2010 Flashback - Rojak story

January 2010

A new year began with a new bundle of joy. Arsh was just too adorable, too cute. The whole house was in love with him. But he came with a package... with a maid. I didn't really like the idea of having a stranger in my house, but with 3 kids and a thesis, a maid was a must.

My maid, Puji Astutik. arrived about 2 weeks after the birth of Arsh in December 2009. It was her first time to Malaysia.. actually it was the first time she went out of her kampung in Malang, Indonesia. Things started well. She's the kind of maid that I like.... she doesn't talk much, she prays, baca Quran and most importantly, she knew how to bawak diri. It was a blessing to have her, I thought baguslah budak ni.. boleh kerja lama.

Akan tetapi, panas tak selalunya sampai ke petang. Almost a month after she arrived, I brought her to do a medical check-up in order to get her a working permit. Unfortunately, the doctor found that she had some scars on her lungs indicating that she was once a TB sufferer, hence was deemed not fit to work. We couldn't believe it at first. Yalah... depa ni sebelum masuk Malaysia dah buat medical check-up, x-ray semua, kenapa pulak suddenly dah masuk Malaysia kata tak fit pulak. Then Puji told me, she did her x-ray twice in her country. The first time, she failed. Then the Dr asked her to go home for a few days and eat telur mentah. The second time, she passed. She believed that the telur mentah "cured" her disease. But sebenarnya, the second time punya report tu mmg palsu belaka, tidak ada yang tidak palsu melainkan yang palsu-palsu belaka. The doktor & agent telah menipu & menganiaya this poor fellow and ME of course. Patutlah dah bagi duit mula2 tak cukup, mintak lagi. Rupanya nak gunakan duit tu untuk suap the stupid Dr untuk tulis report tipu.

Our doctor advised us to send her home immediately. She said, pesakit TB ni macam time bomb. Bila2 masa aje kuman dia boleh teractivated semula. I was panic at first... risaulah kan since I have a baby at home. Aisey.... sementara nak hantar balik, terpaksalah dia dok rumah kita kan? The hardest part was to break the news to her. She cried.. she said she was beginning to feel comfortable with us, she really wanted to work to help her family and pleaded to us to let her stay. It was heart-breaking laa.. but what choice did we have?

By the way, I called the agent penipu, she said she would replace a new maid for us. She maintained her innocence, kata tak tahu apa2 lah, "buat apa saya nak menipu.. saya orang Islam... you orang Islam". Arghh... takkan ku terpedaya. But she said in order for her to replace her, I had to send Puji to her friend in KL (also a maid agent). I was like..... kenapa pulak nak kena hantar pada agent lain. Undang2 telah jelas mengatakan, maid yang tak pass x-ray mesti hantar balik. Then I terpikir, ohh.. dia nak recycle la this Puji. Hantar pergi rumah majikan baru, lepas tu majikan baru buat medical check up, tak pass then hantar ke rumah another new Majikan. I didn't want to follow her plan. How could I expose bekas pesakit TB ni pada orang lain, orang yang mungkin ada baby & small kids like me. She needed to be sent back to her country as soon as possible.

So we proceeded with our plan to send her home. yes, we lost so much. We spent about RM 5K to get her in. And since we had to send her back, kenalah beli duit tiket balik kan which costed us another few hundred bucks. She had worked for a month for us. Memanglah kalau nak pikirkan rugi duit sangat banyak, but we didn't have the heart not to give her gaji. So we paid her one month salary. Tak apalah... both hubby and I redha aje... Mungkin adalah hikmah disebalik semua ni.

Lepas Puji balik, maka bermulalah segala cabaran. I had a baby yang nak berkepit 25 jam, and a thesis to be completed. At first, I was still hopeful that the agent penipu would find a new maid for us. But memang dasar haram jadah (hah.. amik kau!... those who know me in person would know I would never ever swear at people but this agent penipu really deserves segala raja maki hamun di dunia), sampai ke sudah takde pengganti & takde refund. Memang sampai kiamat I tak halal walau satu sen pun. Sebenarnya banyak lagi story.. dalam RM5K yang I bagi tu dia kata nak bagi family Puji untuk menampung hidup mereka yang susah sementara Puji belum dapat gaji kan. Dia kata duit tu Puji dah guna beli kalung emas, beli ubat..... saya yang mendengar pun senang hati, seronok dapat tolong orang... But when I asked Puji, she said, takde emas, takde ubat.. itu semua cerita penglipurlara si Agent HJ.

It was definitely the most trying time for us. Well of course, Arsh memanglah supercute, superadorable, but he's also superclingy. He would only want to be nursed to sleep, and once asleep, janganlah cuba2 nak letak dia kat bawah. nescayalah dia akan bangun and merengek and mintak susu again, sampai tertidur. But I had to do my thesis right? So, what I did, I duduk bersila atas lantai, letak laptop atas coffee table. Bila Arsh dah tertido, I would slowly placed him on the pillow on my lap, and only then masa tu barulah tangan2 ni free untuk menaip thesis. Macam itulah caranya menulis thesis ketika dalam pantang. That was how I worked until my mom came in March for more than a month to help me with the baby, while I concentrate on my thesis. Ya Allah... lega sangat bila mak datang. I managed to get most things written during that period. Bila fikir2 balik my PhD journey ni, memang rasa perit sangat. I'm glad I finally managed to submit my thesis in October 2010. One burden lifted off my shoulder.. Alhamdulillah.

Looking forward to a brand new and brighter 2011!