My Brother Built A Free Wall For Me

When Dad was around, he came to this house at Paya Rumput four times. He was satisfied with everything except for one: the wet kitchen wall which I was sharing with my neighbours who had not yet moved in. He thought the wall was low and that it was easy for a perpetrator to suddenly jump over it to harm me while I was near the stove. I knew he was very concerned about my safety but I personally did not consider it a potential danger. So I never bothered to find a contractor to do the extension.

Three years after Dad passed away, the next-door house which was attached to mine was finally occupied by an Indian family. For weeks, their conversations in Tamil or English reached my ears clearly when I was at the kitchen, even the dining room. When my English or Malay speaking visitors were around, we had to lower our voices. I started to feel the inconvenience that noise was invading my house through this kitchen wall.

One day when I came back, I suddenly noticed this wall was extended double in height with bricks but the floor was dirty with traces of cement. Having had experience with my back Malay neighbours who had also not informed me of anything before they started the extension work of their wet kitchen, I had learned to be tolerant. I did not plan to make any complaints to these Indian neighbours. I just wanted to let them know that I preferred to have their workers coming over to paint my side of the wall when somebody was around. As I was out to work during the week, VC was the best candidate to deal with the male workers.

A few days later, the wall was covered with cement. VC told me that an Indonesian worker, who was under a Christian contractor, had recognized his Sarawakian accent and asked him which church he was attending. When VC mentioned Calvary Life Assembly, he was surprised to learn that the Indonesian worker also used to be in the BM congregation when the church was located at Bukit Baru. Not only this brother in Christ knew Ps Albert, he was also familiar with other Calvarites of the BM service. What a small world!

The wall still needed to be painted but VC was no longer available. So I had to approach the workers by myself one day after I came back from work. The Indonesian man was the one who responded to me. The fear to let a male "stranger" enter my house was gone as I knew he was my brother in Christ. And it was nice to talk about the church members we both knew.

When I passed some kurma (dates) and bottled water to all the workers next door, the brother thanked me with a grin. I started to thank God for sending me to the BM service, so that I had opportunities to befriend more people easily.

If Dad saw this two-time higher wall now, he would also smile broadly.