Targetting the OAs...

When I took Shila along with me to visit Anita at the shelter home last Sunday, the drive from her place to our destination took about 1 hour. So we had ample time to chat during the drive.

Remember I mentioned about the Orang Asli lady staying in an ulu kampong who has yet to contact me? I couldn't contact her as she doesn't have a phone. To go to her place, I wasn't too sure how to get there. When I asked Rosnah earlier, she told me we'd need a 4 wheel drive to get to the place. That stopped me from trying to look for the place on my own.

Well, Shila also stays in the same town, so I decided to ask her as well about this OA kampong. Guess what? Shila stays even nearer to the place! As a matter of fact, to get to the kampong, we just need to go further in using the same road leading to Shila's kampong! Shila herself had been to the kampong twice for a picnic with her family. The place it seems is quite popular for the locals there to mandi sungai. And according to Shila, although the road may be rather narrow, it is still accessible by car.

Great, I thought... maybe one fine day, I will get Shila and maybe one or two other PLHIVs to join me, and we'd try to visit this OA lady. If we can't find her house, we'd just go to mandi sungai!! Hehehe...

Anyway, we had a board meeting last night and I suggested to the board that we should try to arrange for HIV/AIDS awareness programmes at OA settlements. The Board agreed that we try to target this for our World AIDS Day programme this year. For that, we'd want to liaise with the state JHEOA people.

Other than just giving talks, maybe we can also arrange for rapid testing. There does seem to be more and more OA cases referred to the Ipoh HIV clinic of late. There may be more OAs infected without them knowing. The OA lady I'm trying to contact for example, not only had her husband died of HIV related illness, her 12 year old daughter too died of the same. Now she still has a 10 year old son (not infected), but her own CD4 is so low, and without assistance, chances are she herself may skip her own hospital appointments (she's not working) and as such, I'm not too sure how long she'd be able to last. What will happen to her son then?

I believe there are others in her kampong who may have also been infected, with or without them knowing. Their lack of knowledge on HIV may contribute to even more infection amongst the OAs. This is certainly an area to penetrate.

So yes, that is our next target - creating awareness amongst Orang Asli communities.

I do hope this will not end up as a NATO project. (No Action Talk Only lah...)

Raya Rounds - #3

Sunday, 27th September 2009 - By 9 am I made a move from home as I had promised to pick up Shila and her daughter at their home at 9.30 am. I made it to their house at 9.30 am on the dot! I had also earlier tried to call Jah to ask if she wanted to join us (she usually never says no to invitations to jalan-jalan anywhere). But my calls didn't get through and my SMS was not replied. Since her house was just on the way, Shila and I decided to simply terjah her house.

Oh well, she wasn't home. She had been at her in-law's house since Raya. Too bad then, the kaki jalan was not able to join us for our trip to the shelter home.

I purposely invited Shila to come along. There were times when she would whine about her life... how unlucky she was etc etc. I wanted her to see for herself the group of people who were left by their family members at a shelter home and the shelter home ended up as their permanent home because their family members never came back for them. I wanted Shila to remember to be thankful for the family support that she has.

We reached the home at about 10.40 am...

Anita was cleaning up the tables at their yet-to-be-completed dining hall. She held her one year old baby while working. Wiping the table and having a good morning towel around her neck, Anita looked like she was running a mamak restaurant. According to Kak Ana, Anita is quite hardworking when it comes to doing all the household chores. She doesn't have to be told what to do. Very unlike Sharifah who stayed there earlier - Sharifah was quite lazy if compared to Anita. She even wakes up late. Their problems may have been the same (out of wedlock pregnancy & childbirth) but both came with totally different upbringing - Sharifah the manja type while Anita was brought up without much family love and care.

I took Anita's son from her arms. The boy seemed quite comfortable sitting on my lap. He is so used to being held in his mother's arms, as long as you hold him, he's quiet. By right he should already be able to walk, but because Anita had been rather overprotective of him, the boy has yet to walk. Kak Ana has told Anita to let the boy roam free so he'd learn to walk sooner rather than just berkepit celah ketiak mak...

After a while, Kak Ana called out another girl to take the boy to his room so he could take a nap. He looked rather sleepy.

Then out came Kak Ana's daughter with none other than... yep, my little Cek Mek!!

Cute little Cek Mek with not cute at all Cek Pi. Notice the peha berlipat and pipi labuh? (Cek Mek's lah, not Cek Pi's!)

Frankly, I think Cek Mek must be one of the easiest baby to take care of. Other than making sure the girl is given her medication on time, she is so, so tak banyak ragam and not cranky at all! Yep, still with her muka sadin, but when I asked her to "senyumlah sikit", she did smile! Woo hoo! Apa lagi, cairlah Opah Pi... hehehe... And when Kak Ana was telling me about her, the little girl actually did some goo goo ga ga stuff, like saying, "Hey, why are you all talking about me?!"

After a while, Anita came over to invite us to the dining hall where she had prepared some drinks and raya cookies. Well, most of the Raya cookies were donated by visitors but Kak Ana did make some with Anita and one or two others helping out. I brought some cookies as well, but the bulk of the things in the box I brought down from my car were actually for my babies... milk powder, baby food, baby biscuits etc. Nak bagi cucu makanlah katakan...

