A Groovy Kind of Beggar?

I was sitting at couch recently when my eyes caught up with an article by a well-known blogger in internet.

MALAYSIAN BEGGAR, RICHER THAN LIM GOH TONG (that's is the late Uncle Lim of Genting)!

I was laughing like hell to read this kind of article but it does make sense somehow someway. But who cares eh?

It reminds me one of the incident that occured when I was just a tiny 4 years old fella circa 1991. I was walking down the street near Sunshine Square, Bayan Baru with my mom when we stumbled upon a makcik with her baby dressing like a beggar.

Well, it was a normal sight in Penang at that time but my mom suddenly realise it was the same mak cik that beggging for people sympathy and money at night market near Bayan Lepas. What happen after that make me realised that I should be more careful in future lah when donating my money..

We walked to the nearest bus stop and my mom was taking out her 50 sen (mind you, 50 sen is so big for us that time since we are so damn poor) to give to her when suddenly, this poor makcik flagged down an old type Mercedes taxi.

WHAT THE HELL???

Yes, you are right, a makcik who begged at night market can flagged down a taxi while a normal citizen like us that time can afford to board Penang Yellow Bus.. Leh mah.

But then the story didn't end up there. God really want me to learned from this mak cik. As such, I bumped with her again when I move to my 4th house in space of two years. And guess what, this mak cik live in a two storey semi-detached house..

Yeap! The same makcik that I saw few years back.

I was staying near to her house and it was convienice a lot to go kepo-ing at her house that time. Furthermore this mak cik was so good to offer me varities of food. Seems like she have a bakery at her kitchen. :p

Well, it was not until I was 12 years old that I braved myself to asked her about the things.

And....

This makcik admitted that she was formerly a beggar at a lot of places. And by doing such things, she earned roughly around RM 400-600 per day and RM 1000 plus if on Friday.

OMG Moment!!!

Then this mak cik start to tell me her life story that I Believe is disguisting to some but awe inspiring to me.

Here are her story...

She was born to a father that is deaf and mom that is blind. All her life, the only things that she knows is every night, she need to follow her parents to nightmarket around Penang to beg.

Life was so difficult in 197Os that she was forced into prostitution when her parent died in a road accident. From this unholy activities, she gave birth to a sweet little angel called Halimah at Penang General Hospital.

But life was so cruel to her that on the third day of giving birth, the baby died as a result of immatured birth.

She was so desperated and stressted and end up whoring near Chulia street waiting for poor 'amoh lang' and hamsap uncle to be her client. But then, something happen to her.

It was according to her that in course of soliciting for client, a young Chinese Muslim convert guy by the name of Ustaz Salahudin Ong approached her and began to ask her personal stuff.

At first It was really annoying things for her but then as time goes by, this guy make her realised the meaning of life and what God want her to do.

This mak cik stop prostituting activities for good for rest of her life but then start to beg as she couldn't afford to feed her second baby.

It was until one day, she realised that in bank, she have roughly around RM50,000 from begging activities that she stopped doing it and started a business selling nasi lemak in current place.

Her nasi lemak was so popular that she is raking RM 500 per days working non stop from morning till late evening. And she decided to bought a second house that she residing now.

What I learned from this?

Actually I learned nothing at that time. Just a normal secondary fella fascinated by the story from her.

But as time goes by, it has become a source of inspiration for me to work harder and not ending up like her.

Being born in a poor family make me learn how every sen and ringgit is important for me. There was a time when people labelled me as a miser but what is the meaning of miser to them? Is it a miser is someone who have money but don't want to enjoy it till finish or is it miser is someone who think of future.

Time and time again, life teached me a very good lesson, as I passed the night market and see the beggar again, I make a promise to myself..

IT'S OKAY FOR ME IF I DIDN'T ENJOY MUCH OF MY MONEY NOW BUT I DON'T WANT TO SEE MY WIFE AND KIDS END UP BEING LIKE THIS MAKCIK AND HER BABY..
I WILL SAVE MY MONEY FOR MYSELF AND FOR THE ONE THAT I LOVE SO THAT WE WON'T KNOW THE MEANING OF POOR IN FUTURE..