Mixing around with the families…

With more than 60% of the attendees of our Family Day last Sunday consisting of my clients and their families, while the rest, even though not my client, do at least know me other than their own buddy, I made it a point to make sure I chatted with each and every one of them.

Sofie and her 4 children, Lin and her 3 children, Fuzi and her 5 children, Zainab and her 2 children, are all already very familiar with me because I visit them often. And even though I don’t visit the K’s that often, all 4 children are also familiar with me.

I had not met Jay’s children before, usually I’d meet her only at the hospital when the children aren’t around. So yes, I finally got to meet her 3 children. Then there’s Aza, whom I only met once when I visited her at home, before passing her case to somebody else.

When I got to The Roots, a few clients and families were already there. Fuzi and family, Shila and daughter, Kamala and daughter, Pushpa and her aunt (Pushpa is an HIV+ orphan who stays her aunt) plus one male client I wasn’t quite familiar with but I know I’ve met him before.

Kamala & daughter, together with Pushpa & her aunt were going around enjoying the scenery. They were actually looking for Kamala’s buddy, who was supposed to come but didn’t turn up and never even bothered to inform me. But I’ve visited both Kamala and Pushpa before during my assessment visits, so the moment they saw me, they immediately came over to me to say hello. Most of the time during the day the 4 of them were together, but they still joined the rest for the games and activities.

Lin had adult daughters who were like friends to her, so I didn’t really see her chatting much with the rest of the ladies. However I was glad that at the swimming pool, she and her daughters did take the liberty to look after the 2 girls of a client who didn’t come with their parent, as their father was too weak to come. But whenever Lin saw me chatting with the other ladies, she’d take the opportunity to join me in the conversation. I guess she’s just the type who doesn’t know how to start a conversation with people she’s not too familiar with.

One person who didn’t have any problems making friends was Rin. Talkative and friendly, Rin however sometimes tend to forget that not everyone can understand her Parit dialect.

Fuzi and her children, being regulars to our Annual Family Day, had no problems letting their hair down. Her children joined every single activity. Likewise, Sofie’s children had a swell time too, although her eldest son decided not to jump into the pool. Her 2nd son, Azman, the kaki sakat, had a swell time.

The K’s came in full force – all 6 of them. It was nice to see the eldest son Shah (I think he’s 20 this year) taking good care of his 4 year old sister in the pool. The other children too seemed to be enjoying themselves.

For Zainab, it was only her 2nd time joining our Family Day. The first time was back in 2007. This time however, she came only with her 2 daughters. Her husband, however, chose not to come. I guess he wanted to avoid having anyone “lecturing” him because he had been defaulting all his hospital appointments. It was Zainab’s 6 year old who almost got herself drowned when, upon seeing the other older children in the adults pool, decided to simply jump into the adults pool instead of the children’s pool. That happened while Zainab was chatting with one of the other ladies. Then Shila shouted, “Anak siapa tu?!” Upon seeing her daughter struggling, Zainab immediately jumped into the pool to save her daughter. After that both her daughters made sure they remained in the children’s pool.

Hana couldn’t come for the family day as she had to work, but that didn’t stop her children and their grandma (Hana’s mother) from joining us. The grandma just sat around watching over her grandchildren who were having fun in the pool. But she was so sporting, when we were taking the group photo and the photographer said, “OK, freestyle!" she sportingly raised both hands and showed the peace sign.

One of the ladies did mention to a colleague of mine that under normal circumstances, she and her children wouldn’t be able to come to places like this.

At the end of the day, I could see that none of them regretted coming (although I know a few of them, especially the first timers, had second thoughts earlier on whether they should join us). In fact I think they really had a good time. When we were getting ready to go home, first Mrs K came over to me, “Kak, kejap kak… nak bergambar. Along cepat Along, ambik gambar mak dengan Kak Zah!” (note: Mrs K is the only person calling me Kak Zah) Then Rin quickly took out her camera, “Eh, saya pun nak jugak!” and passed her camera to Mrs K’s son. Finally I called all the kaum ibu who were there and we all took a photo together…

The day after the event, I received a text message from Rin, "Jutaan terima kasih banyak pada semua yang terlibat tempoh hari lebih2 lagi akak sebab susah payah untuk kami. Saya dapat banyak kenalan baru yang senasib. Kami happy. Saya doakan semoga akak dirahmati & Allah akan memberkati hidup akak sekeluarga."

Ahh… that made it worth all the effort…

Family Day at The Roots

While I was conducting the committee elections during the TKCOGA AGM on Saturday, a text message came in on my handphone. It came from Halimah, a client of mine who’s supposed to join the Buddies Family Day on Sunday, and whose family was supposed to be picked up by the bus we’ve arranged from Taiping. I was busy then so I figured I’d act on it after the AGM.

By the time I got home, I totally forgot about Halimah’s text message. Fully aware that I’d have another busy day on Sunday, all I wanted to do was to have a good rest. It was only when I woke up on Sunday morning that I suddenly remembered Halimah’s message. Immediately I forwarded the message to the volunteer in Taiping taking care of the northern group.

By 7.15 am I left home – first, to fetch Sofie’s family from their home. Then I immediately headed to the Ipoh bus station as I had promised to meet up with a few families there so we could go together to The Roots in Tanjung Rambutan. Lin’s family was coming by car (one of her daughters who had started working this year recently bought a car) but since they didn’t know the way to The Roots, they wanted to follow my car. Rin, like last year, borrowed her father’s car to come and like Lin, also wanted to follow my car. Then there was Mrs K and family who was supposed to come to Ipoh by bus. Zalia, the young mother whom I just met recently, was also supposed to meet me at the bus station, but when I tried calling her twice, she didn’t answer the phone. I got another volunteer to also come to the bus station so that those without transport could go in her car to our family day venue.

