Cik Asrah

Some of us, at one phase in our lives must have experienced this. Either you had your grandma, your mom, your Dad or your aunts taking care of you when you were young. Later it could have been a distant relative, a Siamese maid or followed by an Indonesian maid.

Which group did you belong to? I was raised by my mom and Dad, but I could have been influenced by many others from the extended family. There were my aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters, girl cousins and boy cousins. Most imortant there was the matriach, my only Grandma that I knew in my lifetime.

When my late eldest sister was married, she had her eldest son in 1964 (I think). When her son was around 6 years of age, she also had a daughter two years younger and that was when she had a distant relative through marriage to stay in with her family to take care of her children. Cik Asrah, was the second sister to my first cousin's husband. My late sister had 5 children of which the first three were born close to each other in the second half of the sixties and the two youngest children born in the mid seventies. Cik Asrah took care of the children while my sister, a teacher, was at work. She went beyond taking care of my sister's children as there were others who stayed in that family house at different stages. My sister and bro in law took in so many of us as and when we needed their help. Cik Asrah always had to cook extra food.

When someone takes care of the family for more than 15 years, the person cannot be thought of as any other but family. I stayed with her when I lived with my sister for a year before I was married. Cik Asrah is now 85 years old and her memory of those days with my sister's family is still clear in her mind. My late sister's children still visit her in Rengit until today. Happy that the children still remembers her even after my sister has left us more than 9 years ago.

Cik Asrah's sister who lived in the same house had just passed away recently. She lives alone in the big house now but her younger sister and her nephew lives next door to her. May Allah takes care of her in her old age. Thank you Cik.