IT is everybody’s dear wish to be home with family and friends during festival days, be it Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Chinese New Year, Deepavali, or Christmas. The Christian community in the country concluded their 40-day period of Lent, with fasting and abstinence followed by the celebration of Easter recently.
But there were many who missed celebrating Easter with their families due to the pandemic travel restrictions, as well as work and other commitments.
The majority Muslim community in the country is more than halfway into the 30-day fasting month of Ramadan - and are looking forward to celebrating Hari Raya - which falls on May 13 and 14 with family, friends, and loved ones in their own hometowns and kampungs.
But as Covid-19 infections in the country keep spiking, logging four-figure tallies the past several days, not everybody will be able to be home for Raya this year. Interstate travel is not likely to be given the green light by the authorities at the present time.
Furthermore, with the face of the pandemic changing like a chameleon’s skin from green to yellow, yellow to orange, and orange to red, nobody is able to predict if they will be home for Raya or not.
However, Belaga district chief vaccine coordinator Dr Nur Izatti Zaidin, who hails from Ampang, Selangor, and who holds court as medical officer in charge of the Sungai Asap Klinik Kesihatan is very certain where she will be for ‘Raya 2021’.
“We are now into Ramadan and it is an auspicious month for us Muslims. I wish to be home with my family, friends and to visit my grandparents in their kampungs and break fast with them as well as wake up to join the family for sahur meals,” says Nur Izatti.
However, being right in the midst of an important mission to vaccinate the rural communities in the far-flung district of Belaga, Nur Izatti is not likely to have her Raya wish to be home with family this year. But stoically she tells The Vibes: “It is the choice I made then when I chose the medical profession as my life-long vocation.”
“Here in Belaga and Sungai Asap our Covid-19 vaccination programme is in full momentum. My team and I are obliged to carry the exercise through without any let-up, to be in sync with other medical teams in the state and country who are also trying to accomplish the 80% ‘herd immunity' in the shortest possible time.”
She also says: “Serving in the medical department and in a place like Belaga, nothing is routine and predictable. Me and my team here are busy with the vaccination programme, but we also have our usual outpatient clinics to attend to as well as our weekly clinical outreach visits to the kampungs and longhouses, not to mention the odd emergencies that happen at the most unexpected times.”
Pizza by the roadside
On the tenth day of fasting, Nur Izatti and her team broke fast by the roadside along the Bintulu-Belaga road. “I was on active ‘on-call' duty. We had an emergency. The patient had a bad lung infection and had to be rushed to the Bintulu district hospital as he needed oxygen support to help him breathe.
“I had to escort the patient with my staff nurse Sebi and my ambulance man Jose because the patient was going into septic shock. His infection was streaming into his blood system and he needed continuous medication en route, in order to maintain his blood pressure during the three-hour journey,” Nur Izatti said.
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“On our return trip, it was ‘buka puasa’ time, so we stopped by at Pizza Hut, Bintulu, and purchased take-aways. Bintulu is under the red zone, so no ‘dine-ins' were allowed. We stopped by the roadside to have our pizza. I was so glad I had the company of Sebi and Jose to break fast.
“For the first time this fasting month, I had the opportunity to break fast in my colleagues' company and not alone.
“I am so happy for this unexpected ‘buka puasa’ fellowship by the roadside,” adds Nur Izatti.
She said there are three Muslim staff at her clinic, but their working schedule and nature of jobs are different and so far, they were not able to come together to raise a prayer and break fast, but she hopes an opportunity will come soon.
“I usually break fast alone and it is the same for sahur,” she laments.
“If I have time to spare, and if I am not rostered for ‘on-call’ duty I will try to cook something simple. But if ‘on-call’ I will make do with Maggi instant noodles for buka puasa and gulp a glass of water for sahur and snack on dates.”
Far cry from Ramadan at home
Nur Izatti confides that her buka puasa and sahur obligations in Belaga is a far cry from what it was like at home in Ampang. Breaking fast at dusk and waking up for the sahur meal before dawn is a “gaggle of a family affair” with plenty of fun and jollity and with Raya songs playing in the background, she says.
“What I miss most is the planning and preparation of the ‘juadah buka puasa’ with mum and my siblings. There are five of us as siblings and we can be quite a mob in the kitchen, proposing and opposing the suggested menu while mum moderates our discussion.”
Her favourite thirst quencher is tau-foo-fa, and then she will pick a murtabak or something light as her first solid food for the day, she says, and only later sits for the main meal with her family.
“For sahur, my mum cooks a complete meal and the family gathers to dine at the table after prayers.”
Sarawak’s buka puasa specialties
Just as any other state in the country, Sarawak too has its own “juadah buka puasa” and Sarawakians and visitors to the state during Ramadan love the colourful and delectable spread ranging from kuih celorot, kuih tongkol (kuih bongkol), kuih tuala to umai, terbuk bakar, suntong tutok, kuih takir as well as bubur pedas - a similar broth to Kampung Baru’s bubur lambung but spicy and piquant in taste.
However, Nurul Izatti has only had the opportunity to try just one among this spread. “I have tried umai and I like it very much,” she says.
Umai is a popular traditional native dish of the Melanau community in the state and was originally a favourite of fishermen. It consists of sliced raw fish mixed with a slate of onions, chilies, vinegar, salt, and a splash of lime juice.
Nur Izatti says, to enjoy the full spread of Sarawak’s juadah puasa, Sungai Asap is not the place, as it is a small town with a very small Malay-Muslim community. The bigger towns like Belaga will most likely be selling these Raya specials, she says.
“There is just one Muslim restaurant about five-minute’s drive from my clinic, but it is difficult for me to patronise it due to time constraints. It will also be crowded during buka puasa, and time will not be on my side if I have to queue up for my food, especially while being on ‘call’ duty.”
Another aspect of Ramadan that Nurul Izatti misses is the nightly Tarawih prayers. Though Tarawih, recited after the Isyak prayers is not compulsory (Wajib) Nurul Izatti misses those special evening vespers as it is all so much a part of the Ramadan mood.
“There is a surau about 10 minutes away from my living quarters, but I am not able to join the Muslim community there, firstly due to my difficult working hours and secondly, the SOP there is extremely tight as we are in the Covid-19 red zone,” she says.
Nurul Izzatti last celebrated Hari Raya with her family in 2019. Last year she managed to be with her family in April but then the travel restrictions were imposed on and off, and has not been able to be with her family since then.
Listening to festive songs during an upcoming festival can induce a feeling of poignance and for some can also be heart-wrenching. But for Nurul Izatti, Raya songs do not make her feel “sepi” (lonely).
When asked, she said: “Oh I feel happy, I like to listen to Raya songs although I am alone. They bring back fond memories of Raya celebrated with family in the previous years.
“I recall one Raya, we were returning to Ampang after visiting my grandmother in Kuala Terengganu. We were caught in a 10-hour traffic jam and the Raya song, ‘Suasana Hari Raya’ repeatedly played in the car’s audio and I grew to love it. It eventually became my favourite Hari Raya song,” adds Nurul Izatti.
Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri to Nurul Izatti and her Muslim colleagues in Sungai Asap. – The Vibes, May 2, 2021
