Visiting the poor…

About a week ago, I received a text message from the nurse at the ID clinic, giving me the name and phone number of a patient, SK, whom she said needed help for his children. After I called SK and found out that one of his children hadn’t gone to school for over a year, I asked if it was okay for me to visit them at home. He agreed.

There’s also another couple, Ali and Aina, whom I met during my Taiping clinic duty, whom I needed to visit to assess their situation before I submit their application for financial assistance from the Paediatric Aids Fund. Although Ali and Aina stay further, I’d still need to pass the town where SK lives. So I decided to visit both families on the same day.

I had some communication problem with SK, so I decided to bring along a Chinese-speaking volunteer. We made a move about 8.40 am or so from the centre and headed straight to the town where SK lives, not to visit him first, but to fetch a trainee volunteer staying in that town. Just as I was about to reach the trainee volunteer’s house, a call came in on my hand phone. It was Mr Rajah, whose daughter has HIV and whose grandchildren last year had received help from our Children Education Fund. He asked if the children can still get help for this year. I told him I was driving and I’d be busy the whole day and that I’d call him back later.

Then after fetching the volunteer, another call came in. This time from Sharifah, Cek Mek’s mother. She’s supposed to come to Ipoh for her blood tests soon, but had misplaced her appointment card and the letters/forms given earlier by the ID clinic during her last appointment, and so she couldn’t remember the dates when she’s supposed to go for her blood tests. Since she’s not staying in Ipoh, she couldn’t simply go to the hospital to see the nurse at the ID clinic to get another letter. I told her to call the ID clinic direct to get advise on what she should do (I’m not going to pamper them and do all the asking for them!). But because she had lost the appointment card (which has the ID clinic’s phone number), she didn’t have the number to call. Thus, as always, the next option was to call ME! I was driving then, so I told her I’d SMS her the number later.

Thank goodness no further calls as we headed on to Ali’s & Aina’s place about one and half hours away. None of us familiar with the place, we had to stop to ask, and I also made a call to Aina, to get an idea of where I needed to go. Then when we reached her kampong, we needed to make another call. This time Aina told me to wait there, she’d come and meet us. She was there within just minutes, so the house couldn’t be far.

Indeed it wasn’t far. But when we reached the Dewan Serbaguna at her kampong, she stopped and signalled to us to park the car there. Apparently her house was just up the hill but due to the poor condition of the road, I was advised not to drive my car up there. She should know better and I figured I shouldn’t go against her advise. And so I parked my car at the Dewan Serbaguna. Only problem was, we brought along some groceries with us. Meaning we (errm, I mean my 2 fellow volunteers) had to carry the groceries on foot up the hill. Me? I had to carry my camera! Hehehe…

I only took over from my female colleague about three quarter way through… when I saw that she was about to give up and put the box down.

Then when we got to the house, we couldn’t simply bring the stuff up the stairs into the house. Going in using the stairs to the living room was out of the question…

We had to go in using the staircase to the kitchen which was thankfully lower…

Only Aina was around. The 2 children were in school, one in standard one and the other in kindergarten. Ali was at his mother’s home nearer to Taiping Hospital. His appointment is coming soon, and given his condition, and the fact that they’d have to take 5 buses to get to Taiping Hospital from their house, staying at his mother’s place was the best option. Aina on the other hand had to bring the children home since school reopened. So far tests showed that Aina had not been infected, let’s home she’ll stay that way.

The house actually belonged to Aina’s late grandmother’s house. The condition was pretty bad, with leaking zinc roofs. They had electricity and water supply. No refrigerator, and no TV. Well, there were 2 old TV sets in the house, both no longer usable.

After getting some info from Aina, and getting her to sign the form, we decided to make a move. It was nearing 12 noon by then and Aina had to go fetch her daughter from the kindergarten at 12.

Heading back to the town where I fetched the trainee volunteer, I told my Chinese colleague to call SK to tell him we were on our way. At least she could get better directions, speaking to him in Chinese. It was nearing 1.30 pm by the time we reached the police station where he promised he’d meet us, as he knew it wouldn’t be easy for us to find his house. True enough, we had to go through back lanes to get to his house.

