A pair of glasses for Saiful

Some time last year I wrote about Saiful’s eye problem. The boy had been having vision problems since he was young but due to poverty and Sofie’s marital problems back then, she couldn’t afford the fares to bring the boy to the hospital for his check-ups.

When I started handling their case, initially there were too many problems that had to be settled, I wasn’t aware of Saiful’s vision problem. I did notice his small size though, at 11, he looked more like a 6 year old.

Later on, after the initial problems were settled, bit by bit I got to know of their other problems. Then one day Sofie told me about how she brought Saiful to an optical shop to get his eyes tested for free. The people there then told her that Saiful needed a pair of glasses ASAP as the power needed was already too high. They offered to do the glasses for him at RM200+ after student discount. Since Sofie didn’t have the money, she told them she’d have to think about it first. They wrote down Saiful’s details on a card and even gave them a discount voucher.

When I got to know about it, I decided to bring Saiful to another optician for a second opinion. The second optician didn’t dare make the glasses for him. They could easily make some money by saying the same thing the people at the first optical shop said, but they knew it would be in the boy’s best interest if he was brought to see an eye specialist first.

And so that was what I did. I brought him to the district hospital, and from there, I managed to get a referral letter to enable the boy to see the ophthalmologist  at Ipoh GH. He had gone for at least 2 appointments already.

I went to Sofie’s house today to deliver this month’s supply of groceries. The moment I sat down, Ika, the youngest, excitedly told me that her brother had already got the prescription from the Ipoh GH to get his glasses done. Sofie just needed to go to any optical shop, just show the prescription, and make a pair of glasses for Saiful. But as usual, she didn’t have enough money to do so yet.

The moment I heard about it, I said, “Jom!”

Saiful: “Sekarang?”

Me: “Ye lah, sekaranglah. Nak tunggu siap seminggu pulak lagi.”

Sofie: “Tapi nak kena bayar deposit jugak dulu kan?”

Me: “Takpe, jangan risau. Akak bayar, lepas tu akak boleh claim balik nanti.”

So off we went (just me and Saiful since Sofie wasn’t feeling too well) to an optical shop in town recommended by Sofie. According to Sofie, the price there is quite reasonable.

The guy got a shock looking at the prescription given. He looked at the boy and when I told him the boy’s age, he got an even bigger shock.

Imagine this… the boy is 12 years old, with a weight of 21 kg (his growth got stunted ever since he was down with a high fever when he was about 3 years old) and the power needed for his glasses were 950 for one side and 750 for the other. And this was no cincai-cincai prescription, it was given by the specialist clinic at the Ipoh GH!

After choosing a frame for Saiful, the optician recommended that we do the thinner and more expensive type of glasses for Saiful. Yes, he could do the normal cheap one (RM50 for the glasses without frame), but with such high power, the glasses would be too thick. And for someone who had never worn glasses before despite his poor vision, a thick pair of glasses would be a problem for him to adjust to.

The optician then calculated the cost and told me that he’d charge RM220 frame + glasses. I started coaxing him to give some discount, telling him about the boy’s poor family.

Me: “Kesian la ini budak. Mata sudah teruk pun belum pernah pakai cermin mata laa.”

Optician: “Hah? Belum pernah pakai cermin mata ka? Apa pasal?”

Me: “Dia punya mak orang miskin, mana mampu mau bayar!”

Optician: “You dia punya cikgu ka?”

Me: “Bukan, saya dari NGO. Ni saya punya voluntary work saja.”

Optician: “OK, itu macam frame saya kasi free. You bayar RM150 saja. Lain kali kalau ada lagi ini macam punya kes, you bawak datang sini. Frame saya tak charge!”

Woohoo!!

The pair of glasses will be ready on Thursday next week. But I have a meeting on Thursday afternoon, so I paid a deposit of RM50 and told him I’d come on Friday instead.

So yep, in a week’s time, Saiful will start wearing glasses. I hope he will be able to adjust himself quick enough. The boy will be sitting for his UPSR this year…

Melepaskan anjing tersepit

Belum sempat duduk lama setelah kembali ke rumah petang tadi, telefon tangan saya berbunyi. Dari nada dering yang kedengaran, saya sudah mengetahui panggilan itu datangnya dari salah sebuah perlindungan yang pernah saya kunjungi. Dan seperti yang saya duga, panggilan itu datangnya dari Kak Ana, yang menjaga rumah perlindungan di mana pernah saya menghantar Anita dan anaknya serta Sharifah dan Cek Mek ku yang comel.

