For many Malaysian households, having a live-in maid does not raise many eyebrows. In fact, many families come to treat these domestic staff members as part of their very own, bringing them out for family dinners and in some cases, even family vacations. Children in particular, can associate a close familial bond with their live-in maids, often going so far as to affectionately refer to them as ‘kakak‘, or ‘big sister’ in Malay.
Family reunites with kakak after over 10 years of separation
But as contract employees, these live-in maids often have to return to their country of origin upon the expiration of their employment contract and work visas, which can mean a tearful separation for some families who have come to form relationships with them. Which happened to be the case for a Malaysian netizen, who shared the story of her own family’s inseparable bond with their beloved kakak on popular Chinese social media platform Xiao Hong Shu aka Little Red Book.
According to the netizen, her family had hired the live-in maid to work for them well over ten years ago, but had lost contact with her after she had returned to her home country. The maid, affectionally referred to as ‘Kakak Lena’, seems to have shared an especially close relationship with the family and appears to have helped raised the netizen as well as her siblings as children for over six years.
Thinking that they would never have the chance to cross paths again, the netizen received an unexpectedly pleasant surprise when her mother received a phone call from an unknown number. Picking it up, the woman on the other end of the phone was none other than the family’s long-lost Kakak Lena.
“I had to immediately make sure I wasn’t in fact dreaming,” she said.
Immediately, the netizen phoned up her siblings, some of whom have since moved abroad, and shared the good news with them.
“Our entire family cried. We were finally reunited with Kakak after over ten years of separation.”
She never forgot about the family, and had always kept them close to heart
As it turns out, Kakak Lena had never forgotten about the netizen’s family either, and had memorised her mother’s number by heart. Thankfully as the netizen’s mother had continued using the same number after so many years, she was able to reconnect with the family once more. In fact, she had kept photos of herself with the family for decades!
“I recognised kakak‘s voice over the phone when she recited my mother’s telephone number to us in Mandarin, but hearing her speak in Malay was very strange as we grew up speaking Mandarin with her.”
After arranging to meet in person, the netizen expressed her joy and relief at finally being reunited with Kakak Lena, pointing out that asides from age, she still looks exactly as she remembered her all those many years ago. The heartwarming tale has since garnered the attention of many Malaysians who took to sharing their own childhood experiences of growing up with their own kakaks.
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