I got to the bus station 10 minutes early. My fellow volunteer had called me to say she may be a bit late as yesterday was also the day for the Ipoh International Run and so all the cars had to give way to the runners.

After a while, I thought I saw Lin and her children pass by in their car. I had already told all the clients to wait at the open space in front of the Poslaju beside the bus station to make it easier for us to wait instead of at the bus station proper which is always busy. When I saw their car pass without entering the area, I immediately called Lin. Her daughter who was driving, went ahead to the nearby Post Office near the railway station instead because as she told her mother, “Macam takde orang je mak…” I told them to turn back and then I waited outside my car so they could see me.

Next to arrive was my fellow volunteer. She had gone to fetch 2 daughters of her client first before coming to meet us. The client was rather weak to join us for the family day, but allowed his 2 daughters to join us. Next came Rin. With her were not only her children but also Mrs K’s children. Apparently, since Rin still had to drive pass their way, she hitched a ride for the children while Mr & Mrs K got there a few minutes later by motorbike.

Since there was space in my fellow volunteer’s car, Mr K parked his motorbike at a safe place and then both he and his wife got into my colleague’s car. It would be much easier rather than having to follow us in their motorbike.

So off we went to The Roots, and we got there just on time – we were supposed to start off with breakfast at 9 am. 2 volunteers and a few clients, including Fuzi and her children, were already there. And since I noticed breakfast was ready, I told those who were already there, to have breakfast first while waiting for the rest to arrive.

The group from north arrived a little while later. Initially a total of 21 people were supposed to join the bus from Taiping but at the very last moment we had more cancellations and finally we ended up having only 9 people (including a volunteer) on the 30-seater bus!

Anyway, we had a spread of mee goreng, nasi lemak, banana cake, coffee & tea for breakfast. After breakfast, I gave them a short briefing on the do’s and don’ts and what activities we had lined up for the day.

We started off with the family event – treasure hunt. With only 4 clues in the form of Malay pantuns, it still wasn’t easy for the families to find the clues, even when they got to the right place!

Then the children took turns for the horse ride.

After that the children were allowed to jump into the pool. One 5 year old girl, upon seeing that quite a number of older children having no problem swimming in the adults pool, simply jumped into the adult pool and almost drowned herself! Luckily her mother saw her, and immediately jumped into the pool to get her daughter. I didn’t see the incident though, I was still with the children who were not done with the horse rides. Only when the girl’s mother, all wet, came to me and told me the incident, I again reminded all the parents to please make sure the children didn’t go where they weren’t supposed to go.

While the children had fun in the pool (we also had a pool game for the kids), some of us decided to enjoy the scenery…

By 12.30 pm lunch was served…

I walked around during lunch to let the children (including the older children) to pick out a number for the lucky draw. With the various sizes of pre-loved toys I managed to get from donors, we figured let them pick their own numbers. And since there were quite a few cancellations, I let the mothers also pick the extra numbers.

So once they were done with lunch, we gave away the prizes – first the prizes for the games then followed by the lucky draw prizes. When I announced that we were about to give away the prizes, some of the children (and their mothers too!) actually tailed me wherever I went!! But at the end of the day, everybody got something to bring home. Each family definitely with more than one prize.

By 2.30 pm, we left the place. Tired, but I could see happiness on the children’s faces… and satisfaction on the volunteer’s faces. We had a jolly good day!

Preparations under way…

3 weeks to go to our Family Day. Meetings are held every week now to ensure the smooth running of the whole thing. Venue has been confirmed. Now we’re waiting for the confirmation of the number of people attending before discussing on the logistics.

We’ve given everybody until Monday, 13th June to confirm attendance. My part time staff has been busy calling all volunteers, not only to confirm their own attendance, but also the attendance of their clients as well.

As of today, on my side, I already have confirmation of 50 attendees from my clients and their family members – including 19 children aged 12 and below. The other volunteers combined managed to get 10 of their clients/families to attend. Which means now we have 60 attendees not inclusive of volunteers. In my earlier confirmation with the management of our family day venue, I told them we may have about 70 attending. For the moment the figures look just about right… inclusive of volunteers. But there may be a few more additions by tomorrow.

On my side, the first few to confirm attendance were the regulars – Fuzi +5, Mrs K +5 & Aini +3. They’ve been joining our family day outing since 2007. Sofie and her children started attending last year, and looks like they too are going to be regulars. The year before, she was just referred to us, and since she was at that time too weak to even get up, she didn’t attend. Her children weren’t too familiar with me yet, and so none of them joined. However, now that the children would follow me around even without their mother coming along, I believe the children would still join with or without their mother. So with Sofie +4 that’s already 21 in numbers.

As for Lin, she had confirmed attendance, but needed time to confirm the numbers. You see, her 2 older girls who are already working could not confirm earlier if they can make it on that day. Lin had already mentioned that her 2 boys may not join. Lin plus 3 duaghters = 4. That’s a total of 25.

Yah did join our family day in 2007, but after that she went “angau” and her family went a bit haywire, she missed the event from 2008 to 2010. Well, now she has started working and her children are back with her, she will reappear at this year’s family day. Yah + 4 children. Total now 30.

Another client who just joined last year, Rin, again confirmed her attendance for this year, together with her 2 children. Total 33.

The rest from my list will be newcomers to our family day. There’s Halimah whose youngest son is now already 1 year +. Halimah will be coming with her husband and another child. That’s an additional 3… total 36.

From the north, since we are arranging for a bus from Taiping, this time we have quite a few coming. Aza +2, Jay +3, and a new client whom I have yet to meet, Elli + 3. And this morning I managed to talk to a client I met last year at Taiping Hospital, Ita, and immediately she agreed to join with her youngest child. Her other 3 children are staying in boarding schools. That makes an additional 13, total now 49.