Tenang saja suara Kak Ana ketika itu, menceritakan perihal Anita yang telah ke negeri asalnya di selatan tanahair untuk menghadiri majlis perkahwinan anak saudaranya. Menurut Kak Ana, setelah 3 minggu di sana, Anita telah membuat keputusan untuk tinggal terus dengan kakaknya di sana. Dari satu segi, syukur alhamdulillah Anita akan tinggal semula bersama keluarganya. Namun mengapa sebelum ini Anita tidak mahu tinggal di sana? Dan mengapa sebelum ini kakaknya pernah memberitahu bahawa beliau tidak mampu untuk menanggung Anita?

Kak Ana telah mencadangkan kepada Anita agar pulang dahulu semula ke rumah perlindungan untuk menyelesaikan segala urusan surat-menyurat dan temujanji hospital. Kak Ana juga telah mencadangkan kepada Anita agar menelefon dan membincangkan soal ini dengan saya terlebih dahulu. Seperti lazimnya, oleh kerana saya yang menghantar Anita dan anakknya ke situ, Kak Ana akan memberitahu saya terlebih dahulu sekiranya terdapat apa-apa perkembangan, sama ada menyenangkan atau tidak. Sekurang-kurangnya jika Anita menelefon saya kemudian, saya sudahpun mengetahui sedikit-sebanyak latarbelakang cerita.

Setelah menunaikan solat asar, saya dapati telefon tangan saya menyalakan lampu merah – bererti terdapat panggilan yang tidak dijawab. Terdapat 2 panggilan dari Kak Ana dan satu panggilan dari nombor yang tidak saya kenali. Dan satu SMS dari nombor yang sama meminta saya menelefon kembali. Walaupun nama tidak disebut, saya dapat mengagak panggilan tersebut dari Anita.

Berkali-kali saya mencuba untuk menelefon nombor berkenaan, namun panggilan terus disambung ke peti suara (dan saya tidak suka bercakap dengan mesin!). Akhirnya saya hanya menghantar mesej mengatakan bahawa saya telah cuba menelefon tetapi tidak berjaya.

Lalu saya terus menelefon Kak Ana. Apa yang nyata, suara Kak Ana tidak lagi setenang panggilan yang awal tadi.

Rupanya entah apa yang diceritakan oleh Anita kepada kakaknya sehingga kakaknya terus menelefon Kak Ana bukan sekadar untuk memarahi, malah memaki-hamun Kak Ana sehingga pada satu ketika mengibaratkan Kak Ana seperti lembu dan kemudian mengibaratkan Kak Ana seperti syaitan bertopengkan manusia. Entah apa juga diceritakan oleh Anita kepada kakaknya sehingga kakaknya mengugut untuk mengambil tindakan mahkamah ke atas Kak Ana kerana enggan menyerahkan dokumen-dokumen Anita dan anaknya.

Aik? Bila masa pula Kak Ana enggan menyerahkan dokumen-dokumen tersebut? Kak Ana cuma meminta Anita untuk kembali dahulu ke rumah perlindungan untuk menyelesaikan dahulu segala urusan surat-menyurat dan temujanji hospital. Akhirnya Kak Ana memberitahu Anita bahawa oleh kerana saya yang membawa Anita ke rumah perlindungan itu, maka beliau akan menyerahkan segala dokumen kepada saya dan Anita perlu mengambilnya dari saya.

Setelah bercakap dengan Kak Ana, saya cuba menelefon Anita sekali lagi. Kali ini panggilan dijawab. Sedikitpun tidak saya sebut mengenai apa yang telah diceritakan oleh Kak Ana kepada saya. Walaupun saya mempercayai Kak Ana, namun saya ingin mendengar versi cerita Anita.

Tidak banyak diceritakan Anita. Dia cuma menyebut bahawa dia telah berpindah semula ke negeri asalnya dan ingin mengambil semula dokumen-dokumen yang disimpan di tempat Kak Ana. Anita meminta bantuan saya untuk mengirimkan dokumen-dokumen berkenaan kepadanya.

Tidak lama kemudian, Kak Ana menelefon saya sekali lagi. Kali ini teresak-esak menangis. Rupanya seorang lagi kakak Anita pula menelefon untuk memaki-hamun Kak Ana. Oleh kerana tidak lagi dapat menahan geram, Kak Ana mengambil keputusan untuk menghantar dokumen-dokumen Anita kepada saya hari ini juga. Saya cuba menasihatkan Kak Ana agar tidak tergesa-gesa. Saya ingin mencadangkan kepadanya agar mengambil wudu’ dan bertenang dahulu sebelum mengambil apa-apa keputusan, namun Kak Ana ketika itu sudahpun di dalam perjalanan ke Ipoh semata-mata untuk menyerahkan dokumen-dokumen tersebut kepada saya malam ini juga!

