This Is How You Might Feel If You Had A Heart Attack

Oops she did it again.

Yesterday (07/01/10) is the day Nadia started her Kafa (Kelas Al-Quran & Fardhu Ain). I signed her up at a Kafa school in Apartment Seri Meranti (a low medium cost walk-up apartment), about less than 5 minutes drive from my house. Initially I was sceptical to send her there. Not to look down on apartment folks, but kids over there can be quite rowdy at times. Besides, there are a lot of foreigners staying at the apartment (Indonesian & Bangladeshi to name a few). However, another new mommy-friend whom I met at SKTM assured me that the ustazahs over there are reliable. They'll wait for your children until their transport arrive everytime the school finishes. Holding to her words, I followed her to that Kafa last Monday (04/01/10) and registered Nadia there. To my surprise, there were a lot of SKTM girls  attending the same school and in the same class as Nadia. I felt relieved.

So yesterday was actually Nadia's first day to Kafa. She didn't go on Tuesday because there was no transport available. She finishes her school late on Wednesday (Nilam a.k.a reading class finished at 1.05pm). Yesterday she finished school at 12.35 and arrived home at 1.30pm. One of ustazah's husband (who works as a clerk at the Kafa) picked Nadia up at 2.30pm. I told her class ustazah later via text that I'll be fetching Nadia from Kafa that day. I also asked her help to stay with Nadia until I arrive, in case the traffic is bad from KL to Subang.

The traffic WAS bad yesterday. I don't know how much cursings the traffic officer on duty got from me. To top it off, I was stuck behind an painstakingly slow MyVi along Sprint Highway for almost 10 precious minutes. Luckily, the toll plazas are all clear. I arrived at Seri Meranti Apartment at 5.35pm. Kafa school finishes at 5.30pm and I can see some of the students with green sarong and green samping running around the vicinity.

Just as I reached the final turn to the school I saw a little girl looking lost and wandering alone along the road. IT WAS NADIA! She was half way out of Apartment Seri Meranti and definitely out of the school! I was so shocked, I hit on the brakes so hard that the car screeched. I called her and asked her what was she doing outside the school. She looked relieved to see me and she said she was looking for my car. I got out of the car and gave Nadia the most awesome rapping a mommy could give to her child. Oh yes, I know how to rap too. It happens naturally when I'm extremely upset.

The ustazah somehow noticed me giving Nadia that 'rap lesson' by the road side and walked over to join us. I was actually quite upset with the ustazah as well. How could she let Nadia wandering off the school without supervision? What happens if a crazy pervert kidnaps her and abuse her physically? The ustazah apologized for her carelessness and admitted that she didn't see Nadia walked out. She even admitted she didn't recognize Nadia's face as yesterday was the first day Nadia attending the class.

Whatever the excuse was, I was totally upset. A child should not be left unattended, certainly  NOT to be left walking alone in a place where he / she is not familiar with. It's the teacher's responsibility to ensure the child is safe until his or her guardian pick him or her up. I personally texted and ask her to keep an eye on Nadia. I was just FIVE MINUTES late. What happens if I was 10 minutes late? Or 20?! I can't put the blame solely on Nadia. She's just an innocent 7-year old kid. She doesn't know how terrible the world can be out there :(.

Today (08/01/10), I'm gonna send and pick her up myself (I took leave today). I put my trust on Uncle Pete as he's a well-organized transporter and one of the most popular transporter in our neighbourhood. He's very fatherly and makes sure the kids are safe and sound all the time. The ustazahs at Kafa however, I'm yet to put my 100% trust on them based on what happened to Nadia yesterday. I'm hoping that my boss will approve my application to change my Waktu Kerja Berperingkat (WP), from WP2 (8.00am-5.00pm) to WP1 (7.30am-4.30pm). If I managed to get WP1, I can reach Kafa earlier and safe myself from having another heart-attack-like surprise again.

Praying hard my application goes through. *prays*