And add to that the latest client referred to me just last Wednesday, Fadil, I now have a total of 50.

I am still waiting for replies from Rozi who had earlier indicated her interest to join but could not confirm just yet. I believe I may be able to get 4 or 5 more of my clients to come. Tomorrow I am going to make another round of calls to those who have yet to confirm.

And based on last year’s attendees, I do hope the other volunteers can get a few more clients to come as well.

Family Day: Observations on my clients…

Of the 94 total attendees for Sunday’s Family Day, 17 were volunteers while rest were the family members of 20 different clients – half of them mine. Out of the 20, 9 of them were single mothers (one of the ladies didn’t come though… only her 3 children came with their grandma because the client had to work); 3 were women who got HIV from their first husbands, then remarried and present husband tested negative (so far); 1 woman still married but husband didn’t bother to go for testing; 1 single father; 2 married men; 3 single men (one of them came with his sister) and one 14 year old HIV+ child who came with her aunt.

And while only (huh? ONLY??) 10 of them were my clients, I was happy to note that I recognised and knew the names of 9 of the other 10 clients. There was only one single HIV+ man whom I didn’t recognise because I had never met him before. Indeed it helped a lot that I knew them… with such a big group, if I didn’t know them, it would be difficult to know who was in our group and who was not. Even with the sign indicating that the hut was reserved for us Buddies, there were still a few outsiders who selamba-ly came, sat and put their things on the tables at the hut. Knowing pretty well they weren’t from our group, I just told them that the place was reserved.

But anyway, being an observer, here’s my observation of my clients who attended the Family Day on Sunday:

FUZI – A regular for our Family Day outings. Her children always look forward to the annual event. There was no problem for Fuzi to get along with the others. Only problem was her children were overly adventurous. The boys who caused panic when they went missing during the day were Fuzi’s 2 younger boys!

LIN – Her second time joining. She missed last year’s not because she didn’t want to join, but because she couldn’t. Lin came with her grown up daughters (in their early twenties) and the 2 younger ones, 15 year old boy and 13 year old girl. And being a close-knit family, they were enjoying the day together as a family. So Lin never worried about not having any other “gang” during the day’s events.

MARIA – Not a new client. I was first assigned to be her buddy when she was pregnant. The boy she gave birth to is now already 4 years old. Maria had always been the reserved and quiet type. After all these years, finally this year she indicated her interest to join our Family Day. But she had doubts. She asked who else was coming… to make sure she knew at least one of them. She asked if we’d mention anything about HIV during the day’s events. She specifically requested to follow me in my car when I told her that a few volunteers would be waiting at the bus station. Maria came to our Family Day this year together with her daughter. I tried introducing her to a few other female clients, but their conversations just went as far as “Tinggal kat mana?” Most of the time, Maria just went around the park with her daughter. Even when she was at our reserved hut, I didn’t see her chatting with anyone else. She just sat there quietly. Aduh… very very difficult for others to break the ice with her. And since I had so many others to attend to, I couldn’t be attending to Maria all the time!

ASIAH – Another old client but newcomer to the Family Day. However, unlike Maria, Asiah does talk to the other ladies. Her only problem all the while was that her husband never wanted to join and always told Asiah, “Tak payahlah pergi.” I’m not sure what made him change his mind this year, maybe he finally figured out that at least his children deserved to be given the chance to enjoy themselves once in a while. However, Asiah’s husband didn’t join us at our hut. He sat at a nearby hut until they went back. Oh well, at least it was a good enough start. Asiah finally got to join the event and got to meet and speak to the other HIV+ ladies.

SOFIE – Became my client last year but during last year’s Family Day at the National Stud Farm, she was bed-ridden and simply couldn’t join us. She just became my client at that time and her children weren’t too familiar with me yet, so they didn’t join either. Although this year was their first time at our event, they didn’t have any problems adjusting. Even Sofie herself joined her children in the pool and the walk around the park. Those who had seen her condition last year would probably never have thought she would be able to enjoy herself at the park this year!

MR & MRS K – They had joined our Family Day once before but due to all sorts of problems, didn’t join us for the past 2 years. Last year their youngest had to undergo a heart operation (hole-in-heart). The problem with this family was that they always seem to be in financial trouble. Even this year, Mrs K got her daughter to send me a text message to ask if I’d be sponsoring their bus fares to Ipoh to join the family day! I told them they would have to cough the fares up themselves as we’re already paying a significant amount of money per head for their entry into LWOT. Well they made it to Ipoh… and from what I saw, they enjoyed themselves on Sunday. I got to speak to Shah, their eldest son who also joined the family day this year. Shah had earlier this year said he wanted to go down south to work so he could help his family. Although I advised him to attend a 6-months course under Giat Mara, they (Shah & his parents) didn’t even bother to give it any second thoughts. But Shah is no longer working and when I asked him on Sunday if he didn’t intend to find himself a job, he said, “Entahlah, tanya ibulah. Ibu suruh dok rumah jaga adik.” Ah, after all those talk about getting a job down south, now all he does is babysit his younger sister? Why can’t Mr and Mrs K at least think of Shah’s future? Why can’t they think of any other options? What will become of the boy (he’s 19 this year) in future if all he does now is stay home to look after his younger sister? Adoi… why can’t they THINK?

HANA – Hana’s family joined our family day 2 years ago at Taiping Zoo. However they didn’t join us last year because Hana had to work on Sunday. This year again, Hana couldn’t join us, but I guess she felt guilty that the children would have to miss out all the fun simply because she had to work, this time she decided to send the children to join us, accompanied by their grandmother. At least she wasn’t being selfish.

MURNI – Murni started joining our Family Day last year (then she was still a new client) and by the looks of things, I think she may well be a regular to our annual event. This time even her husband came (he didn’t join last year but still let his wife join our activities without any restrictions).