Kesian Kak Ana. Silapnya hanyalah kerana dia terlalu mengambil berat. Walaupun Anita pernah berkasar dengannya sebelum ini di rumah berkenaan, Kak Ana terus melindungi dan membimbingnya. Namun ini pula balasan yang diterima.

Dan Anita pula? Apa yang saya nampak, Anita inginkan kebebasan. Dan kehidupan di rumah perlindungan tersebut baginya terlalu mengongkong. Dia inginkan tempat untuk berlindung dan pada masa yang sama dia ingin kebebasan untuk keluar masuk sesuka hatinya. BANYAK CANTIK LU PUNYA MUKA! Entah berapa lama pula dia akan tahan untuk tinggal di rumah kakaknya sebelum berpindah pula ke tempat lain. Benar-benar tidak mengenang budi!

Saya pasti Kak Ana menolong selama ini bukan untuk dikenang budinya. Namun bukanlah juga maki-hamun yang dijangka.

Sabarlah Kak Ana. Kita telah mencuba. Mungkin kita gagal membimbing Anita, tapi ramai lagi insan di luar sana yang masih memerlukan bantuan kita. Janganlah satu kegagalan ini melemahkan semangat kita.

Teruskanlah perjuangan Kak Ana untuk membantu insan-insan yang memerlukan bantuan dan bimbingan…

This and that…

Before becoming the chair of Buddies, I was the treasurer. And with accounting being part of my job at the office (other than company secretarial work), I set up a proper system using excel, with all the formulas entered, making it easier for whoever would be entering the transactions. Just enter the transactions on one sheet, and the other sheets with the monthly reports would be automatically calculated.

We’ve had 2 treasurers after me and I’ve been teaching them how to enter the transactions. Somehow every time a new treasurer is elected, I would end up doing most of the job during the initial stages.

Anyway, although the excel file had been formatted, I’d still need to check the accounts on monthly basis as usually there’d still be something that doesn’t balance somewhere.

Well, last week I was at the center to check the accounts (the treasurer does the accounts at night after work while I usually go to the center during afternoons). I have to admit there is improvement – at least most of the transactions are now entered correctly, unlike the initial stages when I myself had difficulty trying to figure out the wrongly entered transactions.

Then I got to the bank reconciliation page that was printed out and noticed that the “balance as per cash book” didn’t seem to tally. But below that was written in pencil 2 more transactions for unpresented cheques, with a new balance which tallies with the cash book. And below that was a note;

*Not enough rows to enter all unpresented cheques.*

Well yeah, in the bank reconciliation page that I prepared, there were 5 rows (I think) for the unpresented cheques column. The treasurer needed 2 more rows.

Adusss! The file was in excel format la macha! All you had to do was to insert rows la!! Yennadey!!

I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. The least he could have done was to ASK…

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It is already the last week of the month. Aiyo, that means it is already time for the grocery deliveries to Sofie’s and Lin’s families. So soon??? I haven’t even written the list of items needed to be given to the minimarket owner. I’d better do so within these next few days. Hopefully I can do my deliveries on Thursday and Friday. Will be off to Seremban on Saturday and hopefully Sunday can be my rest day.

The next weekend, there will be an exhibition at a hotel in Ipoh. I will man (woman?) the booth during one of the Saturday shifts. Sunday is out as I (and 4 other volunteers) will be involved in the charity run. Initially I managed to get 4 runners (including myself) with 3 females and 1 male. The guy and 2 of the ladies are regulars at runs of 10km or more (in fact the guy asked if he could run 10km when I told him we’d need to run 2 km each!). So there shouldn’t be any problem for them running the 2 km. As for myself, well I was a school runner once (please place more emphasis on the past tense rather than subject matter) but yes, I’ve been trying to keep myself fit by working out a bit more than usual sweating it out every morning after my subuh prayer.

