At
the Bus stop in 2002My Mother
At
the Bus stop in 2002
A small lady who is just 4" 9' in height who is a very good cook, hard working and a good mother. She is also a very kind and helpful person to everyone. She is a fast learner. My mother Sandra was born on the 27 December 1949 the fourth child in the family out of fourteen children. All my Uncles and Aunties went to school but my mother stopped going at the age of fifteen and started work, so that the other thirteen children and my grandparents could eat. My grandfather did not go to work for some reason. My mother had the job of cleaning houses and she looked after two different houses everyday. My mother did this for the family for ten years before she moved out to her own house in 1973 at Mak Mandin. She is still there today. She got Married late 1983, even though my grandfather told her not too. My grandfather and my mother have not spoken since then.
In 1984, about two months before I was going to be born, my father ran away and never came back and I have never seen him or heard about him. I was born on the 25 November1984 in a Chinese doctor's house where my mother was working as a cleaner. I have been to see him with my mother. My mother still thanks him for not putting my father's name on my birth certificate. A few months after I was born my mother and I came back to my mother's house in Mak Mandin and she looked after me until I was two. When I turned two she left me at my Auntie's place so that she could go and start work in a towel factory called Pan Global. When my mother found out that my Auntie was beating me she left me at home and asked my other Auntie who lived next door to look after me.
In 1991 we met Sister Colette and my mother and Sister are friends until today. My mother cooks for Sister and her friends on special events like Christmas. She is at Sister Colette's place when I phone them every two weeks. She gets on with everyone at the village very well. She cares for everyone and helps people who need to be helped there, many people know. If I go out at Mak Mandin I just have to say that I am Sandra's son and they know and they will tell me stories about her and how they met her.
She has bought a house in Jawi, which is about two hours by bus from Mak Mandin. She will be moving in December when I go back for my holiday. She is moving there so that she can start up a cooking business. She can cook Malay dishes, Indian dishes and Chinese dishes very well. She has become good of cooking because she has been practising since she was ten years old. She has won some awards for her cooking.
One of them she received when about 5 people, including my mother, wanted Sister to help them open a business at church on Sundays. They had a competition and about four people from the church came to see and taste the food from the 5 cooks. My mother's food was judged to be the best. After that the five of them got a cooking business going at church every Sunday to make little bit of money. My mother did well but three other people got into a fight about the money saying that one person was getting more then the other one so they had to close the business down. She is getting away for another reason as well and that is getting away from all the drug addicts around my place.
My mother has moved to Jawi were she has her own business. The business is doing well and my mother is getting more money then when she was working in the towel factory. She does go and see her friends in Mak Mandin. She goes and sees Sister Colette when ever she can. She tells me about what is going with her and the business when I phone her once every two weeks.
She has started her business and is doing well. She is getting more money then she did at the factory she worked at. The last time I phoned my mother I asked how the business is going. She said that there are more people there now and two other shops have opened up in the last month and taken some of her business from her but she is still doing well with it.