ROSNAH – She once told me that she didn’t want to join activities involving other PLHIVs as she was afraid others may know of her status. As a matter of fact, she knew Shila (not my client) who stays in the same town. But when I extended her the invitation this year, she was one of the earlier ones to reply, asking me to book 2 places – for her and her daughter. And she didn’t seem to have any problems getting along with the others during the day, and even asked me to take pics of her at the various attractions at the park. I did notice however, that even though she came in her car with just her daughter, she didn’t offer to take Shila home despite them staying not far from each other.

RIN – My newest client and definitely a first timer to our Family Day. She came by car but since she didn’t know the way to LWOT, asked to join the group from the bus station to follow my car from behind. Since she only had 2 young children as passengers in her car, she even offered to take a few passengers from the other families. She got along well with the other clients and didn’t have any problems blending in with the rest.

Today, the following text message came in from Rin:

“Salam kak, apa khabar? Kesempitan ini saya nak ucapkan berbanyak terima kasih dan saya rasa terharu dengan sokongan Buddies. Di samping itu saya dapat kenalan baru. Harap dapat teruskan lagi di masa akan datang!”

For the first time, one of my clients actually sent me a text message to thank us. Not to say the others never thanked us, but usually they’d just say terima kasih at the end of the day when they were about to go home. That, and the fact that these families always look forward to the next family day, are good enough for us, really. But getting an additional thank you message 2 days after the event? That’s certainly an extra boost!

Buddies & the lost world… 2010

1st August 2010:

We had earlier on informed our clients that those who wish to go on their own, to meet us at the car park of LWOT at 9 am, while those who wanted us to fetch them at the bus stations, to be at the respective bus stations (either at Medan Gopeng or Medan Kidd) by 8.30 am. I was to pick up clients at Medan Kidd, together with another volunteer.

It wouldn’t really take long for me to drive to the bus station, especially on a Sunday morning, but I decided to leave home early in case there were early birds. True enough, as early as 8 am, while I was driving, just about to leave my kampong, a call came in with the MI (Mission Impossible) ringtone – that’s my new assigned ringtone for clients. The call was from Rin who was already at the bus station. Rin actually drove herself, in her father’s car, but not knowing how to get to LWOT, she opted to wait at the bus station, so she could follow my car.

The other volunteer who was supposed to wait at Medan Kidd, was also another one who’s not too confident of driving to places she had never been before, so she too wanted to just follow from behind. Well, as I got to the open parking space where I told them to wait, I saw both cars were already there.

We then walked over to the bus station, and immediately saw the K’s and their children. It was only about 8.10 or so. Told them to wait at one spot while I looked around to see if the other family was already there. And yep, Murni’s family was already there too! Great, both families were early!

We went to join the other group, thinking of heading to the cars to proceed to LWOT, but Mr K pulak pergi toilet! Ah well, we were still early anyway. Thank goodness we waited a little while longer. A text message suddenly came in, “Kak tunggu kat mana?” It was from Maria. EEKS! I forgot I was supposed to fetch her too! She wasn’t in our original list as she just decided to join just 2 days before.

Well, thank goodness Rin drove. At least we could tumpang her car as well – 5 people plus 1 toddler from the K’s; 5 people plus one toddler from Murni’s family and Maria & her daughter – to be cramped into 3 cars. My Kenari took in Maria, her daughter, Murni & her son. My colleague’s Proton Wira took in the K’s, while Rin with already her 2 young children in her Perdana, took in Murni’s husband, son & daughter.

I made sure I didn’t drive too fast, in case the cars behind couldn’t follow. Even at the traffic light, when I figured it would turn red soon, I just slowed down and stopped, to be sure all 3 cars were still within sight of each other. We reached LWOT car park at about 8.40 am, and quite a few volunteers, plus some of our clients’ families were already there. Wah, these were indeed early birds!

There wasn’t much I could do but wait, because all I had in my car were the boxes of mineral water… while breakfast and indemnity forms were with our fellowship coordinator, who was still at the Medan Gopeng bus station, waiting for a few clients to come. Apparently a client who was supposed to come with her son, were still not there yet. By 8.50 am, when the client still didn’t show up and calls didn’t get through, I told them to just leave with the clients who were already there.

It was only at 9.30 am did our coordinator arrive, with our breakfast of curry puffs and sandwiches and the indemnity forms for our clients to fill up. I immediately called all those from the Buddies group to gather and fill in the indemnity forms while having breakfast. Thank goodness I brought along our portable speaker. We had so many turnouts yesterday – definitely much much more than our usual Family Day attendees of 45 or so, even when the confirmed attendees reached 60.

Due to past experiences of only 70% turnout from the total confirmed attendees, this time we booked for 70 people (out of 98 confirmations) – 50 adults and 20 children (children above 12 are considered adults).

I told the children below 12 to group on one side, so we could do the headcount. No problem getting them to stand in one row and counting them – 25. The problem was counting the adults. One volunteer said 60, another volunteer said 68. So we had no choice but to get the adults to stand in 2 rows (volunteers, clients & their families alike) and the final count was 65. That meant we had to buy additional entry tickets for 15 adults and 5 children. An additional 4 children below 90 cm could go in free.

We only made a move towards the entrance after all those were settled. Luckily I brought the clapper along – easier for the clients & children to follow the group…

While our fellowship coordinator queued to buy the extra tickets, I called the LWOT lady who was supposed to take care of our group. I went to get the wristbands for the 70 booked and paid earlier… and then went over to pass the wristbands to our group. Even organising all those took some time – what more it was our first time having to handle a group double the usual number!