As mentioned in my previous posting, I walked an extra few hundred meters to the hospital during my clinic duty (about 800 meters to be exact) and before that when I went to visit Ijam when he was warded for dengue, I used the stairs all the way to the 6th floor. And this morning, mowing the lawn wasn’t so tiring. And insyaAllah, I will be playing volleyball this Saturday. Hope my feet will not terpele’ot before the run…

Anyway, we need 5 runners to complete a team for the charity run. And since there was only 1 guy, I asked the guy to coax another male volunteer to join the run. But the guys are either not available on that day, while the ones who are available, are mostly kaki bangku. Finally I approached a student volunteer (she has volunteered to help us with whatever activities she could take part in before she continues her studies in August and she helped during our exhibition last month) and she immediately agreed to participate. So yeah, now we have a team of 4 females and 1 male.

Here’s the route of the run. Each runner to go one whole round…

A day at the clinic

I was on clinic duty again today. Anticipating the difficulty of finding a parking space, and in view of the fact that my car was due for servicing, I decided to send my car to the service center, and then walk an extra few hundred meters to the hospital. With a volleyball game coming up on Saturday next week and the charity run the week after, I figured I’d need the extra exercise as well. As a matter of fact, last week when I went to visit Ijam at the ward, I actually used the stairs all the way up to the 6th floor. (Oh, I didn’t really use the stairs for the exercise, but only 2 lifts were working and there were soooo many people waiting!) I doubt any kilos were shed though… :)

Anyway, there weren’t many new cases referred to us today. There was only one new case, that of a 55 year old single man. A positive thinking man, but either totally unaware of how HIV spreads, or simply in denial of how he got infected. He claimed he must have got HIV through dusts… oh dear…

Before that one lady, Helena, a long lost client, came into the room. My colleague who was assigned as her buddy, had been trying to get hold of her, but other than calls that didn’t get through, visits to her house showed that she no longer lived there. We then lost touch with her. Before this, even when we were in touch with her, it was so difficult to get her to go for her hospital appointments. She didn’t even bring her children for tests, not even the youngest one, who was still a baby. Now the youngest is already 4. I was rather surprised when she told me today that while her 3 younger children were tested negative, her eldest daughter, 9, was the one infected. And the girl had not started medication yet because it was only recently that she started coming back for her appointments. I reminded her not to miss any more appointments. If she doesn’t care about herself, at least give her daughter the chance to access proper treatment!

Later, while I was chatting with my fellow volunteers, a familiar cute looking guy walked in with SN. Guess who? Remember D, the maknyah whom I visited at a district hospital last year? Yep, it was him! In full men’s (uh, boy’s?) attire. And he looked a whole lot better, definitely much better than when I saw him at the district hospital. And of course, he didn’t seem as schizophrenic as he seemed back then. He was even able to come alone, without his mother accompanying. I asked if he remembered me and he did. I asked how he was and it was SN who jokingly answered, “Kalau dia tak sihat, tarik je telinga dia!” I then reminded him to make sure not to miss any appointments, and immediately SN said, “Tapi engkau jangan datang pakai skirt pulak tau. Akak lari nanti!”

I was truly happy to see his condition improve by leaps and bounds. Alhamdulillah.

After a while SN came in again, this time with a nurse from the unit where blood tests are done. They asked if I had Sharifah’s number because the number in SN’s record is the old number. In case you have forgotten, Sharifah is Cek Mek’s mother. Sharifah had gone for her blood test earlier, but had left her appointment letter there. They figured Sharifah wouldn’t have gone too far yet, so they asked me to call her and get the letter. I tried calling a few times but my calls were not answered. Then I tried calling Kak Ana, because usually if Sharifah comes over for her appointment, she’d stay over at Kak Ana’s place so she could be with her baby as well. Even Kak Ana didn’t answer my call. Finally I just decided to send a text message to Kak Ana. Within minutes, Sharifah called back. They were still within the hospital compounds. At the cafeteria to be exact. So I told her to go back to get the letter.

There were no more cases referred to us after that, but SN did want to see me to discuss the possibility of sending volunteers to the Taiping HIV clinic. Dr Ker, the specialist in charge, goes there every 4th Tuesday of each month and to Teluk Intan every 2nd Tuesday. She could see the support from Buddies in Ipoh GH, and from Pusat Komuniti Intan in Teluk Intan, but there is no support group in Taiping hospital. Dr Ker mentioned that there is an organisation willing to chip in financially for that purpose, but they still need people to run the support service. I told Dr Ker I may discuss the matter further in our next board meeting. Maybe what we can do initially is to take turns to go there (it’s only once a month anyway) and at the same time rope in volunteers from that area. After a while, after they are already well trained, we can leave the Taiping HIV clinic to the Taiping volunteers! Well, let’s see how it goes…

