 24 year old woman who has an 11 year old child. Rather stubborn, and didn't seem to get along well with her family despite their efforts to help her. Refused to stay with family members and stayed with boyfriends instead. SN told me of Nora's new temporary place of residence. Guess where?

Staying with another boyfriend? Naah...

At a shelter home? Naah...

Back home with her family? Naah...

SHE'S IN JAIL! Reason? I don't know. But from what I understand, it had something to do with kena tangkap with her non-Muslim boyfriend, and since she couldn't afford to pay the fine, she had to spend time in jail.

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Both SN and myself are happy with Sofie's progress. Remember in my earlier postings about Sofie, I kept mentioning about how weak she was? Every time I visited she'd most probably be lying down, too weak to even get up.

Well, of late, Sofie seems a lot better. When I went to visit on Tuesday, she was even attempting to tidy up the kitchen. She still tires easily, but at least there's a whole lot of improvement in her health. Alhamdulillah. But she still needs a bit more time before she can even think of getting a job as she cannot tahan standing for too long.

I also told SN about Saiful, Sofie's son who needs to see the eye specialist. SN advised me to just bring the referral letter first without having to bring the boy, just go to the eye clinic, present the letter and set an appointment for the boy. Only bring the boy on the appointment date. Great, at least he doesn't have to miss school too often.

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On another note, I got a surprise call last night from... guess who?? Well, first I heard a man's voice - when he mentioned his "so-called" Muslim name, I suspected he was the "so-called" hubby to Anita's evil sister. When I asked, "Siapa?" he passed the phone to a lady. Yep, indeed.. Anita's evil sister, sounding so angelic.

She asked if Anita was staying with me. Ahh, they must have thought Anita was staying with me.

"Tak, dia takde dengan saya," I confidently said. I wasn't lying of course. :-)

The sister then told me that Anita "lari dari rumah" and she mentioned that they had a "small" misunderstanding on the day that Anita ran from home.

I asked if they tried calling her. She said she did but while the phone rings, Anita never answered the calls.

She claims she is worried about Anita's safety and that of the baby too. "Saya risau pasal dia orang bawah jagaan saya. Anak dia pun saya ingat nak ambil buat anak angkat saya. Laporan polis pun saya dah buat."

Laporan polis? What did she report to the police? That her 23 year old sister ran away from home? And that she took along her own child with her? Duh!

I told her that Anita does call me from time to time asking me to help out with her IC and maybe what I can do is the next time Anita calls I'd tell Anita that the sister is trying to get in touch with her.

"Tak payah bagitau saya telefon. Saya cuma mintak akak dapatkan alamat dia aje, biar saya sendiri gi jumpa dia."

Oh, like that ah? Well, I just pretended I wasn't aware of their problems. I do know the evil sister had attempted to give away the baby for adoption before, with some payment in return of course, but the couple who initially agreed to adopt the child eventually decided against it when they found out that the mother (Anita) was HIV positive.

Frankly, if the sister was really sincere in trying to patch things up, she wouldn't have told me not to tell Anita that she called.

What I know is that while their calls were not answered by Anita, the guy did send a few text messages to Anita, saying nasty things. Maybe Anita should just change to a new number.

Anyway, speaking of Anita, whatever happened to her identity card and her son's birth cert? Well, somebody managed to speak to a top-level officer in JPN, explaining to him Anita's problem. The officer told this somebody to get Anita or someone on Anita's behalf to write to him directly and furnishing him with copies of whatever supporting documents available.

Anita herself is not well educated, so I am writing the letter on her behalf. Right now I am waiting for copies of the documents (which are all at the shelter home where Anita is staying). I need to hurry, before the JPN officer forgets about his conversation with this somebody...

Am going off to KL tomorrow and will be back in Ipoh on Sunday. I hope to finalise the letter when I come back and send out the letter by Monday.

Tengah rajin ni baik siapkan apa patut. I may be hardworking at times, but at other times I am hardly working. So yes, pi siapkan kerja cepat-cepat sebelum angin malas timbul!!

Various updates

Today I sent over some foodstuff over to the K's. In addition to the Raya cookies, I also had an additional pack of rice, sugar and a bottle of cooking oil; plus some other used clothes still in good condition. The last batch of clothes I sent were only suitable for Mrs K, this time I had some suitable for the daughter as well.

