THEY WILL ASK thee as to what they should spend on others. Say: "Whatever of your wealth you spend shall [first] be for your parents, and for the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer; and whatever good you do, verily, God has full knowledge thereof." - Al-Baqarah (2:215)
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Sunday 26 September 2010

More Raya rounds

After visiting Sofie and Fuzi on Monday, Lin on Tuesday, clinic duty on Wednesday and visiting my new client Maya on Thursday, on Friday I decided to visit Shila and Rosnah. I don’t visit them on a regular basis, just once in a while. Shila had SMSed me earlier to say that she made a pair of glasses for her daughter Laila, and that it cost her RM280. Laila is under our sponsorship programme, and her sponsor had indicated to me earlier that if the girl needed anything extra, just inform her.

So reimbursing her for the RM280 shouldn’t be a problem, although I do feel the amount is a bit high if compared to the pair of glasses I made for Saiful, Sofie’s son, earlier. I only had to pay RM150 for Saiful’s glasses after I managed to coax the optician to give a discount as Saiful was from a poor family. The optician ended up charging just for the lenses, and giving the frame for free. And even if he had charged for the frame, he would only have charged RM230 for student rate.

But unlike Sofie who informed me before Saiful’s glasses were made (she couldn’t afford to pay first), Shila on the other hand only informed me after the glasses for Laila were done.

Ah, it was done anyway, so I just told Shila to hand me the receipt when I come over. And since Rosnah stays just nearby, I figured I might as well visit Rosnah’s family as well. Besides, I had promised Rosnah I’d give her the Family Day photos, which I had been keeping with me since last month.

After informing Shila that I’d be coming on Friday, I checked with Rosnah if anybody would be home on Friday. Rosnah would be at work, but she said her mother and daughter would be home. By Friday her daughter would have completed her UPSR and so she should be home.

Came Friday morning, first I went over to a minimarket to get hampers for the 2 families. The same hampers that I had bought for the 3 families earlier (didn’t buy hamper for Maya as I bought her groceries instead).

First up, Shila’s house. Since I needed to drop by my old office first to sign some documents, I decided to use the old road instead of the highway. Balik kampung season was over anyway, so it didn’t really matter which road I took.

Laila was at school, so it was just Shila and her 11 month old niece at home. Shila’s mother was still not back from her stall selling kuih.

Shila had given up on her ARV medication for some time now. No matter what we said to convince her that she shouldn’t stop her medication, nothing seemed to work. Shila came up with all sorts of excuses. Even SN from the HIV clinic had given up coaxing her. Now Shila doesn’t even go for her hospital appointments anymore.

At Shila’s house, I was served nasi himpit and kuah kacang. Knowing I was coming on Friday, Shila’s mother cooked them the night before.

After chatting with Shila for  a while, I headed over to Rosnah’s house. I knew Rosnah wasn’t home, but it shouldn’t be much of a problem because her mother knows me.

As I got to Rosnah’s house, the door was shut. I gave the salam, 3 times, but nobody answered, and nobody opened the door. So I just left the hamper near the door (it was quite hidden) and put the envelope of photos on top of it.

Just as I was about to reverse my car to leave, somebody opened the door. Rosnah’s mother finally opened the door when she thought she heard the sound of a car. She didn’t hear my salam earlier as she was in the kitchen and her washing machine was making even more noise.

Rosnah’s daughter was in school. Although UPSR was over, they had some programmes in school, so she still went to school.

After chatting for a while with Rosnah’s mother, I decided to make a move. Rosnah’s mother then told me to wait as she had wanted to give me something. Off she went to the kitchen and came out with a tupperware of rambutan jam she had made herself.

6 families in 5 days - I think that wrapped up my Raya rounds. I decided to just stay home over the weekend as I, and my car, needed a break. I have promised to meet up with 2 more clients this coming week, but they will be coming to Ipoh for their appointments, so I only need to go to Ipoh GH to meet them.

And since it’s almost the end of the month, by the end of the week it will be time for my grocery deliveries as well…

4 comments:

Ummie said...

Hamper...?
I just brought back 2kg of sugar, 1kg of flour & a big container of bahulu (50pcs) from an elderly lady's house.
She reminded me to come back for still not used tikar buluh which she had kept for me.
I had known her since 1984, the year I knew her as a washer-woman. Since then, occasional visitation to her house is a routine.

Back to hamper...
Food? She stock aplenty from hands-out.
Money? She has several ks in the bank.
Water & electric bills are waived for her.
Clothings? Without fail, she present me some new ones every year.

What she need is companionship although she has sons in KL & JB.
How to make the sons show empathy on their own mother?

Pi Bani said...

Ummie,
Different families have different needs. We can't treat all cases the same. Yes, I do bring hampers to some of the families with children - more of a once a year thingy during Raya, albeit inexpensive ones (RM20 - RM30 per hamper)... enough to make the children happy.

Most of the families I deal with are single mothers with schooling children. No, they don't have water and electric bills waived. Some try to find proper jobs, but with their HIV, it's not easy, especially in some cases when the whole neighborhood know of their status.

My main objective is to ensure that the children's education are not disrupted despite their mother's condition. I always remind them of the hardship their mother has to go through for the sake of the children's wellbeing.

We can hope that once they succeed and move elsewhere, they will not forget to see to the wellbeing of their own mother.

As to the case of the elderly lady you mentioned, sad, but it happens. (otherwise we wouldn't have many occupants at old folks homes, would we?)

How to make the sons/daughters show empathy on their own mother? Beats me... it takes all kinds to make this world.

Wan Sharif said...

Salam Pi dan dengan izin ..Ummie..
Ayoh Wang teringat ada pernah Ayoh Wang dengar ..
"sesiapa yang mengambil berat tentang kebajikan seorang tua (tidak diterangkan ayah atau emak sendiri atau orang lain.. ) Nescaya Allah akan lantik?(pilih) sesaorang untuk menjaga kebajikan nya semasa dia tua.."
Dari pemerhatian saya.. kita kena jaga orang tua kita sebaik mungkin untuk dicontohi generasi selepas kita... selain dari itu bertawakkal lah.
Wallahu a'lam

Cat-from-Sydney said...

Aunty Pi,
I feel sad for people who don't take care of their elderly, be they parents, grandparents the lot. Anyway, kita suka jem rambutan tau! purrr....meow!