The moment we got into the house, I saw pictures on the wall, Somehow I thought the faces all looked quite familiar. SK said he was staying there only with his 13 year old son, but there were pictures of him and his wife. SK said his wife had left him. I saw some marks on his son’s neck, according to SK that was due to whatever that was needed to be done by the doctors when the boy had TB recently. The boy had TB? I immediately suspected the boy was infected with HIV as well, and when I asked SK, he wasn’t hesitant at all to admit that the boy was infected since birth. The boy’s mother died, and the one whose picture was on the wall was his second wife, who left him about 2 years ago.

Then only one by one the facts started clicking. No wonder I thought the faces looked familiar! I had met them before! Even his estranged 2nd wife who had gone back to her home country up north. They came twice to our Family Day – once in Teluk Batik in 2006 and the other in LWOT in 2007.

SK has another son, 17, schooling in a private school – sponsored by somebody. Another daughter, whom I had also met during our Family Day, died when she drowned in a river near their house (when they were staying in another town).

My main concern now is the 13 year old boy. He hadn’t gone to school for more than a year now. If I thought the 15 year old HIV+ girl who didn’t sit for her PMR was bad enough, this boy didn’t even sit for his UPSR! I asked the boy if he was interested to go back to school if we could arrange for him to do so. He does want to go to school! Hopefully we can arrange for something… like getting him back to standard 6, albeit a year late.

I will need to ask around first, as I myself am not too familiar with all these…

Home visits, hospital visits…

When I went to the hospital to meet up with Asiah on Wednesday, I took the opportunity to ask the nurse at the ID clinic if she knew when Ina, the pregnant Orang Asli lady, would be warded. The nurse only knew Ina would be warded within the same week, but wasn’t quite sure of the exact day.

Ina doesn’t have a phone. All the while if I needed to ask anything about her, I’d have to call her neighbour, who is also a good friend of hers. Since I couldn’t get an exact answer from the nurse at the ID clinic, I decided to call Ina’s neighbour. The neighbour told me that Ina would be warded the next day, which was a Thursday, but she wasn’t sure of the date of operation.

Hmmm… to be warded on a Thursday? I figured she’d be going to the OT on Friday to deliver. They don’t schedule operations on weekends, and it was very unlikely they’d ask her to be warded so early if the op is scheduled the next week.

I didn’t know what time the nurses from the klinik kesihatan near Ina’s place would bring her to Ipoh GH (Ina’s kampung is quite remote, so if she is not brought to the hospital in a jabatan kesihatan van, chances were she wouldn’t come for her appointments etc.), so I decided not to visit on Thursday. And even on Friday, I decided not to go too early, as Ina may still be in the delivery hall.

Thus I went to visit after 5 pm. True enough, Ina had delivered in the morning, and both mother and baby girl were sent back to the wards at noon. Ina was resting, while the baby was in another room, taken care by the nurses.

I had some time ago asked Ina to open up a BSN account, to enable me to submit her application for Paediatric Aid Funds (PAF) but never had to opportunity to get the copy of the bank book. So when I visited her on Friday, I asked if she had opened up the bank account. She had, and as a matter of fact, she brought along her bank book to the hospital. I helped to take out her bag from the drawer beside her bed, and she gave me her bank book… the necessary page not photostated yet. I sought her permission to bring her bank book back with me, get it photostated, and return the book to her the next day.

Anyway, when I took out her bag from the drawer, I noticed she didn’t have much stuff with her… and it looked like she wasn’t prepared with baby stuff either. I asked if her 7 year old child had started schooling… thank goodness she said yes. You see, Ina’s 3 older children, aged 14, 13 and 12, never went to school. So when I went to visit her last year, I begged her to make sure this 4th child of hers goes to school. I assured her we were willing to help out with the child’s education expenses.

After promising Ina I’d be back the next day (to return her bank book), I left to let Ina have a good rest.

Yesterday, after zohor, I headed off to visit Rosnah and Shila. They both stay in the same town, in fact they both knew each other as their children go to the same school. Of course, before this, they never knew that the other had HIV too… they only found out during our Family Day at LWOT last year.

First I went to visit Rosnah, as her place is nearer the highway exit. Settled all her child’s school fees etc, then off I went to Shila’s place. Shila isn’t my client, but since I was already in the same town, I might as well visit and get all the receipts etc for her child’s schooling needs.