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Tomorrow morning before I go to my office, I intend to send Raya cookies to Rosnah and her daughter. Rosnah did mention earlier that this week she'd be working on afternoon shift, so she should be home tomorrow morning.

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Anita sent me a text message today, asking about her IC and her son's BC. I called her back, telling her we'd proceed after Raya since right now everybody seems to be busy with Raya preparations. She said she and her baby are okay at the new home. She also asked if I'd be visiting them for Raya. Adoi, so many people to visit la for Raya...

Anyway, I spoke to Kak Ana last week and according to Kak Ana, Anita seems to be very rajin at the home. She helps with the sweeping and all, and without anyone asking her, she volunteers to help bathe the younger children. I guess she is so used to being the "slave" at her sister's house, she doesn't feel comfortable not doing anything.

Due to her family upbringing however, she doesn't know how to pray, and so Kak Ana will teach her.

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As for myself - I've mowed the lawn (yes, puasa, puasa juga... rumput tetap kena mesin!). Tomorrow to shop for some needs before the family gathers this weekend. Friday, to clear up my ever messy table at home. Saturday, got to cook lah!

My office will be closed for the whole of next week. BLISS!

This and that

Remember my posting about Moorthy who will undergo a surgery in October when both his legs will be amputated? He is for the time being staying at the hospital ward for many months already as he doesn't have a place to stay. Amma illek, appa illek...

With no home, no family members, no money, and added with the fact that he is unable to fend for himself, not only does he need a shelter, he also needs caregivers to take care of his needs.

So we can't simply send him to any shelter homes, we'd need a shelter home with proper caregivers, and one which would accept HIV cases.

Guess what? Eureka! Yep, I found one. In Penang. I've spoken to the person in charge and she said there shouldn't be any problem as they still have 2 or 3 empty beds and they have caregivers around the clock! My only task is to arrange for transportation to send Moorthy over to the place. I don't think there should be any problem with that. In fact, since his case was referred to us by the hospital, we'd probably get them to send Moorthy over to his new home in an ambulance.

Whatever it is, we will wait until after the surgery so there's still time. At least we've got one problem solved...

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As per previous years, during Ramadhan I'd usually be getting a lot of contributions coming in from my networking, for me to distribute to the poor families I'm dealing with. In fact, this year I'm getting a whole lot more than usual. I'm using some of the money to buy goods to be sent to the families, while some will be distributed in cash, either by sending personally or by banking into their respective accounts.

I wish I can send some financial help to one particular lady and her 10 year old son. This is one of the new cases referred. Although somebody else was assigned as the buddy, the case was still referred to me for the Children Education Fund.

The only problem is, the lady stays in an orang asli settlement in an ulu kampong. And she doesn't have a phone. I cannot contact her, she will have to contact me.

But it has been 3 weeks now, and she has yet to contact me. I do have her address, but when I googled for the map, the kampong doesn't seem to be listed. So how lah?

Then I remembered I have a few clients staying in the same town - different kampongs, but they may know where this kampong is. So I sent a text message to Rosnah, and her reply came:

"Nak ke kampong tu kena naik 4 wheel drive, ala adventure mendaki. Jalan tanah merah & berbatu-batu."

Oooh... sounds adventurous. I love adventure! Woo... maybe I should transform to ala-ala Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider, huh? (a particular cat in Sydney must be choking now...)

But seriously, looks like I can't go in my Kenari. And even if I can get a 4 wheel drive, by the sound of it, I'd probably need a driver experienced enough to drive on such terrains. I don't want to end up upside down...

Any suggestions, anyone? Hmmm, since there seem to be more and more cases involving orang asli, maybe I can liaise with JHEOA for awareness programmes in orang asli settlements, and let JHEOA arrange for the transportation, huh?

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Am going off to KL this afternoon as my mother's follow-up appointment at Hospital Putrajaya is tomorrow morning. Will be driving back to Ipoh immediately after the appointment. I've got some house visits to do on Saturday, and on Sunday, I'll be attending the cheque presentation from Yayasan Sultan Azlan Shah by HRH The Regent of Perak.

 

See you later folks!

