Poor Sofie…

It had been more than a month since I last went to visit Sofie and her children. The last visit was about a week before Raya. By yesterday Raya was already over, so I didn’t get to visit them during Raya month.

Yesterday I finally managed to slot in some time to visit them. It was end of the month anyway, time for grocery delivery. So yes, first thing was to buy the groceries. I still have ample funds donated by friends to be used for this purpose.

This time I decided to visit in the afternoon. When I got to their house, Sofie’s youngest, Ika, was already smiling at the door, with a cup of ice-cream in her hand. Her brothers were not back from school yet. So only Ika helped to unload the groceries from my car. I took care of the heavier stuff while Ika carried the smaller and lighter stuff. Sofie herself was limping. She had been working hard to earn some income for her family.

Somehow the news I got this time wasn’t pleasing to my ears, particularly on Azman, Sofie’s second son. The boy who is sitting for his PMR this year, according to Sofie is already planning to stop schooling and work after his PMR. Even during the year he had already skipped school from time to time, giving all sorts of excuses. His interest is simply not in school. Before this he did mention to his mother that he wanted to go to a particular sekolah pondok. Now he says he wants to work. Sigh…

I had been trying my best to stress to them on the importance of education for the betterment of their future, but I guess these kids don’t think long term.

I asked Sofie if Azman had any special interests. His older brother too had earlier on been planning to start working immediately after his SPM, but I told him to at least take a short course or something in a field where his interest lies. Good to know that now he plans to register at a nearby Kolej Komuniti.

According to Sofie, Azman loves cooking. And at one time when Sofie got fed-up and told Azman that there was a vacancy at a canteen to help wash the dishes, Azman didn’t want the job. He wanted a job where he could help with the cooking. Hmmm… so maybe he can take up a course related to that… like hotel & catering maybe? Or any culinary related courses.

There was another piece of news about Azman that wasn’t pleasant to my ears. Recently he befriended another 15 year old boy who managed to “borrow” an uncle’s motorbike, one without road tax. With Azman as main rider and the friend as pillion, they rode the motorbike in town only to confront a police roadblock. Knowing well they were in the wrong, they tried to escape… only to end up in the drains. Needless to say, they got caught.

When the police called up Sofie to tell her to come to the police station, Sofie got so fed up initially she told the policeman to just let Azman sleep in the lockup. She was unwell, she was tired. But the policeman managed to coax Sofie to come. According to him, the uncle of the friend who owns the motorbike was fuming mad at the police station and he was putting the blame totally on Azman (as though Azman would be able to get the motor without his nephew’s help).

So yes, Sofie did finally go to the police station. There were some damage done to the motorbike, for which Sofie had to pay for, which came up to almost RM100. For someone like Sofie, that’s a big amount. But the uncle (and his wife) did not stop there. They had been pestering Sofie to pay for repairs to the engine as well. Thank goodness one of the policemen told Sofie that the engine had already been problematic all the while, so Sofie refused to pay for that. Apparently the boy (Azman’s friend) is a “regular” at the police station, with various types of offences.

Whatever it is, since Azman is under-aged, didn’t have a license and the motorbike he rode didn’t have a road tax, he wasn’t offered a compound notice. The notice he got was to appear in court. Only then will Sofie be able to appeal for some leniency. Sofie had already told Azman to work part-time after his PMR so he’d be able to pay for whatever fine that will be imposed.

Too bad Azman wasn’t home when I visited yesterday. I would have given him a piece of my mind.

I know Azman is not a bad boy. Yes, he may be a bit of the mischievous type, but despite not having any interest in his studies, I find that he is ever willing to help out with any other activities. As a matter of fact, he came with me to one of the exhibitions and he was of great help. And I do know he does care about his mother.

I don’t know how he got involved with the problematic friend. I may need to talk to him face to face after his PMR. Probably the best thing is to keep him busy with activities which are of interest to him. Maybe sign him up for a culinary course.

Poor Sofie… she already had enough problems before this…

Today’s cases…

The moment I walked into the HIV clinic this morning, SN told me about the guy whose transportation to a shelter home in Penang was sponsored by us some time ago. The guy ended up leaving the shelter home just like that without even notifying the management of the place. I guess all he wanted was a place to stay where he could do as he liked without being subjected to rules and regulations.

According to SN, the guy passed away last Sunday. I asked SN who claimed his body since he was homeless. SN never thought about that. She said she’d check with the mortuary to find out.

There were supposed to be 3 new cases today but when I first got to the clinic, none had turned up yet. But it didn’t take long before the first case was referred to me. One of the junior nurses at the HIV clinic came in and behind her was a guy on a wheelchair helped by another nurse from a district hospital where the guy had been hospitalised for the past month.

Nizam was initially hospitalised for Hep C and TB, and subsequent tests found him to be HIV infected. In addition, he was also diagnosed with cerebral toxoplasmosis.

