Thankful.....

While thinking of writing what to write, one word came to my mind i.e "syukur" or "thankful".  You see, there were so many "might have been..." or "occurances" in my live.  You will know what I meant after you read what I have written below.

First story:

Kimanis

Why the above ship? Well, I tried to find the cargo ship called Kimanis (as per what my sister told me) which we travelled on (my mom, sisters and a brother) to Kucing, Sarawak.  My dad and elder brother didn't travelled with us due to my brother was at school.  I don't know whether it was the same ship, but let's it just leave it there for the sake of my story and for your mind to wonder.

You see, at that time I was around 2 years of age.  We went there to visit my mother's side of the families. During that time, the travelled took weeks and/or months.  And according to my sister they were sleeping on deck sharing with everybody (no cabins and don't know at what level), the cheapest probably.  You can easily get to know people around you and to entertain themselves, they were people who brought guitars, etc on board.  So these so called entertainers, asked my sisters (age 6 and 4 years) to dance whenever they played music.  On this particular occasion they danced to the twist!  After the performance, the two of them followed one of the guy to the cargo areas to see the animals (e.g. buffaloes, cow, goats, chickens, ducks, etc).  I was not allowed to go as I was still small.  Finally, when I saw them coming out on top of the stairs after the tour, I followed them.  I told them "Laut!  Laut!".  I was excited because I wanted to see the big ocean.

At the same time, my sister heard on the speaker that we were to reach the port soon.  Following behind my sisters I wonder to the rail and hold the rope with both hands to see the big ocean.  Somehow when my sister turned around and saw me, I was already hanging on to the rope with one hand only and was danggling and swaying. My sister panic and called for help.  Luckily a chinese guy passed by who was happily humming a song.  My sister said he said something in chinese #%$@ (ayo ..yo..maybe??) when he saw me dangling.  He helped to pull me back in.  It was chaos by then and my 4 year old sister told my mom about the incident.  The incident that day was the talk of the nite.  After that incident, both my sisters were never allowed to walk about on the ship until we reached our destination.  All this time, my elder sister (13 years of age) never left the deck because she was seasick.

Second story:

example of how the houses looked like

Don't know how many days after we reached Kucing Sarawak, we were staying with my aunty (my mom youngest sister).  The pic above is considered a good structure, but in those days, the steps to go up to the house was wide apart like the Long House style.  One day, I wanted to go down the stairs.  My mom went out to visit her other relatives.  My aunt and sisters were left to look after us.  They were playing inside and didn't realised I had wondered out to the stairs.  I probably misplaced my footing (I was 2 remember?), I feel down through the stairs to the muddy swampy ground.  They heard me crying and everyone rushed outside to get me.  I was lucky because it was low tide then and there were no pointed tree trunks, sharp objects, snakes or crocodiles.  In those area, my sister said there were crocodiles and snakes around.  My sister said during out stay there, she ever saw during high tide, a python was swept away by the strong current.  She also saw a crocodile under the house during low tide.  The houses in those days were built near the river for easy acces to water.  My mom was angry and she punished my sisters.  When we left Kucing, my uncle followed and accompanied us back (so that I didn't fall again).  When my dad knew of this, they organised a thanks giving ceremony for our safe return. 

Third story:

Whenever my father was free he would bring us to Miri to visit his side of the family.  And we used to have this landrover (the green type) which my father drove to go there.  One time, I was sitting at the back with my siblings and didn't hold on to anything.  As the road was sandy and wavy, most of us would be thrown up, down and sideways.  Of course for kids, this was fun!  At one time, I was sitting at the far end, I  nearly felt from the land rover.  Somehow one way or the other I have these near misses.  Of course my sisters were blame for not taking care of me.  And during our trip, whenever my father noticed that we quarrelled in the car, even though he already drove half way or near the destination, he would just simply turned the car around and went home.  Then we would all be quiet all the way.

Fourth Story:



When I was a child (maybe 6 or 8 years of age), my great grandmother (my dad called her nek Pasah) passed away.

As far as I can remember was that I have this memory of being under water, but I couldn't recall the whole story.  Only recently my sister told me that when we went to our great grand mother's funeral, my eldest sister wanted to go to the bridge behind the house at Kampong Baru in Miri.  She and one of our relative wanted to see the dead buffalo in the river.  My 2nd sister followed her.  I heard of it and I wanted to follow too.  My 2nd sister was asked to look after me.

So we went to the bridge, it was high tide and we went till the far end of the bridge near to the deeper end of the river.  While my eldest sister were standing and talking with our relative, my 2nd sister and I sat down.  My feet touched the murky water.  My sister said, I kept trying to reach out to touch the water and she kept on telling me not to do it.  Somehow I think I over stretched, then splash.....and I felt into the river.  My sister said she saw my feet kicking trying to keep afloat ( I didnt' know how to swim yet). 

Several times I went under water and I opened my eyes.  I could see in the murky water the dead buffalo being swept away slowly by the current which my sisters were talking about. I didn't know what happen to my sisters up on the bridge (must be panicking and screaming).  She told me they kept a look out for my head, and when they saw my head, they grabbed my hair.  They tried several times.  They tooked me back to the house and after I was bathed, we went home.  All I know my 2nd sister was scolded and punished by my eldest sister.  My mom punished them both.  My dad were also angry with both my sisters.

Fifth story:

During school holidays my father would bring us to visit places of interest in the capital e.g museum etc.  I remember we were in a car in the capital.  I was sitting behind the driver.  My dad normally didn't drive fast.  Somehow on one of the corner, when he turned left suddenly my door swung open.  In those days there were no seat belts.  I was nearly thrown out of the car if it had not been for someone who grabbed me.  I was terrified.  If I had fallen out and if there was a car coming from the opposite direction, I might have been......  My father slowed down and stopped the car on the side of the road and closed the door properly.  I was really quiet after that and sitting very still.

It was after these incidents above, and knowing I always fell and somehow cheated death, my parents decided that if there were to be any functions only my dad would go.

After learning of what had happened to me with all those near misses, that is why I am very very thankful to Allah that I get to live till now, married and have kids of my own.  Probably, It was not my time yet .....as ALLAH has plans for me. 

Dengan nama Allah yang Maha Pengasih dan Pemurah
Segala puji bagi Mu Ya Allah
Aku bersyukur kepada Mu atas nikmat yang Kau limpahkan kepada ku

Aku mohon di beri kesihatan agar dapat beribadat kepada Mu

Aku mohon agar tetap dalam agama mu

Kau ampunkan lah aku Ya Allah

Kau terima lah taubat ku Ya Allah

Jauh kan lah kami dari fitnah hidup, fitnah mati, fitnah kubur, fitnah dajjal and azab api neraka

Sesungguhnya aku adalah hamba Mu yang lemah