Anyway, we were finally brought to a hut reserved for us Buddies – although this time instead of being just the Buddies, we were the Buddiest of ‘em all… :-)

After briefing them again to assemble back at the hut at 12.30 pm for lunch and 3.30 pm for tea, off they went to the various attractions…

Water park…

Amusement park…

Petting zoo…

Or just simply a walk around the park enjoying the view…

I knew some of the kids wanted to rent the tubes but couldn’t afford it, (double tube at a rate of RM22 with RM10 refunded upon return of the tubes) so I took Saiful & Ika (Sofie’s children) to come with me to the rental station and rented 2 double tubes (in case other children may want one too). I took one tube with me back to the hut, while the other was carried by little Saiful… :-)

Anyway, I had told the clients including Lin’s adult daughters that trackbottoms are not allowed to go in the pool. But they thought the ones with the rather stretchable material without any zips or strings would be okay. The moment they went into the pool, the lifeguard blew the whistle and instructed them to get out of the pool. Even when we went to the slides (the tube raiders), whenever anyone came down from the slides, landed in the pool and took a bit longer to come out, the lifeguard would blow the whistle and told them to get out of the pool as that pool was not meant for swimming.

Aiyo, so garang some more! Granted, they were just doing their duties and were just following instructions, but practice a bit of diplomacy cannot meh? Talk nicely cannot meh? This one like police traffic blow whistle, pointing fingers etc.

However, there was another group who got a reserved hut besides our hut, with quite a big group of foreign workers I think (they look Bangla to me). The mat-mat Bangla, after splashing around in the pools, didn’t even bother to go to the changing room to get changed. They just put on their sarong, went near the children pool, and took out their wet underwears there – and then hung them dry at the fence near the adults pool…

Anyway, Lin’s girls were not deterred. While the eldest was already wearing proper attire, to her it wasn’t fun going into the pool without her siblings. They bought one pair of tights for their youngest sister at the souvenir shop, while the other 2 sisters who weren’t the type to wear tights, tried a new trick. You see, what they wore obviously looked like trackbottoms because of the stripes at the side. So they tore of the stripes and buat muka bodoh went to the slides, and got pass the lifeguard! Muahaha! Kena tipu hidup-hidup! So yes, they had their share of fun despite their early setbacks.

Due to the big group this time, I didn’t walk far from the hut in the morning. Just took pictures whenever I saw any of our clients playing, and when our lunch arrived, I just went over to buy some extras to cater for the unexpected large turnout. Since packed lunch was nasi beriani, and they didn’t sell beriani at any of the stalls, I bought nasi ayam for the additional packs. RM6 each! Pergh!

By lunch some of the other volunteers who had gone round the park earlier in the morning were already back at the hut, so I decided to walk around the park after lunch together with Sofie and her kids. Her kids wanted to take pics but didn’t have any camera, so it was a special request from them that I go around together with them so I could take their pictures – with all sorts of poses! I must say I was happy to see them happy together as a family.

After the walk around the park, I went over to the surau for my zohor prayers. I had just finished my prayer when a text message came in from Asiah, telling me that she was already leaving (she came with husband & children in their own car). As I got back to the hut, Wani too told me she was leaving early.

After zohor, I just sat at the hut, waiting for tea. I was already tired and sleepy by then but the kids sure looked like they just arrived!! An abundance of energy they had. I was sleepy no more when one of Fuzi’s daughters came to me and said, “Makcik, Ijam dengan Iwan hilang!”

WHAT? Alamak… Ijam’s 8 while Iwan’s only 5. Aduhh! Fuzi had initially thought the 2 were still at the kiddies pool where they had been most of the time but upon seeing that they were no longer there, had a frantic time searching for them. Her 2 older daughters joined the search, going around the park all the way to the petting zoo, but couldn’t find the 2 boys. That was when finally the girls approached me. Adoi, boleh sakit jantunglah macam ni!

When the 2 boys were finally found (they had jumped on the train going around the park but jumped off midway), they just grinned from ear to ear even after the scolding they got from Fuzi. Aiyo!!!

By 3.15 or so, our food arrived – meehoon goreng, samosa and apam plus choice of teh tarik or kopi-O. Then slowly, one by one the volunteers/clients started to leave. Of course, I couldn’t leave until I made sure every client had a transport home – making sure that before any volunteer leaves, they’d help to send any of the clients needing transport to the bus station.

The only family left needing transport was Fuzi’s family. Lin & her children came in a car (Lin borrowed someone's car) so I didn’t have to worry about her, but when we wanted to leave, she and her children were nowhere to be seen but their belongings were still at the hut with no one behind to look after the things. So I called Lin (thank God for hand phones!) and told her I was leaving and nobody else was around. They were at the petting zoo. So Lin just let her children continue with their walk around the park while she immediately headed back to the hut to take care of the things.

I finally left the park at about 4.45 pm or so, sent Fuzi’s family back and finally got back home at about 5.50 pm or so. If it was up to any of the children, they wanted to leave the park at 6 pm, the official closing time of the park…

Ah well, all ended well. Must say it was a success indeed with the record-breaking turnout of 94 people. It was tiring, but it felt good knowing the families had fun at the park…

All set to get LOST!

Mineral water to be distributed tomorrow morning together with their breakfast before we go in to the park…

SIAP!

Portable speaker so that I don’t have to shout when briefing them tomorrow.

SIAP!

Letter of confirmation/receipt from LWOT about our booking (just in case).

SIAP!

Camera, memory card and spare batteries…

SIAP!

Spare cash for contingencies…

SIAP!

What else ya?

What’s that? BIKINI?

Oh tidak! NAK MAMPUS??!! I don’t want to be terrifying people…

End of a busy week…

During our Family Day meeting on Thursday night, we decided that we’d just stick to booking confirmation for 70 pax. As at the time of the meeting, a total of 98 pax had confirmed attendance (including volunteers, clients & their family members), but based on past experiences, usually only about 70% of those who confirmed their attendance would actually turn up.