Well, he didn’t talk much. Even the questions I asked, he’d just give me a single word answer. I ended up just giving him our brochure and the number to call in case one day he needed to talk to someone.

The next case referred was Lim, a guy in his early 50’s who couldn’t speak much Malay. I was on duty alone today so didn’t have any Chinese-speaking volunteer to help me out. Luckily Lim came with his brother who could at least speak broken Malay.

Lim had been diagnosed HIV+ since 2 years ago when he was working overseas. He had already been on HAART before he came back to Malaysia and so his case wasn’t really a new case. I didn’t really have to brief him about HIV as he was already well informed. But with his asthmatic problem in addition to his HIV, is unable to work and while he is currently staying alone in a rented house (he is unmarried), his financial needs are being covered by his siblings. Since the siblings aren’t well off either, the brother was hoping some sort of welfare help could be arranged for Lim.

Next case referred was another single Chinese guy, in his late 50’s. Again, this wasn’t a newly diagnosed case. Tan had been diagnosed since more than ten years ago and had been going for his follow ups in KL but when he moved back to Ipoh to stay with his mother, he didn’t bother to get a referral letter and so didn’t go for any more follow-ups until recently when he finally decided he’d better arrange to see the doctor so he could start on his HAART soon enough if his CD4 level plunged.

While I was still talking to Tan, SN walked in with another guy to be referred to me. Again, this wasn’t a newly diagnosed case. But according to SN, he needed to talk to someone about the future of his wife and children.

Imran was diagnosed HIV+ since a few years ago and had been on HAART for 3 years. Ever since diagnosed, Imran had been working hard to earn some income for his family and did so quite successfully by setting up his own small business, with the help of his wife. However, of late he had been unwell, easily feeling tired… sometimes to the extent that he had to close shop as early as noon. This had affected his business and so Imran is worried what would happen to his wife and children should he die in the near future. With 3 children, all still in primary school, they have a long way to go to complete schooling.

I assured Imran that we should be able to help out with the children’s schooling. Just as I was about to suggest that he employs someone to help out with his business, Imran mentioned about wanting to employ a worker so that the business can still continue even when he’s not around, but for the moment he doesn’t have enough capital to do so. He had gone to a bank to apply for a loan. Loan was approved but he needed a guarantor, something he couldn’t get. I suggested to him to seek assistance from agencies like MARA to help out.

I could see that Imran wanted to say more to me, but by this time he already had tears in his eyes. He somehow felt that his time will come in the not so distant future and he’s afraid he won’t be able to put the business on track for his wife to just take over when the time comes…

Kondom bocor?

Just as my friends and I were about to make a move from Ipoh for our Belum-Temenggor trip last weekend, a call came in on my handphone with the MI ringtone.  It was Mrs K. At first  I thought it could be another one of her attempt to try and borrow money, but then I remembered, although she’d fail in her attempt each time, usually when she tries to borrow money, she’d use SMS. When I answered her call, she asked…

“Kak, nak tanya sikit lah kak. Malam tadi saya adalah bersama dengan Abang *** (hubby’s name). Pas tu kondom bocor lah kak, macam mana ni?”

*Just for the record, Mrs K had so far been tested negative although Mr K had been diagnosed HIV+ for more than 4 years now.

Oh dear, that was the second time she asked me the same question. Don’t they ever learn?

Told her what is done cannot be undone. She will have to wait a while and then go for testing. Mrs K was thinking that it would help if in the meantime she takes any antibiotics or something to that effect.

She then told me the whole story. Apparently Mr K is back into drugs and always short of money and Mrs K finally had it and asked for divorce. Mr K got angry and beat her up. As a result, Mrs K filed a police report and when she got home and told Mr K what she did, he pulled her into their bedroom and forced her to have sex with him.

Hmmm… I doubt it was a case of “kondom bocor” after all. They probably didn’t use condom at all.

When Shah, their eldest son, found out that his mother asked for divorce, all he said to her was that she should have done so long ago. Shah had always been angry with his father. To him his father was the cause of all the their family’s troubles.

Mrs K did mention that Mr K would be leaving the house that day (the day she called me) because he was afraid one of Mrs K’s brothers may come and beat him up. I’m not sure if that really took place since I have not heard any news from Mrs K since then. I don’t know if she tried to call me when I was in Belum… there was no phone reception most of the time anyway.

I will need to call her one of these days to find out more.

 

Belum? Sudah!

Day 1: My friends from KL promised to be at McD near the Ipoh Selatan exit at 8.30 am for them to stop for breakfast and for me to join them before heading to Banding Island. Since they weren’t too familiar with Ipoh, I figured I might as well give them the easiest landmark to look out for once they take the exit, and McD was simply so easy for them to spot after the exit.