Saw this little fella, alone, limping across the road. Wonder where the mother was…

The last time I met Shila was during our Family Day last year. She no longer goes for her hospital appointments, so I don’t see her at the hospital anymore. Her daughter Laila, is already in standard 5 this year. How time flies!

By 4 pm, I left, headed back to Ipoh and went straight to a hypermarket to buy some baby’s stuff. By the time I got the things, paid for them, and got to the hospital, it was already 5 pm… already visiting hours. So there was no need for me to wear my hospital special pass.

As I had expected, Ina was moved to the end room, where they usually send the HIV cases. The bigger ward, nearer to the nurses counter, was only a temporary stopover for them after being sent back from the delivery hall.

Again, Ina was alone. Her baby, born 2.4 kgs was in another room, taken care by the nurses. Apparently, earlier in the afternoon, Ina’s aunt had brought her other children to visit. Her 4th child (the 7 year old), cried when they were about to leave. You see, the little boy had never been separated from his mother before.

But Ina said the boy’s okay in school and gets along well with his friends. That’s what I’ve been hoping for. With 3 older siblings not schooling, if he doesn’t enjoy school, he may just decide to join his brothers at home. What will become of their future without basic education?

The first week…

It’s Thursday. It’s almost the end of the first week of school for the year. I am not done yet disbursing all the necessary amount needed to be paid for the children under our sponsorship programme or those covered by our CEF.

I personally took 24 children from 8 families shopping for their schooling needs in December, and another colleague took 2 other families. In their case, all I needed when school reopened was their list of fees and workbooks. I still haven’t got everybody’s list yet, so chances are I’d still be calculating and disbursing the money next week.

For some other families, especially those who stay quite far, or those who are able to buy first and reimbursed later, I’d need to get the receipts of purchases from them. I don’t give them advances… to avoid them using the money for other purposes. So yeah, sometimes what they’d do is they’d just buy one pair of uniform first, then when they get reimbursed, they may buy another pair.

In the case of Asiah, since she stays quite far from Ipoh, usually she’d buy her children’s schooling necessities first (sometimes she borrows), and then pass all the receipts to me when she comes to Ipoh. Her children are not under sponsorship, but she has to struggle at the beginning of each schooling year as that is when a lump sum of money is needed. With 3 children from her first marriage still schooling, and her present husband an elderly man who doesn’t get any pension of any sort (used to do kerja kampong), her children’s back-to-school expenses are covered by our CEF.

Yesterday was Asiah’s apppointment at the Ipoh ID clinic. So she sent me an SMS asking if she could meet up with me in the afternoon after her appointment. Since I was already somewhere near the hospital when she sent me the SMS, I told her I’d just drop by and see her at the ID clinic while she waits for her turn to see the doctor.

It was nearing 11 am then, and alhamdulillah, I managed to get a parking space within the hospital compounds. So it wasn’t too long a walk. As I reached the ID clinic, looking around for Asiah, I saw another familiar face. It was Mila, Razif’s wife. The one who, when she found out she was pregnant, panicked for fear of the baby getting infected, and they (both Mila and Razif) opted for abortion. But their method didn’t seem to work and they went to a private clinic to scan, the doctor said the foetus was well and fine. After a personal talk to both of them, they finally agreed to continue with the pregnancy and arranged for an earlier appointment with the doctor.

Yesterday when I saw her, Mila did look a bit chubbier. Although I was actually looking for Asiah, the moment I saw Mila, I sat right beside her. Apparently Asiah saw me, and so she too came over and sat beside me. Luckily there weren’t many patients yesterday, so there were empty seats and we could talk without worrying about people around us listening to our conversations.

I introduced Mila to Asiah. I told Mila that her situation now is just like Asiah’s situation slightly more than a year ago. Asiah too had panicked when she found out she was pregnant, and her husband, just like Mila and Razif, was also thinking of abortion. The difference was, after talking to me, Asiah immediately arranged for an earlier appointment to see the doctor, and so there were no abortion attempts at all. On the other hand, Mila and Razif weren’t quite convinced when I told them the baby could be saved from infection, and so they did their own attempts at abortion, which obviously didn’t work.

But Mila looked a whole lot better now. At least she was smiling when I saw her. No more of that worried look she had on her face when she came to see me last year to discuss the matter.

