Flood: Youth ties drums to bed to keep ailing father afloat
Zainab@Halimah Ismail, 77, cares for her husband, Che Noh Che Hassan, 79, who is bedridden on a bed floating with the help of drum barrels to ensure his comfort as their home is flooded in Kampung Chapu. - BERNAMA
KUALA BERANG: A young man in Kampung Chapu here got creative by tying three metal drums to the bottom of his bedridden father's adjustable bed, to provide comfort to the elderly man when their house is flooded.
Zulkifli Che Noh, 37, said the idea to tie the drums using ropes was a suggestion from the villagers after his father Che Noh Che Hassan, 79, was unable to get up or sit up since the beginning of this year due to a neurological disease.
"My father has had neurological disease for 20 years but he has been bedridden for the past 10 years. Before that, he could still sit on a chair for a few minutes. But this year, my father could no longer sit on a chair and could only lie on the bed.
"Previously, when the house was flooded, my father would sit on a chair with a handle and I, along with the villagers, would lift my father with the chair to go up to the attic of the house. So this year, I thought of a way so that we would no longer have to lift my father up to the attic," he said when contacted by Bernama.
The private sector worker said that since last week he had been trying various methods of arranging the drums at the bottom of the bed to enable Che Noh's bed to float on water and easily turn towards the kiblat when his father wanted to pray.
His efforts bore fruit when the bed, which was tied together with three metal drums, was successfully floated even though the water rose into his house up to thigh level on Wednesday afternoon.
He said that because of this, his father no longer needed to be lifted to the attic or moved to the Temporary Relief Centre (PPS) even though the house was flooded.
"All this time, my father usually only stayed in the attic of the house during floods because he was not comfortable staying in the PPS due to his health condition. So my mother (Zainab@Halimah Ismail, 77) and other siblings took turns taking care of my father at home during this flood while other family members are at the PPS," he said.
However, he said that if the flood situation worsens and he is ordered to move to PPS, his family will try their best to persuade and bring his father to PPS.
He added that his home is flooded every year during the monsoon season due to its location near a river and he has also been familiar with the disaster since he was a child.
-- BERNAMA
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