This and that...

It's the 4th day of Ramadhan.

There is supposed to be a Buddies Board Meeting tonight and our meetings usually start latest by 8 pm, but taking into account my buka puasa and prayers including tarawikh, I won't be attending tonight's meeting and have asked the vice-chairman to chair the meeting. Ever since I joined Buddies, I have never attended meetings held during the month of Ramadhan as our meetings are held at night and I'd usually reserve my Ramadhan nights for my own religious needs. I hope the other members understand. If they don't, then they definitely need to choose someone else to be the chairperson in the next board elections. I oh so look forward to that... :-)

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Remember in one of my earlier posts, I mentioned about Anita wanting to meet up with me after I come back from Bali? I had asked Anita to call me one day before her appointment, just to confirm. Well, Anita called me up this morning. She has an appointment at the GH tomorrow and asked if I was free to see her. Since we both can't be too sure what time she'd be done with her appointment, I told her to call me once she's done. I was rather curious at first as to why she wanted to see me when I'm not her assigned buddy, but since my colleague had given me a "sneak preview", I do know a bit about the "plot". Sounds serious, but I can only get a clearer picture tomorrow when I meet her.

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Sharifah is finally working back at her home state. It's a part-time job at a shopping complex. Puan Nur had wanted her to come home and get a job so they can at least have some extra income for Raya.

As for little Cek Mek, I called Kak Ana at the shelter home today but she wasn't in. But since it was Kak Ana's daughter who answered the call, I asked about Cek Mek's status. According to her, the doctor said the results of the blood tests are not known yet. Which is rather weird I must say - it has been more than a month since the blood test was done. When I asked about the baby's medication, I was told the little girl is still being given medication but it has been changed to another kind of syrup. I am concerned really, because most of the other babies born to HIV positive mothers would stop taking the medication after 1 or 2 months, and they never had to change to the other syrup usually given to positive babies. I just hope it is just a precautionary measure because Cek Mek is considered a high risk baby since hers was a normal delivery and her mother started taking ARV medication rather late in her pregnancy.

Please, please, please... let it just be a precautionary measure...

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More money is coming in for the poor families I'm dealing with. I'd better make sure they reach the intended recipients before Raya.

That means more shopping and more house visits to come... SOON!

This and that...

Sharifah's appointment at the Ipoh GH was on Wednesday. I was too busy at the office in the morning so I didn't go to the hospital to meet up with her.

But I called up after lunch to find out her latest blood test results and they (Sharifah, Kak Ana and my little Cek Mek)were on their way to a shopping complex to have lunch. I had planned to go to the same complex too to buy some stuff for myself and also to get some Indonesian currency. (I am now temporarily a millionaire... of rupiahs...)

So after zohor, I headed to the said complex, went straight to the food center and saw them there, just about to start their lunch of mee kari. It was only 2 weeks ago that I last saw Cek Mek, yet this time it was obvious she was even chubbier than before. Lagi rasa nak picit-picit! And oh, just by looking at her face, many people thought she's a boy!

Kak Ana has got temporary custody of the girl - for 2 years (or earlier if Sharifah is ready and able to take her baby home) and Sharifah will visit from time to time. Ample time I think for Sharifah to find herself a job and become financially independent.

After lunch yesterday, she headed back to her hometown. Her mother misses her already, and she intends to get herself at least a temporary job before Raya so they'd have some extra money to spend for Raya.

Anyway, Sharifah need not start her ARV medication yet. Her CD4 is above 500. My concern now is Cek Mek's test results. The little girl's appointment is in 2 weeks time. I am hopeful she's not infected.

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I found out from the buddy who had been helping out with Anita's case about Anita's latest problem. She has yet to settle her IC and baby's birth cert problem, now she's already facing another problem. No wonder she wants to see me personally after I come back from Bali. The buddy who had been helping her is a non-Muslim and her latest problem in a way involves religious matters. She thought the non-Muslim buddy wouldn't understand. But the same buddy met her when she went to the hospital for her blood test yesterday and found out what the problem was, and called me today to inform me about it. Aduuh, berat. She's even thinking of running away from her sister's home. But she has nobody else, where is she to go with a baby in tow?