By 9.30am, we made a move to Banding Island and made it there in about 2 hours. There we met up with the rest of the gang with the last one arriving at Banding at about 12.10 pm. Tom of Belum Eco-Resort was already there and since another group was there earlier, they went first in the 2 boats waiting to bring us to the resort. My group had to wait for the same boats to come back to fetch us.

We finally made a move from Banding jetty at 12.58pm…

Reached Belum Eco Resort at 1.16 pm…

left our bags at the houseboat which was our choice of accommodation…

and immediately went up to the dining deck for lunch.

After lunch, we went to the houseboat to freshen up and to do our solat jamak zohor/asar and by 2.56 pm off we headed to Pulau Talikail. Got there in about 10 minutes and started our trek up to the lookout tower.

The climb up took us about 40 minutes. After all the huffing and puffing, it was worth the climb! The view from up there was magnificent!

We spent about 20 minutes up there. Couldn’t stay too long as there were another 2 groups behind us and we could already hear the thunder. Getting down back to the boat took us about half an hour.

It was free and easy back at the houseboat while waiting for dinner time. After the climb up to the lookout tower, all the adults wanted to do was to rest. But the kids (the duracell bunnies) never seemed to get tired. They wanted to fish, they wanted to swim, they wanted to kayak. Oh dear! But nope, none of them got what they wanted. Not on day 1.

We had steamboat for dinner…

and after dinner we were shown a documentary on rafflesia.

Day 2: We woke up to a beautiful scene so serene…

The kids again begged… err no… pestered their parents to do this and that, but there was another island hopping trip in the morning, so the parents didn’t budge. After breakfast on day 2, we were in the motorboats again.

First stop, the rafflesia site, hoping to see a blooming rafflesia. The trekking wasn’t as strenuous as the climb to the lookout tower on day 1, but thank goodness I still decided to wear my trekking shoes. We still had to do some climbing here and there, it was quite slippery at certain parts, and there were leeches!

We got to see dead a dead rafflesia…

but no sight of any blooming rafflesia. We did however see rafflesia buds, which I wouldn’t have known what they were had I not come for this trip.

Our next destination was an Orang Asli village.

After a while, we left the island and headed off to our next destination. On the way we saw beautiful sceneries such as this one…

The only scene spoiling the trip was this… sheesh!!

Our next destination was the waterfalls. Saw all sorts of trees and plants while trekking to the waterfall site. It took us about half an hour from the boat to trek to the waterfall site…

Had a splashing time at the waterfall, albeit for a mere 35 or 40 minutes before we had to head back to the boat. While waiting at a shelter, for the gang behind me to catch up with us, a guy who I think works with WWF, came to us and said he wanted to show us something which can rarely be found… lantern bugs!

After the waterfall, we headed back to the resort. Got there at 2.30pm and immediately headed for lunch. Then back to the houseboat for our prayer and a short rest. The kids of course found the “rest” to be a waste of time. They wanted to swim! Thank goodness while they were pestering the parents, it rained!! So they didn’t have a choice, and the adults managed to get a short nap!

As promised, after the rain subsided, the children were given a chance to swim in the lake, with adult supervision. I wasn’t one of the adults supervising the kids… I had other plans for myself. I (with 3 others) went kayaking around the island…

and saw a beautiful rainbow while doing so…

After dinner, there was another documentary, this time on Royal Belum. Then it was back to the houseboat… chit chat… and zzzzz….

Day 3: Managed to catch the sunrise at Tasik Temenggor…

Breakfast is usually served after 8 am, and since I’m not the type to sleep after my subuh prayer, I decided to go kayaking once again before breakfast, this time bringing along my camera with a recharged battery (the day before the battery was already weak so I didn’t bring it along in the kayak with me). Besides, I had asked Steve, the owner of the resort, if there were any hornbills around, and he specified that the birds are usually seen at a certain part of the island in the morning around 7.30. So together with my same kayak partner, we went to that section of the island at about that time… and yes, we finally saw a few hornbills. Too bad my camera wasn’t good enough to shoot long distance objects…

Back at the houseboat, the kids finally got to do some fishing.

Well, somebody else went fishing and got the attention of a dragonfly instead…

For our journey back to Banding jetty, the owners of the resort decided to bring all 30 over guests at the resort in a houseboat (not the one I was staying in, but the one beside it). Since the houseboat takes longer, we had to make a move from the resort earlier. We departed from the resort at about 10.20 am…

(The one you can see in the picture was the houseboat we stayed in for 2 nights)

and reached Banding jetty an hour later…

I had a wonderful time. It was really worth the trip.

For those of you who love nature and adventure, I’d recommend you go there too.

Remembering 9/17

Year in, year out, people seem to remember 9/11.

Remember 9/17? Way back in 1982? In Sabra & Shatila?