Anyway, after getting the receipts from Asiah (for her children’s schooling necessities), off I went. I wasn’t on duty yesterday. 2 other volunteers were on duty but as at the time I left, not a single case had been referred to them yet.

However, when the nurse saw me, she told me that there was a new case referred by the O&G clinic. A lady, 3 months pregnant, just diagnosed HIV+. The nurse (at the ID clinic) herself had not seen the patient yet but according to her, the doctor insisted to see the patient as soon as possible so that the necessary precautionary measures can be taken. Well, if the lady did turn up yesterday, very likely my 2 colleagues who were on duty would have met her.

Today I decided to visit Zainab and her 3 kids. I called yesterday to find out if she’s on day or night shift at her workplace. If she’s on night shift, then I can visit during the day. I called at the right time – Zainab’s on night shift this week, so I told her I’d go visit her this morning.

This morning, after getting some groceries at our center (we had RM600 worth of groceries at the center, donated by another organisation), immediately I drove over to Zainab’s house. The door was closed and locked, the windows shut. It looked as though nobody was home. Aik? I thought she said she’d be home? I then decided to call…

Me: Kat mana ni?

Zainab: Ada kat rumah la kak, tak ke mana.

Me: Saya ada kat luar rumah ni. Macam takde orang je kat rumah?

Zainab: Saya dah pindah rumah la kak, lupa nak bagitau akak! Jalan yang sama, tapi sebelum rumah yang tu.

Duh! We just spoke yesterday, and when I mentioned I was coming to visit, she didn’t mention anything about moving to another house!!

I told Zainab to wait by the roadside and then I drove my car slowly heading out the same road I got in earlier. Then I saw Zainab’s younger daughter, fondly called Adik, waiting for me. There was one bigger house in front, and behind that house were a row of small kampong terrace houses. The bigger house? That’s the landlord. The smaller houses at the back (I think there were 5 doors), for the tenants.

Zainab’s house was right at the end. I small hall, 2 small bedrooms, and 1 small kitchen. The rental? RM170. The bathroom and toilet are outside – shared with the other tenants from 2 of the other houses. Only 2 of the houses for rent had attached bathrooms.

As I got in and sat down, I heard Kakak’s voice, “Ibuuu…. Kakak nak berak!” “Pergi ajelah,” said Zainab,”kan ada baldi kecik kat luar tu? Angkut air, masuklah sendiri. Bukan kakak tak tau.”

I then heard Kakak shouting loudly outside the toilet, “HELLO!! Ada orang kat dalam tak? Saya kat luar ni!”

I am imagining them queuing up to have their baths in the morning… just like in one of P.Ramlee’s old movies…

Zainab’s husband, Zaki, wasn’t at home when I visited. Both Kakak and Adik’s school sessions were in the afternoon, so they were both at home. Even though Adik is just  in kindergarten, they were lucky that Tabika Perpaduan had both morning and afternoon sessions, and so they asked for afternoon session. Otherwise, it would be difficult for them to arrange to send the girls to school when Zainab has to work day shifts. According to Zainab, if Adik goes for the morning session, then chances are that Zaki would have to quit his job.

Hmmm… Zaki has a job now? That’s good to hear.

“Dia kerja kat mana pulak?” I asked, still feeling sceptical as I’ve known Zaki to quit one job after another, giving all sorts of excuses.

“Kerja potong ayam. Kerja sebelah pagi ajelah. Tengahari boleh la dia hantar anak pi sekolah.”

Well, I hope he will stick to the job and only quit if and when he finds a better paying job. It has been too long for the family to be totally dependent on Zainab as the sole breadwinner…

The children, their schooling, and their fees…

With schools just reopened yesterday, many of “my” children just got their list of workbooks and all sorts of fees they needed to pay to their respective schools. I had wanted to settle all matters regarding the children’s back-to-school expenses before school reopened, but many of them didn’t get their list before the last school holidays. So I could only settle the purchase of uniforms, shoes, etc but had to delay disbursing the amount needed by them to pay to the respective schools.

If only there is a standardise rate for every school, it would be much easier for me to calculate and disburse the sponsorship money to the various families. But no, from what I’ve seen so far, the fees/workbooks vary from as little as RM24 to as high as over RM220 per child. Some schools charge very minimal amount, while some schools charge all sorts of fees to their students.