Anyway, the home, which provides shelter for about 50 occupants, mainly the mentally handicapped, still needs lots of funds to complete the necessary renovations and to cover for their monthly expenses. This year they have been getting less donations as compared to last year, and so far nobody has invited them for any raya functions whatsoever, unlike when they were earlier housed in Sabak Bernam (the landlord wanted back the land so Kak Ana had to find a new place).

This is the yet-to-be-completed dining hall...

Here it is from a different angle...

But it is still being used anyway as they don't have enough space inside the house.

Inside, they are repainting the walls...

Those who would like to help out, you can call the home at 05-6237530 and speak to Puan Rohana Saidin. Or you can bank in your contributions to their account:

RUMAH TITIAN ASHRAFUL ROHANIAH
CIMB 08021252940051

Tomorrow? Oh, no house visits tomorrow. I need to continue with my puasa enam. But I will probably continue with my raya rounds when I really really raya next weekend, insyaAllah!

Raya Rounds - #2

As planned, today I went to visit Sofie's family. I informed them 2 days ago that I'd be coming, and told them to get their baju raya ready as I'd be taking their family photo. When I got to their house at about 11 am, Sofie were ironing their clothes while the last of the kids just had their bath after kena letiaq by Sofie to hurry up before I arrived. I noticed Ika, the youngest girl, had some make up on. She did the make up herself - using whatever was left of Sofie's old make-up set, which Sofie used when she was still working some years ago. For a seven year old, I'd say the make up wasn't bad at all. At least she didn't look as though she was going to perform for a Wayang Cina!

Welcome to Sofie's home. This is the front door...

And this is the wall inside the house...

There's only one bedroom, so Sofie usually sleeps in the hall (if I may call it so) together with her daughter. If they need to change clothes, the boys and girls would take turns to use the one and only room. During my previous visits, the queen mattress was at the hall, so I'd usually sit on the mattress when I visit them. However for Raya, they kept the mattress at the back... leaned against the wall.

Outside the house, there is no proper drainage. So whenever it rains heavily, sometimes the house would get flooded.

I asked if anyone had visited them since Raya. Well yeah, a few school friends of Sofie's sons did visit, but I was the first adult visitor since Raya! So you can just imagine their excitement, especially since I brought along lunch and a hamper. Somehow people usually give hampers to big big bosses who can actually afford all those stuff. By right, people like Sofie's family are the ones who deserve it more. Imagine her children's excitement at seeing this hamper which was almost as tall as Ika.

This time I had lunch together with them. I knew they loved chicken, so I suppose you can guess what I brought along for lunch, huh?

I had a good chat with the kids during lunch. Interestingly, Sofie told me that when her sister went back to their father's hometown, their father, a bomoh, "tolong tengok-tengokkan" and said that Ika has also been infected with HIV. Hmmm... I wonder if his services can be used for the premarital mandatory HIV testing! No comment on his methods, but I hope with the diagnosis given by her father, Sofie would bring her kids for blood tests soon instead of postponing things. I told her to bring both Ika and her 11 year old brother, Saiful for blood tests.

What I need to personally do next is to bring Saiful to get his eyes tested and rearrange for another appointment with an eye specialist for the boy. Sofie used to bring him for appointments at the Ipoh GH eye clinic, but ever since her ex-husband began deserting her, Sofie could no longer afford to bring the boy for appointments (no need to pay to see the doctor but she still needed money to bring the boy to Ipoh). The last appointment was in 2004 - definitely the records are no longer to be found. Saiful would need a new referral letter to get an appointment with the specialist.

Sofie did bring the boy to an optician recently just to get his eyes tested for free - the boy actually needs glasses with power of over 200 for each eye! And he is still not wearing glasses because Sofie couldn't afford to pay for them! In school, he sits right in front of the class... even then sometimes the writings on the board were not clear at all.

I still have some money with me, donated by friends and blog readers - I intend to use some of it to make glasses for the boy. I promised them I'd come again during one of these days to bring Saiful to the optician.

Tomorrow... next stop... Kak Ana's shelter home to visit Anita, her son and my little Cek Mek...

Raya Rounds - #1

I had initially planned to start my Raya rounds on Saturday with a visit to Sofie's house. But a friend invited me to her open house today, and so after completing only one day of my puasa enam, looks like I have to cuti 3 hari from Friday to Sunday and only continue on Monday.

And since my friend's house is in a town not far from Lin's house, I figured I might as well visit Lin's family today.

As usual, whenever attending gatherings or the likes, I'm usually one of the earliest to arrive, if not the earliest. Today, I was the earliest. Well, my friend did say the open house was from 3 to 6 pm, and I got there at 3.15 pm! So I wasn't really early, they were the ones who were late. I wanted to be there early so I could leave early to go to my next pit stop - Lin's house.

Even my friend was not home when I arrived - she was busy going around the neighbors' homes inviting them to her open house. But all her 4 children are already familiar with me so I spent some time chatting with them instead.