Now THAT shouldn’t be too much of a problem if we’re going to a venue which doesn’t require entrance fees, like last year’s event at the National Stud Farm. But since this year we’re going to a theme park where entrance alone would take up the bulk of the cost, and then the food which we’re not supposed to bring from outside, the package price per person is not a small amount. Imagine booking for 98 people and eventually only 70 turning up, what a waste of money it would be.

So we’re sticking to booking for 70. In the event that all 98 turns up, we’ll just buy additional entrance tickets there and then. Food? Well, we can always share the food… or if not enough, we’ll just buy separately. I don’t think the amount will exceed the amount of paying for the full package for 98 pax.

Anyway, since we’re sticking to bookings for 70 pax, we decided not to pay 50% deposit. Instead we decided to pay in full immediately. Saves me the trouble of having to go to LWOT a few times. I already wasted one trip the day earlier when the 50% deposit cheque was wrongly written.

Okay, so I went yesterday to settle our booking, and then I headed back to our center. On the way, a text message came from Ifa. Remember Ifa? The young single lady who got herself into all sorts of trouble BUT unlike the other problematic young ladies I was assigned to, Ifa never got pregnant?

Well, in her text message, she asked if I was free in the afternoon and if we could meet up. She actually asked me to “ambik baby kat rumah kakak”. Whoa! Baby? Did she say BABY??! Don’t tell me she now has a BABY!! OH NO!! When did this happen?? It had been a while since she last contacted me, but nobody, not even the staff nurse at the HIV clinic ever mentioned about Ifa being pregnant!

Then, after a while, after I got myself thinking… it finally dawned on me… Ifa is known as “Baby” amongst her family members. I never call her by that name and I’m not sure why she used her nama manja to refer herself to me, but the BABY in her text message was a 20+ year old baby - HERSELF! What a relief…

I already had other plans for the afternoon, and so no, I didn’t meet her.

Later yesterday, Sofie called. Hmmm… I had just visited her the day before, what could she need now? Did someone step on Saiful’s glasses again?

Sofie had just received a call from the staff nurse at the HIV clinic. Her next appointment at the clinic is supposed to be in November, but after getting the results of her blood tests, the nurse called her up telling her that she’d need to bring forward her appointment much earlier. They’ve set the date for early August instead.

Sofie told me that the nurse mentioned something about her CD4 increasing a whole lot. CD4 increasing? That should be good news, why the need to bring forward her appointment? Then Sofie added that the results of her blood test  just came from Penang. Huh? Penang? Putting 2 and 2 together, I think the test results were her viral load tests, not CD4. And yes, if her viral load had increased a whole lot, then there’s a problem.

Sofie herself doesn’t understand all these CD4s or viral loads or whatever other medical terms. Even earlier on when she had to take some medication for some kind of brain infection, she told me that was her “ubat sakit otak”. :-)

Anyway, I told her to just make sure she goes for her next appointment so that they can figure out what went wrong. Was she not compliant in taking her ARV? Or was there something else?

Meanwhile, Sofie is back to thinking that she may be dying soon… and now she worries about her children. Whatever it is, her appointment will be after the Family Day; so come 1st August, God willing, Sofie and her children will still be joining in the fun.

Today, Saturday 17th July, I had to give another talk. This time to a group of school girls from Ave Maria Convent, Ipoh; and the topic was on HIV in general.

First, play a game…

 

Then, when they’re wide awake, I get to bore them to sleep… :-)

 

A busy week it had been. So far no plans for the coming week other than the Family Day meeting to discuss on the logistics, especially on who’s fetching who and where. I think (and I hope) I can relax a bit this coming week.

Coming or not? Please confirm…

For the past week I’ve been calling/texting my clients – informing them about the coming family day, asking them if they’d like to join, and giving them a deadline to confirm their attendance and number of pax.

Since this year’s event will be at a theme park, where the entrance fees alone takes up a huge portion of the expenses involved, I told them to make sure they can attend before submitting their names. (Tommy, before you say I am so typical accountant everything oso want to kira; we get our funds from public donations okay? So cannot simply spend ikut suka hati!) Through past experiences, quite a number of clients (and sometimes even volunteers themselves) who said they were coming but ended up giving it a miss without even informing us about it and with excuses that don’t qualify as “unavoidable circumstances”. They don’t feel it’s such a waste because it’s not THEIR money we’re spending. Since this year’s event requires more budget than previous years’ events; I need to remind them how much they’re wasting if they submit their names without even being sure if they can make it.

Anyway, as always, I’d usually be the one who’d end up with the most number of clients attending. Without even all of them confirming yet, I already have 28 of them (including their children) coming. Fuzi confirmed immediately after I sent out the text message to her. Her family had been regulars to our Family Day ever since she became our client.

For Sofie, this will be the first time for her family. She was already our client last year, but she was too weak then to join us, and her children were not that used to me yet at that time to be joining the Family Day on their own (unlike the time when I took along her 3 kids with me during my day trip to Kedah last year). I saw the excitement on Saiful’s and Ika’s faces when I mentioned Lost World of Tambun.

Murni and 3 of her kids joined us last year at the National Stud Farm, while her younger son didn’t join us then because he couldn’t see what was so exciting about going to Tanjong Rambutan. He was even asking his mother, “Nak pergi tengok orang gila ke?” Well, this year, they are all coming!

As for Rosnah, she did tell me before that she wouldn’t want to be joining all these functions as she was afraid she may bump into someone she knows and that someone will end up knowing about her illness. But when I sent her a text message telling her about this year’s Family Day, she replied almost immediately asking me to include her and her daughter.

Lin’s family joined us when we went to Taiping Zoo 2 years back. But last year, although they wanted so much to join, they simply couldn’t make it back in time as Lin went to fetch her daughter at the airport (the daughter came back for summer holidays). This year she’s certainly joining, only thing is now she needs to confirm first if her older son would want to join as well.