So how? Stay tuned for the continuation of this story... after I come back from Bali. ;)

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I've finally finished the management accounts and cash flows for my business client! Legaaa...

The 2 new staff at the office are coping quite well and are fast learners. Yayyy! I just need to settle a few more minor things at the office today.

The monthly pocket money and bus fares for the children under our Sponsorship Programme have also been banked into the various bank accounts. I usually do so between 10th to 15th of each month but it has to be a bit earlier this month.

Now to get myself prepared for the Congress in Bali. All the travelling and Congress documents for my group members are with me, so I'd better make sure everything is in order.

I haven't started packing anything yet. By hook or by crook I need to do everything today.

And oh, I'd better make it a point to visit my ailing aunt again this afternoon...

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Will be away from 8th to 15th August. See you later folks!

This and that...

Remember in my posting about the HIV/AIDS exhibition at the private college, I mentioned about signing up for a full blood test at a cheaper rate? Well, tests done at the college were only for their students and staff, and although the public was eligible to sign up for the tests at the same special rate, we'd have to go personally to the lab at a private hospital here in Ipoh.

I decided to go this morning. We were advised to fast, so this morning I didn't have my breakfast before going to the pasar tani. And right after pasar tani, I went straight to the hospital to get my tests done. And for the second time in less than a week, I got my arm poked with 'em needles. Earlier on Wednesday, it was for the blood donation drive, and this morning it was for my RM85 full blood screening. Cheap, no? The results will be sent to PFHA, so my contact there will be calling me when they get the results. And nope, don't think I will be meeting any more draculas this week. ;)

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Remember Rosnah, the lady who called me when I was in Cameron Highlands for the Buddies retreat? Initially she called to seek financial help since she had to spend a lot of money having to come to Ipoh quite often for her husband's hospital checkups. Well, her husband died not long after that. But now Rosnah has been confirmed HIV positive, so there's a new name to be added to my already long list of clients. Her appointment in Ipoh GH will be this coming Wednesday, the same day as Sharifah's blood test.

Oh yes, Sharifah has finally contacted me giving me her new phone number. It was rather difficult when her phone went kaput earlier - all calls had to be done to her mother's phone, and most of the time when I called, Sharifah was not with her mother and so I didn't get to speak to Sharifah personally.

So, what's the latest update on Sharifah and my little Cek Mek? Wait lah until I see her personally this week, then I'll give you updates.

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Somebody asked me to compile my HIV stories, especially on women and children, into a book - but in Malay. Nak bagi family baca. Depa tak reti internet, and tak reti cakap orang putih, so she said.

Ada ke orang nak publish? And ada ke orang lain nak baca other than the person who requested for it?

Should I? Or shouldn't I?

A day of phone calls!

After being told by the hospital welfare officer last Friday that Cek Mek's matter had been reported to the state welfare and that they'd be sending their people immediately to "save" the baby from the shelter home, I asked her what I had to do if I wanted to bring Puan Nur and Sharifah to see the baby during the weekend. The officer said we would have to deal direct with the new shelter home which is under the welfare department. So we (Puan Nur and myself) decided to wait and see. The way the officer said it, it was as if the welfare officers would fetch the baby on Friday itself.

I immediately looked for the new home's address and phone number. But I didn't want to call on Monday as I felt it was too soon. So I called this morning, and to my surprise, the lady who handled new intakes of occupants said so far there are no new cases, certainly not involving a baby.

I had wanted to call the hospital welfare officer I spoke to earlier, but she's not around the whole week as she's attending a course elsewhere. So finally I decided to call Kak Ana. And whaddaya know? My little Cek Mek is still there with her. Kak Ana didn't even know heads or tails about the matter being reported to the state welfare. She said the hospital welfare officer did call last week, wanting to speak to Sharifah, so Kak Ana just told her that Sharifah had gone home with her mother. That was how the officer found out the baby was at the shelter home without her mother.

After discussing with Kak Ana, she was of the opinion that if Sharifah wants to take the baby home, she'd better do so before the welfare officers come to get the baby. Because once the baby has been handed over to the new shelter home, it will not be so easy for Sharifah to get the child as and when she likes. Decision and action must be taken by this week.

