Mami - Part 1

Untuk anak-anak mami, kakak, adik and baby:

As you already knows, the date that mami was born kan, and mami was borned in Hospital Muar at 8.30 friday morning by your grandmother, rabeah hussin. after a week, atok abah named me alida, he said short name is easier to remember, hehehe... bukan macam nama kakak ngan nama adik kan, Fara Athirah, Sarah Imanina, Qiara Arissa,sedap nama anak2 mami, tu mami ngan daddy punya idea...

then i was raised up by atok mak and atok abah, after two years mak ngah came along and so on until lah sepuluh orang adik beradik mami....phew...kesian atok mak!!!

as i often told you, mami bukan dari keluarga yang ada2 kan, hidup susah, tok abah kerja tak tetap, sampailah atok abah dapat kerja kat istana johor bahru, masa tu mami baru berumur 2 tahun. first time atok abah dapat gaji, gi shopping sampai abis duit, malam tu mami lapar, perut bunyi2, mami cakap ngan atok mak, "mak, ida laparlah mak" dan masa tu cuma ada biskut kering aje kat rumah, no choice, mami makan biskut kering tu aje lah, everytime tok mak tell me this story, i can see her wet eyes looking at me, sedih sangat, after that they both learnt to buy things for the kitchen first before spending the salary on other things.

we stayed in pasir pelangi for nearly 5 years and moved to kg. bakar batu after tok abah got a new job at MBJB. atok abah rented a house. the house doesnt have water pipe so atok mak had to carry clean water from the well nearby our rented house, and as an eldest, mami had to help atok mak to carry the water, took care of my siblings (masa tu mak ngah and pak uda aje yang ada, kami tiga beradik, you all tak kenal pak uda coz dia meninggal when he was just 6 years old). he was eager to start standard one the next year but he passed away of asthma just few weeks before school started. he is in heaven now, Alfatihah untuk anuar mahmod, my beloved brother.

life went on as usual, mami went to school, sekolah rendah kebangsaan kg. bakar batu dari darjah 3. oh ya before that, mami lupa nak cerita, i was sent to segamat to stay with nenek kamsiah, i stayed with nenek for 2 years and then return back to tok mak and tok abah. i dont remember the reasons that i was sent to nenek kamsiah. will ask atok mak about this.

after 1 year rented the house there, we moved again to another house in the same kg bakar batu, located nearby the school, and we became very close to the landlord. the landlord is atok timah and atok rahman, parents to uncle AMY SEARCH. they were very nice and kind towards our family and we became their family until today. we still visit atok timah. atok rahmah passed away while we were in milan.

after 4 years in kg bakar batu, we moved to larkin, i started my from one in SETA (Sultanah Engku Tun Aminah School) but for only a year before we moved back to Muar as tok abah got a new job at MDMS (Majlis Daerah Muar Selatan). Masa ni mak uda ngan pak andak telah dilahirkan.

kat sekolah muar tu, af first i was not so happy, muar was not the same as JB kan. after awhile i managed to make my school days interesting. involved with so many activities, singing contests, nashid, choir, ghazal, sports, you name it, my name were all around. you know they even call me SINGA (SINGER) sebab mami garang, i was also a prefect, librarian, etc etc. so mami harap when we got back to malaysia nanti, you should also be active in school, so that you can enjoy your school days my dear...

throughout my years in sekolah menengah pt. raja muar johor, so many sweet and fond memories that i still preserve until today, my ambitious was to be a stewardess or a singer or even a model. tapi satu pun tak menjadi, but i still sing until today...pocket money mami until form 5 hanyalah 20 sen saja..pagi pegi dengan perut kosong, bawak bekal air masak aje ke sekolah, petang dalam pukul 2 mami sampai rumah, terus tidor penat sebab kayuh basikal ke sekolah, bangun tidur baru makan kadang2 pukul 6 petang baru makan. itulah sekali aje mami makan dalam sehari, badan pun melidi aje masa tu.
tapi dengan duit 20 sen, mami sempat main kutu dengan kawan2, bila time mami dapat duit, kalau tak silap mami 12 ringgit, mami beli t-shirt dengan duit tu, punyalah bangganya sebab beli dengan duit saving sendiri. tapi yang mami akan ingat sampai bila2 ialah bila one time tu mami mintak duit dengan tok abah nak beli buku rujukan, atok abah kata "aku mana ada duit? ko ingat aku cop duit", tak dapat ditahan, airmata mami meleleh turun dari pipi, selepas daripada tu, mami tak pernah mintak duit untuk beli buku sekolah dengan tok abah. moral of the story anak2 ku, hargailah apa yang you all ada sekarang, coz im able to give you more, but please beringat2 ok. everything must have a limit.

di sekolah adalah juga cinta2 monyet ni, i got one boyfriend who was so seriously want me to be his life partner, but tok abah tak suka, nama dia azmi. tok abah kenal parents azmi and he knows something that i do not know, until now. after spm, he visited me at home few times, but the last time he visited i was not at home and tok abah said, i got a new job in JB. never heard from him after that. do not know what exactly atok abah said to him. but mami was in muar at that time, cuma tak ader di rumah masa dia datang.

then, to help the family, mami helped tok mak buat kuih, jual kat warung2, itu mami buat masa malam, masa siang mami kerja kat kilang perabut, habis kasar2 tangan mami, balik rumah tak macam orang, rambut penuh dengan habuk papan. tapi mami happy sebab every end of the month, mami bawak balik duit ke rumah, tolong atok mak ngan atok abah, rumah kita masa tu takder tv, takder sofa, takder dining table...syedihnyer....
but pasal mami kerja, mami managed to buy those things in instalment... padahal gaji masa tu kecik aje, tapi mami tak kisah, dari duduk rumah goyang kaki, baik mami kerja tolong parents mami kan.

one fine day in 1984, kawan sekolah mami datang dan suggested me to apply uitm - secretarial course. i did and was called for an interview. pegi interview, satu hamba Allah tu kata, pakai tudung, nanti kalau tak pakai tak pass interview. mami pun pakai. ceh tak dapat pun. yang pegi interview course tu sumer bogel kepala, yalah nak jadi sekretari kan. so i tried one more time, this time tanpa tudung, and my hair was so long, cantiklah rambut mami masa tu, sampai budak2 yg interview sama pun puji rambut mami, tapi rambut aje lah...hahahaha... Alhamdulillah, i got it.
and in year 1985 mami started a new life being a student in uitm segamat.

will continue in Mami Part 2 (i will try to scan and post few photos of myself during my school days ok)