Mother’s Day holds a different meaning for Zulayqha Zulkifli. While others celebrate the day with their mothers and shower them with affection, the 29-year-old instead remembers how her own mum left the family when she was a teenager.
Zulayqha and her three siblings – older brother Zulhaqem, younger sister Zulastri, and younger brother Zulfeqar – grew up without a mother’s loving care and presence.
The four siblings had a relatively stable life until 2010 when they were in secondary school. Their parents divorced, and even as Zulayqha and her siblings did their best to deal with the changes in their lives, their mother’s frequent absence began.
“The most painful thing wasn’t just that she was absent, it was that her presence was inconsistent,” Zulayqha said.
“It would have been easier if she had just left entirely, but she was around for a few days, then gone for the next, and we would have no idea where she went.”
Her parents had sold the family home after the divorce, so the four children and their mother bunked in with relatives, starting with Zulayqha’s maternal aunt.
But it wasn’t a happy situation.
“Because our mother wasn’t really around or if she was, she would be making a fuss by arguing with everyone, it was difficult for my aunt and her children … there was a lot of tension,” said Zulayqha.
The siblings spent barely a year with their aunt before they were asked to leave.