I told Kak Ana I'd have to discuss the matter with Puan Nur and Sharifah first. For the moment, Sharifah's fickle-mindedness is not making things easier. Nak bela, nak kerja dulu, nak bela, nak kerja dulu...

So, I sent a text message to Puan Nur, asking her what would be the best time to call as I didn't want to be calling her to talk about these issues while she was at work. She told me to call about 3 pm.

There was another matter I needed to handle this morning... our outreach team intend to do rapid testing for some of the sex workers during our outreach next week, and although we still do have some rapid test kits at our center, we were running out of the diluent needed. So I called the assistant director of the state AIDS/STD unit, whose name card I obtained during a meeting I attended some time back (that was my main purpose of attending the meeting - to get more networking). I asked if I could go and meet him at his office later in the afternoon, but he said he'd have a meeting in the afternoon and so he asked me to come in the morning. Thank goodness things aren't so hectic at the office, so I took off immediately. Not only did I manage to get a whole box of rapid test kits together with the diluent, we also got to discuss some other matters. I was even introduced to the matron, and so I've got more contacts now.

Right after I got back to my office, a call came in. It was the manager of the horse farm where we intend to have our family day, and he was asking for the latest update of our program so he could make the necessary arrangements. I promised him I'd get the person in charge to call him by tomorrow.

As I was about to go to the Buddies center to send the rapid test kits, a call came in from an unfamiliar number. The number looked like it was an official government office number, so at first I thought it could be people from the state welfare department (since my name was included in the report sent to them). I was thinking, alamak... takde chan la nak ambil baby balik this week, if indeed Sharifah decides to bring the baby home now.

But no, the call came from the state secretariat. They were in the process of compiling all the names and particulars of various NGOs. Not too sure whatever for... but I hope they'd consider giving us funds. :) But if they ask what they can do, I may just tell them that it's high time Perak has a specific shelter home for HIV women and children. At least I don't have to pening kepala when I get cases like Sharifah's and Cek Mek's.

At 3 pm sharp, while I was at the center, I called Puan Nur. The moment she answered, I said, "Waktu sekarang pukul 3 petang." And she responded with, "Ya, tepat pada waktunya!" Got to lighten up a bit kan? (yang sebenarnya I dah mabuk phone call hari ni... semua serious matters pulak tu. Ni tak masuk lagi business calls I get at the office)

I informed her of the latest situation. Apparently on Monday, Puan Nur and Sharifah tried to call Kak Ana but their calls were not answered. They thought Kak Ana purposely didn't answer because she was angry with them! They must have called her handphone. Her handphone is usually in her handbag and would usually be answered only when she's out elsewhere.

I told Puan Nur that if they do want to take the baby home without much complication, then they'd have to take action by this week. Puan Nur said she'd have to discuss the matter with Sharifah first, and she promised to get back to me latest by tomorrow. Sharifah is the one who's very fickle-minded now, so I'm not sure yet what decision they'll take, but whatever it is, I hope they'll consider Cek Mek's interest above all rest.

Right after I got off the phone with Puan Nur, another call came in! Adoi, tak sempat restlah my phone like this. The call came from the lecturer of the private college where we'd be organising the HIV/AIDS awareness programme next week. He just called to confirm the time for the talk, and to also confirm that they'd be preparing the laptop, LCD projector etc. So all I have to bring is the CD or thumb drive for the presentation.

Just as I got home, another call came in from an unfamiliar number. It was Sofie... she called from a public phone as she doesn't have enough credit for her handphone. The handphone is for me to call her, not the other way round. I had told her earlier that if she needed to talk to me, just get any of her children to call me from a public phone and I'd call her back on her handphone. The fact that she herself called from a public phone to me is good news. It meant she was strong enough to walk to the public phone! And she sounded very lively too.

Sofie has finally got herself another house to rent, thanks to help from blog readers. She has already paid the deposit, and will move by next week. Hopefully by moving to the new house, her niece will no longer say things that hurt her and her kids. I will still need to monitor her and the children, to ensure they at least get enough to eat and that they are not deprived of education. And I must make sure she doesn't ask her 15 year old son to work. Let the boy concentrate on his PMR.

At least I see some light in Sofie's case.

But my telinga very panas lah today... too many phone calls...