There is however one regular who is now difficult to contact – Jah, who had always been the “live-wire” during any of our activities. Always so jovial, always so chatty. I hadn’t been able to contact her of late. I even tried asking her best friend Shila if she had Jah’s latest contact number; but Shila said she had not been able to contact Jah either.

I was already thinking of asking my fellow volunteer who stays in the same town as Jah, to visit Jah at home and inform her of the Family Day. But yesterday, when I went to the hospital, I met Fuzi and Fuzi told me she had just met Jah who was there for blood testing. Too bad I didn’t bump into Jah. But Fuzi said she did mention about the Family Day to Jah and was told Jah wouldn’t be able to join. Huh? That’s weird… knowing Jah, she’d usually be the first to jump in line!

According to Fuzi, Jah doesn’t even own a phone now. And she’s not joining the Family Day because, “Dah ada suami, suami tak bagi, tak bolehlah pergi.”

Oh, so she’s married! Wow, marriage for her meant she’s now no longer allowed to meet friends! And in addition to that, she no longer has her own phone number for us to contact. It is so not like Jah. I wonder if she’s really happy now as she was before…

Oh well, there are a few other married ones who had always wanted to come but never getting the “visa” from their other half… like Maria and Asiah. Asiah did express her interest again this time, but I told her to really confirm she can make it before she submits her name to me. As for Maria, I will try again this year. She did mention last year that her hubby may allow her if he himself doesn’t have to send her and if someone could fetch her at the bus station. Let’s see how it goes this year.

Mrs K will confirm with me by this weekend while a new client, a single mother of two, whom I will be visiting tomorrow, did express her interest to join us.

Looks like my clients alone will make up more than half of the total attendees…

 

p/s

Brad & Angelina, you are both below 90 cm, so free entrance for both of you. No need to jump up and down telling me to include your names ok?

It’s calling calling time!

During our board meeting on Tuesday night, we finally decided that this year’s Family Day will be held at Lost World of Tambun (LWOT). Yep, we had our Family Day there a few years back when we had a sponsor for the annual event. Since the kids loved the place and kept on talking about how they enjoyed themselves there, we decided to go there again. Besides, it seems there are new attractions since the last time we went, and in addition to that, this year we have the budget to hold the event at a venue which requires quite a substantial amount of money for entrance fees.

So while the sub-committee will be meeting every week from now on to discuss on the itinerary, logistics and whatever arrangements, all the volunteers will have to start contacting their clients to inform them about the event and to confirm who’s coming etc. Hmmm… that means I will have to do most of the contacting because I have the most clients!

Well, I’ve started with one today. Coincidentally it is time for my monthly grocery delivery and my visit today was to Sofie’s house. So after getting all the stuff at the minimarket, off I headed to visit Sofie and the kids. It has been a month since I last went to visit.

Unlike during my usual visits, this time when I got to the house, the front door was closed. I was at first quite concerned that maybe nobody was home (I did send a text message before going but Sofie seldom replies my message – not enough credit) but I saw the children’s bicycles outside, so somebody must be home.

When I got to the front door, I did hear some voices, and so I gave the salam. I kept on hearing voices but nobody returned my salam. So I knocked on the door and gave the salam again. This time I heard a child’s voice returning the salam and asked, “Siapa?”

“Saya…” (hehehe… purposely trying to find out if the boy recognised my voice…)

“Makcik Afizah ya?”

It was Saiful. They (Sofie, Saiful & Ika) were in the kitchen, thus the locked front door. Once Saiful opened the door, I started carrying down all the stuff in my car – rice, cooking oil, sugar, flour, anchovies, potatoes, canned sardines, drinks, milk, chili sauce, tomato sauce, soy sauce, eggs, margarine, detergent, etc.

Usually Saiful would help me but today he was helping his mother who needed to hold on to someone to walk from the kitchen to the front. Oh dear… she looked rather weak today.

Apparently after feeling a wee bit better, and not wanting to depend on charity all her life, when an owner of a food stall who needed an extra hand at the stall, coaxed Sofie to work for her, Sofie accepted, She thought it would be a great opportunity for her to earn extra income for the family.

Problem is, Sofie is not fit to work just yet, although she’s better than the first time I met her. Well yes, working at home doing all those wires she gets from a nearby factory is okay, because she gets to do so at her own pace at home, sitting down. But the job at the stall required her to take orders from customers, meaning she had to walk around quite a bit. Given her condition, she actually couldn’t walk around too much. Now she’s starting to feel the pain and has problems even to get up and walk. After a week of working, she’s beginning to get fever, she lost her appetite to eat, and she vomits every time she tries to eat.

I told her to get a complete rest. I admire the fact that she wants to work to support her children, but for the moment I can still get financial assistance for her. For genuine cases like hers, all I have to do is open my mouth and God willing, help will start coming in.

Anyway, the moment I told them that this year’s Family Day will be at LWOT, both Ika and Saiful went “YES!!” Waaah… so very happy! That’s the purpose of the Family Day… to make them happy. I asked Sofie to confirm how many of them would be coming – Sofie said she didn’t have any doubt that Azman, her second son would want to come along, but she wasn’t too sure about the eldest, Azlan. He’s usually not the type who likes to join all the “kiddies” activities. But at LWOT he doesn’t have to worry about having to play with the kids. He is after all, already 16, he doesn’t have to play at the kiddies pool (only makciks like me do that… hehehe!)

Azlan happened to just get home from school while we were talking, so I asked him direct if he wanted to join. I told him I’d need his confirmation as we need to pay for everything before the event, and so we can’t wait for him to decide on the day itself whether he wants to join us or not. I think he too must have been wanting to go to the place which he had only heard of before, and he knows for a fact that the place is not only for children but for adults as well, so he said yes, YAYYY!!!

