She's born in 1956, in a big family, in a small house, in a small kampung. Her father was a bus driver, a thin, black man with tiredness all over his face. Her mother was a housewife, anak mami but with fair complexion. She has 16 siblings, step-siblings as her mother married twice and true-siblings, but both are treated equally.
How could they be treated differently? There's not much food in the kitchen, no space enough to sleep luxuriously, no money to buy decent clothes, no tv, no radio, and soon enough, no mother. Yes, all the 16 lost their beloved mother, at child age. No mom's love, could u imagine 16 small kids without a mom's love?
Love is another thing. How could she live without someone to cook a decent, simple lunch and dinner? Yes, it's only lunch & dinner, no in-between food. And who will help wash all the clothes, the dishes, clean the house? Who will tell the siblings to stop fighting with each other? Who will wipe dirt from her face after she fall? Who?
It's lucky that she has 2 sisters, one step-sister and the other one is just her sister, so they helped with everything. Although, not as perfect as her mother would.
You see among the 16, most of them are boys. And they get rough. They'll conquer the dinner, until there's only rice left. They'll make her wash their clothes & iron it, all sorts of thing u can imagine. Not the boys fault anyway, they have no one to tell them, stop bullying their sister.
The father you said? He's so busy with something we call earning some decent penny. To feed all 16, oh 17 including him. He don't even had time to search for his wife's replacement.
Back to her, so being in such a rough life with the boys, she did learn something : you must do what's needed to survive, no chickening, be firm.
So one day, you knowlah the villagers back then, they loved to accused mom-less children for any menace done in the kampung. So, her brothers were accused for stealing fruits from someone's tree. She knew it was not true.
She went face to face with the makciks, and told them to stop their cruel accusation. That's a girl who was born in 1956, and she's only 5. No girl told makciks that they're wrong in 1961, it is considered rude. But the hell she care, she stood for the right things.
Next day, she wore skirt (the one she managed to loan from her sister), knee level skirt. And she played badminton (also loaned), with her friends, in front of the makciks. Just to let them know, she could do anything she wanted to do, anything that she feels right. Note that skirts are prohibited in 1961, especially in kampung.
Oh, from that moment forward she tell herself that she won't iron her brother's cloth anymore. It's charcoal iron, it's heavy and took a lot of work. So she refuse.
Her father got so mad of her, he refuse to give her, her daily school allowance. That's 5cent anyway. But remember, in 60's 5cents is her lunch, as she has to walk almost 7-8Km to school. But she has planted in her mind, that she'll never do things that she doesn't want to do, plus her brother should do it himself. So, she accept the punishment, and she received 0 cent for a year.
A year! until her father knew that she is somebody he should never take into granted.
I could go forever tell you many stories of her boldness. But it is more appealing to tell everyone, what happen to our bold, brave, outspoken girl now.
She has 5 children, 3 boys and 2 girls, and she's still married to a handsome, romantic man. At age 53, still working and earning quite an amount of money. She could eat whatever she want now, could buy fancy clothes, own cars (quite a brand she own, u know), own house and everything she has always dreamt of.
Most importantly, she took care of her health, so she could spend a lot of time with her children. She has always knew how it feels to lose a mother. She has always wanted to be a good mother, so she listens to her children.
Remember that she's outspoken? So, whenever her children needs a shoulder to cry on, or advice on a fork road, she'll tell them straight away what she thinks about it, no censor, no mushy words. Because to her, that's what they need. Some spanked in the head, and they'll realize that this world, is not made of candy and sweets.
She's a child of Ahmad and Zaharah. And her name - Refeah. Born 18/8/1956, in Kampung Batu Berangkai, Kampar Perak. 53 years of her age, but if you see her personally, she seemed like a 40 years old woman.
53 years of life, and she's the only woman I see that act what she says. She's the first woman I see, when I first come to this world. She's the woman who's been carrying me for 9 months, and has to be transferred from hospitals to hospitals because back then, limited hospitals could do vacuum delivery. How did she manage the pain?
She would, because she's my Mak, she has always manage any pain. 53 years of life, and Allah has answered her prayers, i think most of it. I've always one prayer I'd request Allah to grant it, pls make her life happy, and make her after life happy.
Mak, happy birthday! And no, i'm not crying.