Various Updates

After I came back from my clinic duty on Wednesday, there were a few calls I had to make.

First I contacted Sofie. Remember I visited her 2 weeks ago and her condition then was very weak due to effects from her new ARV medication? Well, she needs to come to Ipoh on Friday for an appointment at the GH, and I needed to know if she's up to it. I didn't want her to skip her appointment because she felt to weak to get up.

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard a rather lively voice when I called her. Although Sofie still suffers some effects from the medication, the effects aren't that bad anymore. She'd still need one of her children to accompany her to the hospital so that she'd have someone she could hold on to while walking, but at least I don't have to worry about her being unable to get up at all.

After calling Sofie, I tried calling Sharifah but got her voicemail instead. I then called Puan Nur - thank goodness I got her. Sharifah's phone had gone kaput, that's why I couldn't call her. I think this is the 3rd time this week I've been telling about my clients' phones gone kaput. First Puan Nur, then Zainab and now Sharifah.

I needed to call Sharifah/Puan Nur to inform them about the date of Sharifah's blood test later this month. Cek Mek's MyKid should be ready for collection this month, and so might as well Sharifah collects it on the same day as her blood test.

Puan Nur was on a bus when I called - on her way home from work. I don't know, but if I had sensed things correctly, I think Puan Nur herself may have some problems at home. No, she didn't say anything about having any problems or whatever, in fact she said they're fine. I even joked with her and she laughed. It's just that after being so used to observing people's body language and voice tone, somehow I sense she has problems. No, couldn't see the body language as we were on the phone, but her voice tone somehow sounded as though she had a problem. I hope I'm wrong though. I'm not about to be so nosy to ask if she has problems, so what I can do now is to continue to be her friend and maybe when she's more comfortable with me she'd tell. I'm not the type to "saja-saja mau korek", I prefer to let them tell when and if they want to tell. I'd rather be a listener than an interrogator. I would however interrogate further if they ask for my help without wanting to tell me what the root of the problem is. That's how I've been dealing with most of my clients so far - only problem is sometimes they end up telling me more than I want to hear!

Anyway, I'd be meeting Sharifah later this month. Will need to arrange for her to sign some forms - I'm helping her to apply for some financial assistance for my little Cek Mek. Maybe if there are indeed problems at home, Sharifah may tell me then - so far she has been quite open with me.

After my call to Puan Nur, I received a call from a lecturer of the private college whose student had approached me earlier at the clinic about organising an HIV/AIDS awareness programme. By then the student had gone back to the college to inform his lecturer about his meet with me and about my request for an official letter to be faxed to us for further action. The lecturer probably just wanted to confirm the matter before he arranged for the letter to be sent. The letter was faxed to Buddies center yesterday evening.

This morning on my way to work I dropped by Buddies center to get the fax - they asked for exhibition materials and a speaker for the talk. Once I reached my office, I immediately arranged to get the exhibition materials the easy way - get hold of my contacts at the Perak Family Health Association! Since all the volunteers in Buddies are working people, and the exhibition is to be held on working days, the best option is to get the PFHA to handle that part. Buddies will handle the talk on the last day. SN, who had earlier introduced the college student to me, had also expressed her interest to attend the talk. She's even willing to take half day leave for that purpose. Just shows how committed she is to this cause - she's willing to do it on personal basis instead of making it official duty.

I truly admire SN's commitment in her work. Even the patients going for appointments at the HIV clinic prefer to see SN rather than the new doctors whenever the regular doctor is not around. She even remembers the patients by their names.

I wish there are more committed nurses like her.

Just as I was about to publish this post, I got a text message from Mrs. K's 13 year old daughter... the girl seems to be all stressed out because of her family problems. She said she and her older brother don't want to stay there any longer.

Adoiii... problem lagi...

A little update on my little Cek Mek

Yesterday I met my friend who frequents the flat where we temporarily placed Sharifah recently. (He didn't frequent the place when Sharifah was using the place lah - otherwise sure dah kepoh satu flat!). He went over to the flat a few days ago and bumped into one of the neighbours...

Neighbour: "Mana budak perempuan yang beranak kecik hari tu?"

My friend: "Dah balik kampung dia lah."

