:: Flood in Hulu Langat, my village! ::

Salam peeps..

I have been dreading this post. Its heart-wrenching just thinking about it.

Last Thursday, I received a shocking news about my aunt's house in hulu langat. When my mom told me "Rumah acik banjir.. mak nak gi tengok dia ni.." I was like "Ok.. acik kat rumah ke?" My mom then said "Tak la.. dia kat sekolah, penempatan sementara mangsa banjir.. rumah dia tenggelam sampai bumbung". My jaw dropped. I asked my mom to wait for me. I wanted to go.

You see, Kg Sg Serai in Hulu Langat is a known flood prone area. There are floods almost every year. They have 'dalamkan sungai', clean all the drainage etc but still, flood happens every year.. Ok, I can almost hear you saying things like "Apsal dok situ lagi? Dah tau kawasan banjir, pindah la tempat lain.." Easy right? Not! My aunty is a tailor (a great one) and my uncle is working the land around their home. They are currently living on a 'tanah pusaka' which is owned by their siblings (my mom has given her part to my aunty since she is the one who is maintaining the land, and since she needs it more of course). She has no EPF or Pencen or a big fat bank account. She lives humbly with his husband, sewing mostly baju kurung for money, at home. She doesnt own big cars or goes all over the world to travel or buy expensive clothes.. Seriously, where would she have the money to buy a new house for her to live? She cant even apply for a bank loan, she doesnt have a payslip. Her husband cant either.

Anyway, on our way to Hulu Langat, the road was jammed. Traffic was bad. Our guess was that the road was still flooded. True enough, a few hundred metres from the school, police officers were busy diverting traffic. We told the police that we were going to visit out relative in the school and he let us in..

The condition in the school was chaotic. JKM social workers were busy doing their stuff, reporters snapping pictures here and there, bomba were helping out and a few of other volunteers were just trying to lessen everyone's burden. Mak and me peeked in the first dewan, acik was not there. we went up and peeked into another dewan and saw acik sitting on a chair in 'kain pelekat' and 'baju kurung kedah' (coutesy of JKM). She looked so tired. It turned out she was up the whole night. She couldnt sleep because of her aching back (she has slip disc u see). I looked around, every family had a toto for the them to sleep on and a few pillows each family. My aunty had none! Beside her, a family of four, had a toto for the to share and they had 6 pillows! SIX!!! The parents are both very 'warak' looking. The husband with 'celak' and 'janggut', the wife with her 'tudung labuh' till the knee, complete with 'purdah'. Astagfirullah!!! Apa la salahnya ko bagi sabijik bantal kat makcik aku! Astagfirullah! 

I have nothing against people with purdah and celak. In fact, i love people who practice Islam as their way of life. But please la.. practice Islam whole-heartedly.. Ikhlas! As far as I know, Islam encourages us to be courteous, not self-centered. Islam teaches us to care for the elderly, to put people in need before us. Dont just wear celak and purdah and call yourself a pious muslim.. Wallahualam. 

Anyway, later that day, Dato Sri Shahrizat came. She saw my mom and immediately said hi to her. Its amazing how she can remember my mother's name in the first place. At least I know my mother made an impact as the penolong ketua pengarah JKM, so much so the big boss recognize her from the get go. 

Then, we decided to go and look at acik's house. its still flooded but we decided to just go in. We had to park the car by the road side and waddle ourselves in towards the house. The water was still as high as my thigh. God knows whats in the water. At some point my mom thought she saw buaya! But alhamdulillah nothing happened. We got into the house and the condition was seriously not as I expected. The mud was so thick, you had to use a shovel to remove it. The fridge was upside down, everything was damaged. We were trying hard to salvage whatever we can but sadly nothing can be salvaged. NOTHING! The sad thing is, Acik kept on saying "Sayangnya kain2 orang ni.." Then she continued cleaning and said "Alahai kain orang ni.. dia nak kawin minggu depan". I can only imagine her agony. How do you explain to people that their baju nikah is damaged and you cant replace it because you have no money? I can only imagine. I'm sure acik is heart-broken.

All her mesin jahit were damaged and so does her career as a tailor. If she were to replace the mesin, she would need at least RM2000++. I have no money to offer her but I did offer her my home. I told her she can stay in my house in bangi as long as she wants. At least there, there's a warm bed for her to sleep on, dry sofa, working kitchen and bathroom. She refused of course. She wants to stay in her own house and clean her stuff. I persisted but she kept on saying no so I let it go.

Well, later that night, we had a family meeting. Abah told us all to help with what we can. Again i told abah i have no money to offer but I can offer my energy and my home for acik and pakcik. Abah will be buying her fridge and tv, mak will but her mesih jahit. It wont make acik's pain disappear but I'm sure it can more or less lessen her burden. 

The thing I remember from this incident, when mak was with acik, She said, "Sah, kalau udo ni jutawan, udo belikan kau rumah kat tompek lain.. sedih udo tengok kau macam ni.." Acik's tears immediately rolled down her cheek. At that moment, I truly understand the meaning of the word 'sisterhood'.