World AIDS Day

In conjunction with World AIDS Day (which is on 1st December), the following event will be held on 30th November 2008.

Click on poster to enlarge.

Mak Aji at the race course...

Sunday 23rd November 2008, I spent almost 2 hours here…


I watched this…

Ish... sibuk je la pakcik ni dengan microphone dia...

And these…

Yep, I was at the Perak Turf Club. Yes, yes, there at the Ipoh Race Course.

So, what was this Mak Aji doing at the race course on a race day?

RACING? I don’t even know how to ride a horse, what more to race one. Nope, out of the question.

I’M THE OWNER OF A RACE HORSE? Naaaah… I don’t have that much money to spend lah. I’d rather get myself a new car – at least I know how to drive.

I WAS LEARNING HOW TO RIDE A HORSE? What, on a race day? Who would want to teach this makcik how to ride a horse when there are more interesting happenings over there?

BETTING? Ish…. buang tabiat ke apa?!


Okay, okay… actually yesterday’s races started with the Charity Cup Race – the main sponsor’s name you can see in the first pic above. As the race name suggests, proceeds went to charity. About 60 charitable organizations in Perak were shortlisted to receive this year’s donations and Buddies of Ipoh was one of them. And that was why this Mak Aji was at the Perak Turf Club – to receive the cheque on behalf of Buddies.

It was my first time there so I was quite like a rusa masuk kampong (or was it Mak Aji masuk race course?). I had to ask the guards there where I was supposed to go. The invitation letter just mentioned that it was to be held at the cheque presentation area – which so happened to be at the race course. The place where we were seated (right below the grand stand) was blocked by the spectators’ stands on our left and right and as such, we weren’t able to witness the whole race although the finishing line was right in front of where we were seated. A clear view of how the race finished, but I was too slow to get any photos… not that they needed any photo finish...

After the race was the presentation of prizes to the owner of the winning horse, its trainer and its rider. Nope, no prize was presented to the horse after all the hard work… poor thing…

Then came the presentation of cheques by the Chairman of the Club to the various recipients. I was number 57 out of the 60 representatives of various organizations - shelter homes, orphanages, old folks homes etc. Thank goodness they gave actual bankable cheques instead of those big mock cheques (I think because there were too many of us), so after the cheque presentation and after making sure we got the right cheques, we could all leave before the other races started. I can just imagine the jam if we had to leave at the same time as the kaki-kaki kuda who were there to watch the races.

And so that was how a Mak Aji spent some time at the race course…

To leave or not to leave...

When I went to visit Fuzi the other day, she complained to me about Yah again. Remember earlier I mentioned about Yah telling Fuzi’s friend that Fuzi has HIV? Well, that was not all there was to it. It seems after that Yah also mentioned to the friend that Fuzi was flirting around with a few male friends, bla, bla, bla…

Now, now… first disclosing confidential information, then she went to the extent of adding all sorts of herbs, spices and MSG to her story?! God, what does she get anyway? If she wants to get a kick out of it, I don’t mind kicking her myself!!

Come to think of it, I think Yah was telling this guy about herself (but saying that Fuzi’s the one she was talking about lah) – Yah’s the one who has been flirting around! Fuzi on the other hand is a direct opposite – she hardly even gets out of the house unless she has to.

Guess what? The very next day after I went to visit Fuzi, I received a call from Yah – and as always it’s from a totally different number. I asked her direct if she purposely used a different number every time she called me so that I wouldn’t be able to call her back. She insisted she changed to a new number because she lost her old phone.

As usual, whenever Yah calls me, she doesn’t talk about her “extra-curricular” activities. I suppose it’s because she “takut nanti Kak Afizah marah” just like during our last Family Day when she donned on the tudung on the bus for that very reason. All the stories about the guys she meets she’d tell to a male colleague of mine who’s also a non-Muslim. She probably thinks that male colleague of mine wouldn’t be telling me of her (mis)adventures.