I didn't eat much at the open house. Oh, they had good food - mee rebus, satay, cakes, etc; but I didn't want to overload my tummy with too much stuff. I was fasting yesterday and if I ate too much today, I'd probably end up with a stomach ache. (orang Perak kata perut tak semiak!)

Before I left my friend's house, I called Lin to find out if she was home. Well, she wasn't. She was already at her goreng pisang stall which she just reopened today after a whole week of Raya break. She invited me to go to her stall instead.

So yep, after the open house, I headed straight to the open stall... :)

It wasn't too busy when I got to the stall, and Lin's daughter who is still on holiday was helping her out at the stall, so I could chat with Lin without worrying about her having to man the stall. I was served air kelapa, pisang goreng, keledek goreng and cekodok. Ahh... a change after the usual Raya cookies...

It was a good thing I didn't go head straight to Lin's house. Apparently she moved to a new house just before Raya.

You see, the house she and her children had been staying in all the while, belonged to Lin's father. The father, who had remarried since her mother died, stays with his new wife at her house, but from time to time would still go back to his own house. Which is not the problem really. The problem is, Lin's 18 year old son, who had been doing nothing but lepak-ing with his friends since he finished his SPM last year, doesn't seem to get along at all with his grandfather. They fight every time they meet. Lin herself doesn't know how else to handle her son. Her other children seemed very responsible, especially her 3 elder daughters; but this son doesn't seem to want to listen to anybody. Not Lin, not his sisters, and definitely not his own father, Mr Darling.

There was once when Lin was at her stall, her other son came cycling as fast as he could to inform Lin - "Abang dengan Tok Wan tengah bergaduh, siap dah keluar parang!!"

That was it for Lin - she figured she might as well give in. The house wasn't hers anyway, and to avoid more of such confrontations between her son and her father, Lin decided to move to another house. She has to pay rent of course, which will make life more difficult for her financially.

According to Lin, her son did seem interested when Lin suggested to him to join the police force, but he will have to wait until he officially becomes 18, which will be in October. If he is no longer interested to study, he might as well work. Lin doesn't really trust him to work simply anywhere - she's hoping that by joining the police force, the discipline instilled during the intensive training may change him. I hope things will work out.

Before I left, I handed over 6 packets of duit raya to Lin, to be given to her 6 children. I also left some money for her 14 year old son's school fees since the boy is under our sponsorship programme. All in the amount to be paid to the school is RM91. So I gave her RM100 and told her to keep the change. At least the balance was more than enough to cover for the air kelapa and all the goreng stuff they served me. I also took down her new house address, so that I'd know where to head next time I need to go to her house.

Tomorrow insyaAllah will be my next stop... Sofie's house.

Raya still...

My house is back to quiet mode now. My suku sakat kaum kerabat have gone back to their respective homes and so it's just me and my mother at home. I am still on leave though. My office is closed for the whole week.

We (my mother & I) have therefore decided to start our puasa enam today. I will however need to take a break this weekend as I intend to do some raya visits, and I shall continue with the puasa enam next week.

Quite a few of my PLHIV clients either called or sent me text messages to wish me Selamat Hari Raya. Both Sharifah and her mom sent me text messages - in fact Puan Nur even said "rindu lama tak jumpa". Yeah right, macamlah dulu selalu sangat jumpa... :-)

Murni called me a few days before raya. At first I thought she had a favour to ask from me. Most of my clients would usually call me only when they need something. But no, Murni called simply to ask how I was doing, and also to convey her raya wishes to me. How sweet of her.

Fuzi, Asiah and Anita too sent me text messages. However, Anita sent me not one, but a few SMS. First to reply my raya wish to her. Then to tell me that Kak Ana (whom she now has started calling Mama) had brought her and her son shopping for baju raya. Then to say that Papa (Kak Ana's hubby) made some nasi impit. Then to ask me when I'd be coming to visit them at the home. I told her I was busy with my own family so I wouldn't be able to visit her anytime soon.

Yesterday she called me again, to ask what I was doing, and when I'd be coming to visit. Aduuuh...

At first it occurred to me that maybe Anita kept on asking when I'd be visiting because she doesn't like it at the shelter home. But come to think of it, her text messages about going shopping for raya etc made it sound as though she was quite excited with the whole experience. I guess her own Raya prior to this had never been as meriah for her.

And I noticed that Anita has started calling me Kak Afizah. Before this she kept calling me Cik Afizah despite me describing myself as kakak everytime I spoke to her. In fact, in her text messages before this, she kept spelling my name as Encik Afizah - I was wondering why at first... but then I remembered Anita never went to a proper school. The fact that she knows how to read is good enough, so I'm not going to complain about her using the wrong words or salutations...

Anyway, I intend to go for my raya visits this weekend, starting with Sofie's family. For one thing, her place is nearer than the shelter home Anita is staying in. In addition to that, Sofie's 7 year old daughter had asked earlier if I'd be coming to visit them for Raya. So yeah, I'll visit Sofie's family first.

The rest... maybe after I complete my puasa enam...