KUANTAN: Each of the 15 inmates at Seri Permai Old Folks Home is waiting for a familiar face to turn up to celebrate Hari Raya with them. To some, it could be a wait in vain.

Sulong Mohamad, 86, who has been at the home for more than a year, said that it has been a long time since his children came to see him.

“Hari Raya is like any other day since I was sent here. What wrong did I do that my children treat me like this?” he told reporters at the home recently.

A widower, Sulong is visually impaired, and has three children.

“When I was young, I worked hard to raise my children and send them to school. This is what they do to me now. I am disappointed.

“I don’t know if I can forgive them or not,” he said, adding that he had to get his cousin to send him to the home.

But Sulong still hopes that his children will come see him.

Another resident, Razak Kecik, 57, said he ended up at the home when none of his siblings could care for him.

A nephew sent him there. “He told me he would take me home for Hari Raya but he hasn’t,” Razak said.

The home’s founder, Zahari Mamat, hoped that family members and relatives of the residents, especially their children, would come to visit on Hari Raya.

“Make them happy. Let them know you appreciate them before it is too late,” he pleaded.

Both Zahari’s parents are dead. “When they were around, I took good care of them.

“But whatever I have done cannot measure up to the sacrifices they have made to bring me up.

“That is why I started this welfare home for senior citizens,” he said. — Bernama