Neighbour: "Baik betul baby tu. Suami budak perempuan tu mana? Kerja apa?

My friend: "Suaminya askar."

End of story.

Soldiers get posted to various places from time to time, so that was the first thing that came to my friend's mind to avoid further interrogation from the neighbour. Good move, I must say... although he did lie... white lie ka, yellow lie ka, purple lie ka, doesn't matter lah!

But you know what that meant? That meant despite the precautions we took to avoid exposing my little Cek Mek to the people outside, the neighbours did notice. The baby was only exposed twice. The first time was when they were just discharged from the hospital and I needed to bring them there first before sending them over to the present shelter home a few days later. There were quite a number of children playing around then but I didn't see any adults outside. The second time she was exposed was when we needed to bring her into my car to send Sharifah and my little Cek Mek to the shelter home. Again, I didn't see any adults around, just a few kids. This particular makcik who was asking my friend all those questions about Sharifah must have been peeping from the windows...

Well, since my friend brought up the story of my little Cek Mek, timbul rindu pulak kat si kecik tu. I tried calling Puan Nur to ask if she had already fixed a day to fetch her daughter and grandchild, but my calls didn't seem to get through. Oh dear, don't tell me she changed her number yet again...

So I decided to call Kak Ana, the lady running the shelter home. I wanted to know the latest progress on my little Cek Mek's checkups at the hospital. Kak Ana was in the car, together with Sharifah, and they were on their way back from another round of body massage for Sharifah.

According to Kak Ana, they just brought my little Cek Mek to the hospital earlier in the morning. The people at the hospital needed to take the little girl's blood sample for testing.

Imagine how I cringed when Kak Ana mentioned that the little baby's blood didn't seem to flow out... so they had to make a few attempts to get her blood samples. Adoiii... the little girl is just slightly over 3 weeks old.

Oh my poor little Cek Mek!!

p/s

Btw, this is my 333rd blog posting...

Back to normal routine

Back to normal routine this week. And that doesn't mean I can relax a bit more - it only means I have more things to cover in my voluntary work instead of concentrating on just one particular case as it had been for the past 2 weeks.

That doesn't mean I no longer have to think about Sharifah and my little Cek Mek either. As a matter of fact, first thing this morning, as I was getting ready to go to my office, a call came in from SN. She wanted to inform me of Sharifah's appointment at the HIV clinic. I had informed her earlier that if the appointment is in August, then there's no need to transfer her appointment to the other hospital as Sharifah plans to leave the shelter home by then.

Indeed, SN did fix Sharifah's appointment in August; but when she mentioned 12th August, I was thinking, alamak... I won't be around then (I should be in Bali that week). I asked SN if she could change it to 5th August, so at least if Sharifah needed my help, I'd be around. Thank goodness SN didn't have any problem with that.

Later when I got to the office, I called Sharifah. When I asked how she was doing and if she had adapted herself to the new place, she just said, "OK lah kak, mula tu payah jugak. La ni buleh lah sikit kot..." Didn't sound too convincing though. And of course I asked about my little Cek Mek. The little girl is doing okay, but according to Sharifah, has some problems sleeping at night as some of the occupants can be rather noisy. You see, this shelter home takes in various types of people - the homeless, the elderly, the mentally disabled (hmmm... I think many of our politicians qualify under this third category... but I guess no shelter homes want to take them). So, it's not easy for Kak Ana to control them all.

Anyway, Kak Ana had brought Sharifah for a massage on Sunday. Aiyah, she should have told me earlier lah, I think I need a good body massage myself (ish, Kak Ana bawak budak tu gi urut lepas bersalin - I pulak sibuk nak urut lepas salin baju!!). When I called this morning, Kak Ana wasn't around. She's a rather busy woman. So, Sharifah has yet to bring my little Cek Mek to the hospital. She should be doing so within this week. I told Sharifah about her next appointment in Ipoh.

Today, I also managed to disburse all the monthly sponsorship amount to the rightful recipients. I also finally managed to get back to those who had committed to contribute to Sofie's family. We now have people willing to give monthly contributions to Sofie and her children. Some of the contributions are already in my bank account. I called Sofie to inform her about it and promised her I'd visit this week. Tak berani simpan duit orang lama-lama...