Since yesterday, one by one I started getting text messages from my clients whose children are under our sponsorship programme, or at least covered by our Children Education Fund for their back-to-school expenses only.

Fuzi’s children seemed to be charged a minimal amount (about RM24). I think probably because their teachers took into consideration the fact that Fuzi is a non-working single mother. They have probably been waived from paying certain categories of fees.

Aini’s children, schooling in Ipoh, seem to have to pay the most, with the one in primary school having to pay the highest ie RM225. I guess that’s because the boy will be sitting for his UPSR this year. Aini’s eldest daughter initially had to pay about RM190, but yesterday Aini informed me that her daughter, this year in form five, got a place at the school hostel and so she needed to pay an additional RM360 for hostel fee. That should be easily covered by the sponsorship amount… otherwise last year her bus fares were RM60 per month. Now that she’s staying at the hostel, we no longer need to cover for her bus fares.

Maya had earlier on gave me a round figure of RM360 for all her children. Lebihkurang, she said. At that time she hadn’t got the list from the schools yet. I told her I wanted details for each child, and not a round total figure for all 4 of them. So today her SMS came, with fees for each child varying from RM54 to RM120. The total definitely more than RM360.

Nuri, Wani, Shila and Hana had also texted me the amount needed for their children’s fees. I also received a text message Asiah, saying that she’d be in Ipoh for her hospital appointment tomorrow and so she wanted to pass me all the receipts for her children – not just for the fees, but also for their uniforms etc. So yep, off to the hospital again tomorrow to meet her.

Just yesterday, I prepared a cheque of RM2,267 for the children's schooling needs under our sponsorship programme. Within just a day, I have to prepare another cheque of RM2,962. And another one close to RM3,000 is to be claimed under the Children Education Fund.

On average, each of these single mothers with 3 or 4 children have to come up with over RM400 per family for their children’s fees/workbooks. Add to that the amount paid for their uniforms, shoes etc bought earlier, how on earth are they going to pay without any financial assistance?

Chances are, without assistance, they’d end up postponing and postponing their payment… then the class teachers (the insensitive ones lah, there are teachers who are understanding enough) would ask the children for the fees right in front of the other students in class… then the children becomes reluctant to go to school… then they’d be branded as students with disciplinary problems. I’ve seen quite a few of such cases.

Which reminds me, I called another client yesterday. This case was referred direct to me by the nurse at the ID clinic. She texted me the client’s details last week, saying that the children needed help. So I called, and found out that the younger child, now 13, has stopped schooling. When asked why, I was told that they hadn’t paid last year’s school fees. Hmmm… didn’t pay last year’s fees and therefore can’t go to school this year? Or didn’t pay last year’s fees and therefore ashamed to go to school this year? Well, I don’t know the details yet. That will have to wait until my assessment visit next week…

Into my 8th year…

… as a volunteer with the Buddies of Ipoh.

2004:

I joined as a trainee volunteer just after Buddies Society of Ipoh was set up as a separate organisation on its own; after being a wing under the Perak Family Health Association since 1997. As a trainee, all I did was follow my “mummy” (the senior volunteer assigned to supervise the trainee) in her visits. Didn’t do many visits though… as my “mummy” didn’t have that many clients. However, since I had a flexi-hour job, I was able to join their clinic duty teams. I learnt a lot from those clinic duties.

2005:

I finally got confirmed as a buddy despite not having enough exposure in doing house visits. We were getting more and more Malay ladies as our clients, yet there wasn’t a single Malay female buddy available. The very day the Board agreed to confirm me as a buddy, immediately 4 clients were handed over to me. They were Ifa, Zainab, Cikgu Maznah and Nina. These were actually old cases earlier on assigned to other buddies. I did manage to get hold of Ifa and Zainab, and I am still in touch with them. However, I never managed to get hold of Cikgu Maznah. I was told her husband was a very bad tempered guy, not wanting his wife to speak to anyone without his knowledge. As for Nina, I did manage to speak to her once by phone, but she was rather reluctant to talk. So I let them be. I did send them Raya cards with my phone number written, in case they needed to talk, but they never did call me.