We also discussed about Zali. Remember Zali, the guy whose wife purportedly left him and the kids? As I mentioned here, although at first we believed his story, later on due to inconsistencies in his stories, we figured it wasn’t that the wife didn’t want to take the kids, it’s just him not wanting the kids to go to the wife, despite the fact that his wife would be more capable to take care of the kids. Dr Ker asked if we could source out some help for him, and especially the kids. I told her we’d like to see and speak to the wife, but Zali always came up with all sorts of excuses not to let us speak to the wife. Just like the rest of us, Dr Ker’s main concern is the well-being of the children. In her own words, “He is going to be very sick soon. He is not compliant in his medication and given his situation, it is hard for me to start him on a new regime. It’s just a matter of time before he gets hospitalised. Who is going to take care of the children?”

Good question doc. But while we are thinking about the children’s well-being, Zali himself seemed to be rather selfish and thinking of his own needs more than that of his children’s. If he loves his children, then he’d better start thinking of their future.

After the short discussion (had to make it a short one as Dr Ker was busy with the patients), off I went. Walking at a fast pace (to get my car at the service center), before long somebody honked. I looked around and suddenly heard a familiar voice, “Amboi!! Lajunya jalan dah tak pandang kiri-kanan dah!” It was Kak Ana, about to drive off. In the car was Sharifah… and yes, my little Cek Mek!! Ooh, I love seeing them together. I always wonder when they are really getting back together. I mean for Sharifah to take the little darling into her full care instead of the current practice of visiting from time to time. Well, it was just a short meet, too short to get updates, but ample time for me to cubit-cubit the little girl’s cheeks. (nasiblah siapa jadi cucu angkat I...)

So yeah, it was a good day. It wasn’t so tiring after all having to walk the few extra hundred meters. The only downside was the few extra hundred ringgits for the replacements of some parts to my car… (will be driving down to Seremban next Saturday anyway, so better make sure the car is in good condition, right?)

What lah!

When I went to visit Ijam at the hospital last week, the nurses seemed to be treating both Ijam and Fuzi well. When one of Fuzi’s neighbors came to visit a nephew at the same ward and bumped into Fuzi, Fuzi slowly whispered to the nurse begging her not to tell the neighbor of Ijam’s HIV. Fuzi no longer cares that the whole neighborhood knows of her HIV, but she couldn’t bear the thought of Ijam’s HIV status being known to all and sundry. The nurse assured her that they would never give such info to others. So the neighbor was only told that Ijam was warded because of dengue.

However, when Ijam was transfered to the end room, a single room, I did suspect that they used the room as an isolation room due to Ijam’s HIV. Oh well, in a way it was a blessing… I had more privacy to chat with Fuzi when I visited.

Ijam was discharged on Sunday, and so I went to fetch them at the hospital to send them home. It was then that I learnt from Fuzi that other than the isolation room, Ijam was indeed treated differently than the other kids at the pediatric ward.

A few things mentioned by Fuzi caught my attention.

1. While the other kids were served their food in trays, Ijam on the other hand was given “nasi bungkus”. In other words, no need to wash the trays he would have been using if his food was served just like the rest.

2. When changing the bed sheets of the pediatric patients in the ward, bare hands were used EXCEPT for Ijam’s bed. Before coming in to Ijam’s room, they made sure they put on gloves just to change the bed sheet.

3. The nurses advised Fuzi that all the utensils used by Ijam at home be separated from the ones used by his siblings!

Fuzi ended up more confused than ever before! When she and Ijam were initially diagnosed HIV+, the doctors told her not to worry about sharing utensils at home. Now, after she had been mixing all the utensils at home for more than 4 years after diagnosed, they tell her a different story?

“Macam mana ni kak? Betul ke saya kena asingkan pinggan, cawan, semua? Selama ni saya tak pernah asingkan pun! Cakap siapa saya nak ikut ni?!”

“Ikut je cakap doktor!”

Thank goodness the doctors had explained to her earlier about the do’s and don’ts. Otherwise, Fuzi would probably panic and send all her children for testing again in case they got infected due to sharing of household utensils! Imagine how Ijam would feel if everything his has to be kept separately, when all his siblings share things at home.

If something is medical-related, people would generally believe the nurses more than they would believe someone like me! Imagine the wrong perceptions they are giving to the public!

And I have been giving talks to the public when the hospital staff themselves need to be given more awareness on HIV!

Sigh…