So yep, I already have 5 people in my “going” list now. I’d better start calling the rest… Lin, Fuzi, Murni, Sha, Mrs K, Jah, Yah, Maria, Sharifah, Nuri, Ani… hmmm… who else ya? I’d better check my clients list so that I will not miss anybody…

Family Day: Where to?

With 2 new volunteers roped in during the past 2 weeks, we now have 27 volunteers altogether inclusive of 7 trainee volunteers. That doesn’t mean all 27 are really active volunteers. I haven’t met some of the volunteers for quite some time already. Understandably, since we are all working people (except for 2 or 3 pensioners), priority will have to be given to our jobs rather than our voluntary work.

Besides, this is VOLUNTARY work, and in any voluntary organisations, usually the enthusiasm is very high in the beginning, and then the momentum slows down. That’s where new volunteers with enthusiasm are needed. Otherwise, depending on the very same volunteers each time may cause burnout.

However, I do hope we will be able to get as many volunteers to attend our coming Family Day in August. We haven’t really decided on the venue of this year’s Family Day, but we have shortlisted 3 venues. There is however, a similarity between the 3 places – the children (and the “child-at-heart” adults) can play in water, water, water… it’s just a matter of whether we choose “hot or cold”!

Of course, when it comes to places where the children can play in water, we have to bear in mind the safety of these children. We went to Teluk Batik once, but during that year, we didn’t have as many clients and as such, not as many children. It was easier to control them then. Recently however, we have more and more children joining the family day and it will very difficult to control the children, especially the extra adventurous ones. They don’t often get to go jalan-jalan anywhere, so in their excitement, they may do things which may endanger their own safety. So, no to beaches and especially waterfalls, although we do have lots of choices in Perak when it comes to waterfalls.

Whatever it is, we will definitely have to decide by next week’s board meeting, and after that, we will have to start calling our clients, inviting them to join the Family Day. As I mentioned in my previous posting, chances are the sub-committee will have to meet every week to discuss on the logistics and arrangements to ensure that everything will run smoothly.

So, any guesses as to where the 3 shortlisted places are?

Where next?

2005 : Sg Klah Hotspring

Pic from http://www.plantationresorts.com.my/HotSprings/

2006 : Teluk Batik Beach

Pic from www.pulau-pangkor.com

2007 : Lost World of Tambun

2008 : Taiping Zoo

2009 : National Stud Farm, Tg Rambutan

2010? We haven’t decided yet on this year’s Family Day venue. A totally new place… or a repeat of any of the above? The kids seem to especially remember the one at Lost World. Hmmm... Let me see through my special camera…

Ooops, wrong setting I think. Saw this transformation instead…

1969 : Minah Rempit

And 40 years later, the same little girl turned into…

2009 : Minah Koboi

HEHEHE!!

Rainy day at the horse farm

2nd August 2009, National Stud Farm, Tg. Rambutan - The Buddies Annual Family Day.

We had some of the children of our PLHIV families asking their parents why we were having our family day at Tg. Rambutan. One boy even asked his mother, "Kita pergi sana buat apa mak? Gi tengok orang gila ke?"

I guess the town is more known for its mental hospital... some don't even know of the existence of the National Stud Farm there.

Oh well, it rained rather heavily in the morning...

... so we were stuck under the tents eating up our breakfast of nasi lemak, while one of the vets explained to us about the farm and the horses.

When the sky cleared, the scenery was beautiful...

We were then allowed to touch and feed the horses at the nearby stables...

Here... you can eat all you want. I don't eat this vege...

Then came the demo on how they replace the horse shoe. The horses get new pairs of shoes every 4 weeks.

First, take off the old shoe...

Then, adjust the new shoe so it will fit nicely...

Then fix the new shoe...

There... all done! Imported shoes some more... jealous or not??

Then group by group, we were allowed to take pictures with the horse(yep, the one with the new shoe). Here's a group of our volunteers with their pose...

We were then brought for a tour around the farm in an Executive Coach.

Errrmm... I mean this executive coach. Classy don't you think?The executive coach with some happy pelarians on board...

It rained on and off during the tour, so we brought along our umbrellas on the executive coach.

We were lucky as there were some newborns at the farm... during the tour, we saw at close range some colts and fillies less than a week old... a few just 1 or 2 days old.

Sorry, can't remember if this one's a colt or a filly.

And this baby here was sleeping and didn't even realise there were some kaypoh visitors around.

This proud stallion here is the father to many of the horses born in this farm.

And oh, we were even shown where these horses mate!

The honeymoon suite...

After the tour, we were brought back to the tent for lunch. We were entertained by the balloon man during lunch.

This guy also did some magic tricks much to the amusement of the kids and adults alike.

After filling up our tummies with food glorious food, it was game time! (right timing, huh?) Sorry folks, no pics here ok? Suffice to say, all the children got some gifts and prizes to bring home.

After the games, came the moment most were looking forward to... the horse ride! Two horses were made available, one white horse meant only for the younger and smaller kids, while the other horse for the bigger children and the adults. I was busy going left and right making sure I got pictures of every single person who got onto the horses.

I can't show you pics of the PLHIVs and their families, so here's all I can show you...

The horse dung, freshly delivered while someone was taking his/her turn for the horse ride!

It then rained again right before tea time. Ngam ngam just in time for everybody to get the experience of getting onto a horse (which wasn't easy I tell you... tertonggeng-tonggeng!).

The rain subsided a bit after tea, so yep, we did manage to take a group photo before we headed home. And oh, we also got a souvenir each from the National Stud Farm.

Okay people, that's all I've got to share with you... Opah Pi the koboi tua wants to go home now... giddy-up horsey...