Anyway, Yah called me because she tried to call that male colleague of mine but her calls didn’t get through. So she sought my favor to pass a message to him – that she’s coming to get her medication in Ipoh next week and needs to see him for some matters. Waah… must tease my colleague lah… got a hot date with Yah! Muahaha!

It has been quite some time since I got any updates on Yah’s children so when she called I took the opportunity to ask her about them. Her 2 older daughters, who are at an orphanage, seem to be doing very well in school. In fact both of them were top in their respective classes. But, although they themselves were the ones who wanted to go to the orphanage in the first place, now they are the ones who want to balik kampong.

And so Yah is worried. I am not too sure what she’s worried about though. Maybe she’s worried she’ll have less money to spend on herself. Maybe she feels she wouldn’t have as much freedom as she has now if the girls are back at home. Her eldest daughter had after all voiced out her concern earlier on when Yah were exchanging calls and SMS with Mr Darling.

Frankly, I am worried too if the girls stay with their mother. Right now they are doing quite well in school. Maybe they are just not happy because their life is so regimented at the orphanage – but that does not seem to affect their studies. My worry if they stay with Yah is that Yah’s behavior may have a bad influence on them.

Things aren’t confirmed yet though. Whether or not they will leave the orphanage, I will have to wait and see whatever the outcome is when school reopens. I have not met the 2 girls ever since they went to stay at the orphanage. But every time they see their mother they'd always tell their mother to convey their salam to me.

Oh well, the mother makes my blood boils… the daughters cool me down…

Aiyo, what next?

I was on my way to Fuzi’s house today when I suddenly remembered that Razif was supposed to go for his appointment this morning. Remember Razif, the guy who didn’t know how to break the news to his wife? Well, I suggested to him to just tell his wife that the doctor had asked him to bring her along for his appointment and then let the doctor break the news of his HIV to his wife. He thought it was a good idea.

I wasn’t on clinic duty today. So I decided to call my colleague who was on duty to find out. According to my colleague, while Razif came for his appointment, his wife didn’t come along. He has not even told his wife about his appointment at the hospital! “Takde masa lagi nak bagitau”, so he said.

Please lah… he sees his wife day in day out at home. It’s not that he has yet to find the time to tell his wife – he simply finds it hard to open his mouth to tell his wife he has HIV. I can understand that. But takde masa? Takde masa my foot!

Today Razif got the results of his blood test. His CD4 is only 36. My guess is that he was infected for quite some time already; so chances are his wife may have been infected too. He really needs to get his wife tested. But to do that, he must first tell his wife that he himself has been infected. Now that he blew his chances of getting his wife to come along with him to the hospital today, I wonder what will be his next move. With such a low CD4 count, he will need to start with his ARV medication. Will the wife not suspect anything then? I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Back to Fuzi, I promised her I’d visit today. So this afternoon after buying some fast food for the children, off I went to Fuzi’s house. As Fuzi opened the door, the first child as always greeting me at the door with a big smile was Ijam, the infected child. He came up with an even bigger smile when I handed over the fast food I brought along.

Ijam will start schooling next year. Next week will be his appointment with the pediatrician, and Fuzi will be discussing with the doctor about Ijam’s medication. For the moment he needs to take his medication 4 times a day – which will be troublesome when he starts going to school. Very likely he will need to change to taking the medication twice a day.

Anyway, remember I mentioned in my posting here about Faiz, Ijam’s older brother, being caught smoking in school? Well, I actually got the wrong info. You see, Fuzi’s exact words when she told me earlier were “Dia ditangkap tengah menghisap dengan kawan-kawan”. Fuzi didn’t elaborate further then, so I assumed she meant hisap rokok. Boy was I wrong!

When Fuzi told me today that Faiz bukan hisap rokok, I was thinking… oh God… don’t tell me it’s hisap dadah? Hisap gam?! These are 10 year olds we’re talking about.