Later at about 5 pm, a fellow volunteer, our Fellowship coordinator, called. He's the one who's supposed to do all the planning for our coming Family Day in August. Today he had called the manager of the place that we intend to visit for our Family Day, trying to arrange for a day when one or two of us could drop by and check out the place so we can have a better picture of what kind of activities we can organise for the day. But although the management of the place has agreed to let us use their place for our Family Day on a Sunday (the place is not open to the public actually), if we need to check out the place before hand, we'd need to do it on a weekday - a working day. That leaves only those with flexi working hours. In other words, orang tua ni juga lah kena pergi... sigh!

But never mind, for the sake of organising a fun day out for the poor families and their children (and not forgetting, this orang tua also want to have fun!), I will try to go either on Wednesday or Thursday with another orang tua volunteer with flexi hour.

Later, I called Puan Nur, Sharifah's mom. The family's busy moving to a new house. I asked if she had already missed her daughter and grandchild. Puan Nur and Sharifah actually call each other every day! And guess what? My strategy seems to work much faster than I thought! Puan Nur is already planning to bring Sharifah home, and Sharifah is already not willing to leave her baby at the shelter home - so yeah, we may have both Sharifah and my little Cek Mek going HOME sooner than planned!

You know, I felt a bit "down" after sending my little Cek Mek to the shelter home last week. I had mixed feelings - I was so so sad for the girl... I missed the girl... I was wondering if my plan would actually work out. But after listening to Puan Nur's plan today, I feel much better already! Not that I'd be able to see my little Cek Mek more often, but at least I know she will be at a proper home with a proper family environment.

I think I can sleep better tonight...

Various Updates

1. Sharifah will be going back to her hometown today - temporarily. Since we can't get her a place at the shelter home for problematic teenagers in Perak due to her HIV status, she'd need to go home first. Yes, we can send her to any of the shelter homes in KL/Selangor, but Sharifah is due to deliver soon. The owner of the flat has agreed to let her temporarily use the flat whenever she needs to be in Ipoh for her hospital appointments, and so we thought if we need to send her elsewhere, might as well wait until she delivers in June. Besides, I will need to discuss with her mother on the future of Sharifah and the baby, so I cannot really say for now what the arrangements will be like. Sharifah's mother promised me she'd come along with Sharifah to Ipoh during her next appointment as it will be during the soon coming school holidays. Coincidentally, my next clinic duty will also be on the same day as Sharifah's next appointment at the HIV clinic.

Yesterday I bought the bus ticket for Sharifah. Since she needed to see the doctor first this morning, I bought a ticket for the 4 pm bus. I told her I'd fetch her at the flat at 3 pm. So yes, I will send her off to the bus station today, pass her the bus ticket and get the key (of the flat she's been staying in) from her. I will be seeing her again, insyaAllah, next weekend, hopefully together with her mother.

2. Remember I mentioned in my posting here about SN calling me from the HIV clinic to inform me about a new case of a poor single mother with 4 kids? I had been busy with Sharifah's case earlier so I didn't call the lady immediately. But I finally managed to call her last Tuesday. Sofie, divorced, has 4 schooling children - 2 in secondary and 2 in primary. She used to help out at a canteen to earn some income for her family, but for the past 3 months she was too weak to work. Unable to earn anything to pay for house rental (or any other expense for that matter), she and her children now stays at her sister's kampong house. The sister already has 6 children of her own staying in the same house - imagine how much space each person has!

I promised Sofie I'd visit her this week. Sofie was initially reluctant to let me visit. She was thinking I may be coming in a Jabatan Kesihatan van with a few other colleagues, and so she got worried. You see, she's staying in a kampong area with *ambil tahu/kaypoh neighbours, (*strike out whichever you think is not applicable) and an official visit as such will definitely attract attention. I told Sofie I'd be coming alone in my own car and that I can easily pass off as a relative visiting from another kampong. After all, I myself am a kampong girl! (Ni kira woman perasan masih girl... hehehe...)

An office-mate of mine had also asked me to deliver some fidyah puasa through me to any poor families I visit, and Sofie definitely sounds like an eligible recipient. By the sound of it, I think Sofie's children too may need to be considered for our Education Sponsorship programme.

More updates after the visit....