Lonely Aidilfitri for Rashid after losing parents to Covid-19

By Irfan Syahmi

KUALA LUMPUR – It’s never easy to accept the fate of losing both parents at a young age, especially when one is the only child.

Nevertheless, that is the fate of a 15-year-old teenager, Abdul Rashid Zainal Ariffin.

He could only express his pain and devastation in tears. At 15, he lost both his parents to Covid-19 and he has to live alone in Kuala Lumpur since and his relatives are far away.

“Kak Mia… I miss my mother,” the journalist of MalaysiaGazette heard Rashid told his neighbour during the Ramadan visit by Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP) at Kampung Datuk Keramat.

He was accompanied by Siti Salmiah, whom Rashid called Kak Mia. The teenager seemed close with this woman.

Salmiah and her family live next to Rashid. Her house has not become the place for Rashid to seek comfort after his father, Zainal Ariffin Abdul Rahman, 42, and his mother, Sapiah, 47, passed away last year.

Sapiah passed away on 25 July, two days after she was put to sleep at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Kuala Lumpur Hospital (HKL), meanwhile, her husband, Zainal, passed away on 2 August last year, two weeks after he was put to sleep.

It was not easy to share what he felt deep inside and Rashid was quiet most of the time.

However, he could not hide that his heart is still fragile after losing his parents.

“I was sad when I found out that my parents are gone. I couldn’t believe it at all in the beginning. I had to think many times if it was true.

“I woke up several times, feeling that they are sill here. Life is a little difficult without my mum and dad… especially when I wake up in the morning. My mum was always there when I had fever in the past,” he said softly, holding back tears.

Looking at the journalist, Rashid confessed that his heart breaks as he will be celebrating Ramadan and Syawal without his parents.

“I am really sad that I cannot celebrate Raya with my mother this year. I have never celebrated Raya alone,” he whispered with his head down.

Salmiah said, her family is taking care of Rashid now because he refused to stay with his uncle in Kedah. Rashid is closer to her family.

With the help of Salmiah’s family, Rashid will be sitting for his Pentaksiran Tingkatan Tiga examination and they send him to school at SMK Padang Tembak every morning.

During the visit by Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Zakat Collection Centre, Federal Territory Islamic Religious Council (MAIWP), Mohammed Hassan, he was brought to visit his parents’ grave at the Rhaudatus Sakinah Muslim Cemetery in Gombak, Selangor for the first time.

His eyes were red as he saw the white grave. Out of words, he sat down and looked at his mother’s grave.

Rashid, along with the staff from MAIWP, recited the Yaasin and prayed for his mother.

“I’m satisfied that I can meet her. Although I could only see her grave. I miss her,” he said, lowering his gaze.

Salmiah said that her family could not allow Rashid to live alone, thus, she adopted him.

Although Rashid is staying with them, he often expressed that he misses his mum recently through his WhatsAppp status.

“He did not say, but recently, he often updates his WhatsApp status, saying that it’s going to be raya soon. He could celebrate with his family in the previous years but they are no longer here this year,” she said.

Although Rashid looks strong physically and often laughs, Salmiah said, the teenager misses his parents very much. -MalaysiaGazette