SANDAKAN – Hari Raya Aidilfitri is about family time for Malaysian Muslims, but many people are separated from their loved ones due to the travel restrictions between states following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Noorasvilla Muhamma, a local mother of two here, was preparing to go to her husband’s hometown in Melaka a few months before Hari Raya, upbeat about being able to cross states by May this year.
Unfortunately, as the infection numbers increased again, the family had to cancel the flight tickets that they had purchased, she said in an interview with The Vibes.
Already unable to return to Melaka last year, the 35-year-old is desperate because her second child, a son born in November 2019, and her mother-in-law have yet to meet in person.
“My son is almost 2-years-old now, but he has never met his paternal grandmother face-to-face,” she said. “We were heartbroken when we saw that the Covid-19 condition had not improved – and we had to give up and decided to spend Hari Raya here in my hometown of Sandakan instead.
Noorasvilla’s predicament is reflective of the wistful situation families and individuals across the country share during the current tragic global circumstance. Forced to deal with limitations, they find ways to make do by using technology as much as possible to compensate for the absence of their loved ones.
She said that they had even purchased their family’s Raya clothes, and had planned to bake Raya cookies and buy frozen seafood from Sandakan for her mother-in-law.
“I often video-call my mother-in-law and let her speak to my children, because that is all we can do for now. We hope that we will be able to go back next Raya,” Noorasvilla said.
Meanwhile, businesswoman Sheena Rashid Kamsiran – who could not return to Sandakan from her husband’s hometown in Kedah – also said that she is separated from her mother because of the travel curbs.
“Even though I have three elder brothers in Sandakan, I know that my mother longs for my presence during Hari Raya because I am her only daughter. We are very close,” she said.
“My mother misses our mother-and-daughter activities like shopping. She hardly goes out of the house now that I have moved away. She also misses my 10-year-old daughter.”
Like Noorasvilla and other families who have been “separated” in the same way, Sheena has been video-calling her mother from time to time.
“I only moved to Kedah two years ago, so I am still very homesick. Not being able to be with my mother this Raya has impacted me, but I hope we will be able to meet this year,” she added. –The Vibes, May 8, 2021