But I guess nothing was going to surprise me anymore. I’ve met people like Lily, who had to lead such a complicated life; I’ve met people like Zana, the problematic young woman; I’ve met people like Zali, whose wife actually left him and their 2 young kids (she never came back for the kids); I’ve met people like Hasnah who on record doesn’t exist; I’ve met people like Anita who is 22 but has yet to get her IC done due to some complicated problems. I figured I’ve met them all.

“Dia hisap apa?” I asked Fuzi, and I was prepared not to be shocked with whatever that Fuzi was going to tell me. Or so I thought.

“Hisap kemaluan”, came the answer.

What the…???!!

God help me please. I wonder what other kind of stories I will encounter in the course of my voluntary work…

Here they go again...

Remember in my earlier posting here during fasting month, I mentioned about Mrs K trying to borrow money from me? I suspect she wanted to use the money for Raya.

Guess what? Last Saturday, while I was enjoying my lazy weekend, a text message came in from Mrs K -

"Kak, mintak tolong nak pakai 200 nak bayar duit air hari isnin nak kena potong. Saya bayar balik dapat duit kutu."

The last time she wanted to borrow money, while she didn't give specific reasons, her last sentence was the same - "saya bayar balik dapat duit kutu". If she has been using the same sentence to every person she has borrowed money from, by the time she really gets her duit *kutu, she'd finish them all just by paying off her loans.

(*Kutu is a practice where a group of people contributes a certain amount of money every month and each month they will get their turn in getting the whole lump sum collected. Say, there are 20 of them and each of them give RM50 each month, the total collected each month will be RM1,000. So each month someone will get his/her turn in getting a lump sum of RM1,000. Mrs K's turn is supposed to be in April next year.)

Although I didn't lend her any money the last time, she's still trying again, only this time the excuse is to pay for her water bill. But RM200 for her water bill? How much water do they use each month? And how long haven't they been paying their bills?

I am assuming she really wants the money to pay for her water bill. It has happened before. When the amount was small, they postponed paying, wanting to use the money to buy other things. Then the amount grew and by then they wouldn't have enough money to pay the full amount needed to avoid water supply from being cut off.

I suppose the last time she tried to borrow money from me, even though I said no, maybe I sounded too polite (or as some people say, cakap berlapik). I said, "Maaf, saya tak dapat tolong." To me, it was a clear enough indication that I wouldn't lend them any money. I guess she didn't read between the lines then and so she thought I'd still help later on if she can come up with a desperate enough excuse. So, she's trying again this time.

Well, this time I told her that I will not entertain any requests from her to borrow any money, that she should have spent wisely when she had the money, that she must spend according to her means and prioritize her necessities. And I told her Astro is something we can live without.

Some of you may remember how, last year, although I had reminded them before that they must use their money wisely and save some money for rainy days, when they did manage to get their hands on Mr K's EPF drawings, one of the first things they did was to install Astro at home. Then, during last year's Raya, they had a mini open house - almaklum, masa tu jadi orang kaya baru.

The last time I went to visit them at home, the TV programme they were watching was from an Astro channel still. Meaning they must have paid for their Astro subscription but failed to pay their water bill. Not that I have anything against Astro, but please lah, we can still live without Astro but we cannot live without water - so set your priorities right lah!

I wish Mrs K was more like Nuri whom we helped initially and with our help she started her own food stall and after that never bothered us anymore. I wish Mrs K was more like Ani and her husband whom we helped with their EPF drawings and with the money they built their own house. I wish Mrs K was more like Fuzi who would only spend according to her means. I wish Mrs K was more like Shila who is always thankful with whatever that she gets and never goes around asking for more.

Ah, but it takes all kinds to make this world. I can't expect everyone to behave the way I want them to. Likewise, I'm sure there are people out there who aren't too pleased with my attitude and wish they could change me into someone else more to their liking.

But still, cases like Mrs K's and Yah's always manage to make my blood go upstairs lah!

Well, you win some, you lose some...