Zana’s case was also referred to me in 2005, but she made a disappearing act soon after (changed her phone number and missed her hospital appointments),

2006:

Quite a number of cases were referred to me in 2006. There was Rose, who I got to know during the last 2 1/2 months of her life. During that period, I really concentrated on her alone as she was really weak (she had cervical cancer as well). Rose died in May 2006.

Other clients referred to me in 2006 were Maria, Nuri (and HIV+ daughter Farah), Sha, Noni, Yah (& husband Azman who died the same year), Fuzi (and HIV+ son Ijam).

After her disappearing act in 2005, Zana contacted me in 2006. Of course she contacted me because she had a problem. I had to send her to a shelter home in KL because she was no longer accepted by her family due to her 2nd time unwed pregnancy.

I was also roped into the Board during the 2006 AGM.

2007:

More cases were referred in 2007. There was Lily (and HIV+ son Boboy), Jah & Asiah (2 old cases but passed to me by another buddy who moved to KL), Mr & Mrs K (yep, the ones who were always “tak ada duit” no matter how much they got), Hana & husband Rashid,  Rina, and also Ani.

Lily died during the year and her son was sent to a home for HIV kids. Rashid and Rina too died the same year, immediately after Raya.

One case of a 74 year old HIV+ lady, Makcik Minah, was also referred to me this year, but I never managed to get hold of her, and she never came for her hospital appointments after the first one. The last I heard, Makcik Minah died alone at her home.

During 2007 AGM, I was elected as the treasurer for Buddies.

2008:

Due to the many cases already assigned to me, as far as possible, my colleagues would avoid handing new cases to me in 2008. Furthermore in 2008, I was elected as the chairperson of Buddies and it was also in 2008 that we started our Education Sponsorship for Children Programme, which became my baby, taking up the bulk of my time.

There were only 2 new cases assigned to me during the year – Lin, who contacted me herself after getting my number from the Buddies brochure; and the husband/wife couple of Samsul/Suhaila.

Samsul & Suhaila are now no longer contactable, in fact they are also defaulting their hospital appointments. As for Lin, her children are under our sponsorship programme, and I do visit them on a monthly basis.

 2009:

Although my colleagues would try to avoid handing new cases to me, I’d still get assigned new cases from time to time… particularly the problematic cases. My so-called expertise? Hard-core poor single mothers, and pregnant ladies, wed or unwed.

4 cases were referred to me during the year – 2 were hard core poor families: Murni ( who remarried and had a toddler) and Sofie (one of the saddest cases I had seen); and 2 cases of unwed pregnancies: Sharifah (who gave birth to my little Cek Mek) and Anita, the ingrate who talked badly about Kak Ana after she sought shelter at Kak Ana’s home for some time.

Another case, Rosnah, a single mother, didn’t fall under hard-core poor or pregnant lady. However, she was the type who found it hard to open up, and once she felt comfortable with me, I couldn’t pass her to anybody (there was no point, she’d still be calling me anyway).

2010:

More cases referred to me despite the already long list of clients. One of our volunteers left during the year, and so her 2 cases were handed over to me as the clients, Aini and Aza, already knew me and as such were more comfortable with me. 5 other cases were all pregnancy cases: Azimah, Halimah, Liza (all 3 had already delivered) and Ina (the orang asli lady due to deliver anytime).

Another case, Razif, was actually somebody else’s case, but when Razif’s wife (who’s also +ve) got pregnant, Razif started calling me seeking advise and after a while even got his wife to see me so that I could speak to her myself.

Ramli’s case was also assigned to another volunteer, but Ramli’s daughter, Amy, kept on calling me every time she needed help or advise. However, now Ramli, who’s bedridden, had been sent to a shelter home while his schooling children (Amy’s half-brothers) are now in an orphanage, so I don’t foresee any more calls from Amy, not in the near future at least.

We also started our Taiping clinic duties in 2010, and a few cases had been referred. But thank goodness we now have a trainee volunteer who stays north of Perak, and so the northern cases like Aza’s and Maya’s can be passed to her under my supervision.

2011:

With already over 30 clients (after leaving out those who have died) and over 70 children of theirs, will there be any new cases referred to me in 2011?

Amongst my fellow volunteers, I have the most clients. Most of the other volunteers only have less than 5 clients each.

My guess is, if there are any hard-core poor or pregnant ladies referred to us, particularly the Malay ladies, chances are, they’d be assigned to me as well…