SELAMAT HARI IBU

MIGRANT MOTHER (1936)
Florence Owens Thompson (age 32) at the times of the Great Depression. She was the mother of 7 and she struggled to survive with her kids catching birds and picking fruits. Dorothea Lange took the picture after Florence sold her tent to buy food for her children. It breaks my heart when I first looked at this picture. She stared at the uncertainty of what tomorrow brings. Where will her children sleep tonight? How long will the food last? How can I make life easier for my children.

These thoughts will run through my head if I was her. Like every mother in the world, your children are second to none. They are always first in your thoughts.

 

 

My mother, kak wok, selalu cakap;  “Biar mak tak makan asal anak-anak kenyang. Dalam mulut pun mak sanggup keluarkan!” Mak, that is how I feel now that I am too a mother.

 

Mak was born to a Chinese couple and like most of the baby Chinese girls who were born during the Japanese Occupation, she was adopted by a childless Malay couple. Her father, Tn Hj Mohd Rashid bin Hj Mohd Jadi, was a ‘ nazir sekolah’, a respectable occupation during that time. The Japanese respected him and he got all the perks from them too.

Her father was a very loving father unlike her mother who was the garang one. To quote my mother;  “Kalau Wan tu tak garang tak pandailah mak ni masak dan buat kerja rumah bagai!’’. But in all her stories, the way her mother disciplined her was harsh, I think. Sometimes she was treated more like a maid in the house. I once asked her “ Mak punya mak tu tak sayang kat mak ke ?” This was her reply, “ Sayang! Mak manja sebenarnya, mewah dengan barang emas, pakaian dan dapat pergi sekolah bagai”. I guess that’s how orang dolu-dolu showed their loves to their children.

How times changed. Nowadays the children are more thankful if you showered them with all the e-gadgets. Tak pandang pun dengan emas, berlian ni.

But I guess my mother counted her blessings. She is grateful enough to have a roof on her head and food to eat everyday, although she usually ate only once a day!  And more importantly she did go to sekolah omputih until standard 7! (private school tau). Being the only child, my atuk did not allow my mother to continue her studies for standard 8 onwards in Seremban which is 20 km from Jelebu.

My mother, known as the ‘precious wok’ to her father is 73 years old now. She is now OUR PRECIOUS MAK. She is also THE MOST LOVING AND EMOTIONAL WAN to her 9 grandchildrens. In all her life she has survived the loss of her first born daughter in 1958 (that was really tough coz my kak long was 4 at that time), the loss of abah in 2006 and most recently the loss of her son, my angah in 2008.  Allah tidak akan menguji hambaNya dengan dugaan yang tidak mampu dia tanggung.

Mak was indeed a very strong woman. Stay strong and healthy, mak.

Maklah satu-satunya tempat saya meminta doa setiap kali saya lemah. Mak jugalah sumber kekuatan dalam hidup saya ini. Ya Allah, ampunkan dosa ibuku, sihatkanlah ibuku, panjangkan umurnya, berkatikanlah hidupnya dunia dan akhirat dan hadiahkan ibuku, ya Allah dengan syurga Firdausi. AMIN.

Saya sangat - sangat sayang mak saya. Alhamdulillah pada setiap hari yang Allah beri untuk saya bersama-sama mak saya.




SELAMAT   HARI   IBU   UNTUK   SEMUA   IBU  DI  DUNIA   INI.


Hmmmmm…… bertuahnya pada sesiapa yang masih dapat merasakan pelukan hangat  IBU…….