The new house 42-year old Zalaha Ibrahim received from Darul Ridzuan Empowerment Foundation (YBU) is such a convenient for her family. The mother to four children and her husband, Ahmad Sa’id Idris, 41, have two sons, Mohamad Zakwan, 11 and Muhammad Hazim, 6, who have serious kidney problems that needed constant medical treatment.
The younger boy’s condition, however, is more critical than his brother because his body didn’t react favourably to medication. Zakwan, who was diagnosed with the condition when he was seven, on the other hand, is in relapse and is taking medicines.
So serious is Hazim’s condition, the last time he went for treatment at Selayang Hospital, he was warded for about three months. All the while, Zalaha was by his side accompanying him.
The lengthy duration of his stay at the hospital was necessary because Hazim needed regular treatment on his urinary system. And to bring him home, his family’s house must have a facility similar to a hospital CAPD unit.
To comply to the hospital’s requirement to release Hazim, Ahmad Sa’id applied to built a special room to his house. However, YBU which answered the rubber tapper’s plight, found his wooden home too dilapidated to accommodate the special room for his son’s use.
“We are very grateful to YBU because we applied to build a room but we get a whole house instead. And without this room I might not be able to come home with Hazim,” Zalaha told reporters after Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr. Zambry Abdul Kadir officially handed over the house keys to her yesterday.
The house that YBU built has a room specially outfitted for Hazim’s daily treatment. It is air-conditioned and equipped with a hospital bed and the necessary items for the boy’s medical needs.
According to Zalaha, her third child is already at the last phase of his condition, the only way for him to heal is through a transplant.
“We’ve gone through the necessary steps to make the transplant happen. There are just two more . tests for me to undergo before it can be done. God willing, if I’m found to be fully compatible, we’ll do it by the end of the year,” Zalaha said.
Zalaha further added that her family is grateful to the government and YBU because the house could accommodate the necessary facility and is more comfortable than the ancestral home they lived in previously.
The 30feet by 20feet pre-fabricated house in Kampung Ulu Kuang cost YBU RM35,000 to built and was among the first that the foundation undertook to construct for the poor and needy.
