Few days ago I called up to my beneficiary Mak Cik Manjit and told her that she can choose a day this week for free groceries shopping. She coincidentally chosen Thursday.

So today I brought a good news to her house. As I walked in to her house, I told her “Mak Cik, hari ini saya bawa mak cik pergi beli peti sejuk ye. Kan peti sejuk you dah rosak?”. Then she jumped in joy and replied “Betul ke kakak!? Pagi-pagi ni saje saya mimpi ada peti sejuk putih yang baru! Sedih saya bila saya bangun dan nampak peti sejuk masih rosak lagi!”. Coincidence happened so beautifully.

While on the way to Giant, I asked her how do she and her family celebrate one another’s birthday, out of curiosity. She said they do not usually celebrate because they do not have money for it. The birthday of two of her younger daughters just past recently (in July) and she just simply cooked them Mee Hoon as good enough meal for birthday. As vegetarians themselves, they cannot consume cakes with egg as ingredients and usually vegetarian cakes require advance booking.

As we walked our way into Giant, I instantly spotted “Secret Recipe” and recalled that I might be able to get a vegetarian cake from there. I left them for groceries shopping at Giant with random reason and quickly checked out the store. And there I coincidentally found the vegetarian cake for the family.

After 2.5 hours of groceries time, I held Mak Cik by arm and walked her to Secret Recipe and I said “Mak Cik, jom sambut hari jadi kesemua anak Mak Cik. Pilihlah satu kek, saya belanja. Lepastu kami dapatkan 7 lilin untuk 6 anak mak cik dan saya”. Mak Cik looked at me in joy but don’t quite get my statement. “Hari ini hari jadi saya Mak Cik”, I continued. She was surprise but also touched that I insisted in buying them a cake.

Buying a cake might not be an issue to many people, but to Manjit and her family, it is a luxury food. “Kami tak mampu nak beli. Tapi saya tiap-tiap kali ingatkan saya punya anak-anak semua kami sudah nasib baik kami ada makan tiap-tiap hari. Saya betul-betul gembira akak (me) dengan boss (Great Heart Charity Association) sudi menolong keluarga saya. Saya betul-betul syukur. Kalau tidak, kami tak mampu nak beli semua barang-barang ni,” Mak Cik Manjit expressed to me gratefully.

My birthday is celebrated with more birthdays and made meaningful by beautiful coincidences. As a social worker, we are constantly giving blessings to the underprivileged group, but they have in return made me more blessed with spirit of charitable giving.