Close-knit family: (From left) Muhammad Muzaffar, Muhammad Haziq, Apindi, Efazana, Farzana Husna and Rabiatul Adawiyah. — Picture provided by Efazana Rasul
KLANG: When Efazana Rasul’s third child was born with microcephaly 12 years ago, she was devastated beyond words.
The entrepreneur, now 45, whose two older children were born without complications, went into self-blame mode.
“I could not accept my son’s condition and sank into depression and was disappointed in myself,” recalled Efazana.
Just when she was beginning to accept her son Muhammad Haziq’s condition, she became pregnant again three years later and her fourth child, a daughter, was born with the same affliction.
Microcephaly is a condition where the head is smaller and less developed.
“At that moment, I felt as if someone had lined me up against the wall and was raining punches onto my face,” said Efazana.
She recalled how everything had been fine until she was into her fourth month of pregnancy, but the baby stopped moving when she was five months’ pregnant.
“I was told my fourth child would probably be born with microcephaly as well and was warned that her overall development may be worse than my son’s,” she added.
Luckily though, her daughter Farzana Husna, now nine, was quicker than her brother and has learnt to speak a little.
“Haziq can only say words but Husna can utter sentences to express herself,” said Efazana, who lives in Port Klang with her family.
Her eldest daughter Rabiatul Adawiyah, 21, is in university and her older son Muhammad Muzaffar, 17, is in Form Five.
It was not long after Farzana Husna’s birth that Efazana and her husband Apindi Yusuf, 51, a night market trader who sold women’s head scarves and accessories, decided that moping and feeling depressed would not get them anywhere.
Their main concern, said Efazana, was having sufficient funds to give their two special children the best of care.
“So, a year after my daughter was born, I became a social media entrepreneur and started marketing a cosmetic brand which I co-own to supplement our family income,’’ she said.
With sufficient funds in hands, Efazana said she and her husband are able to ensure both their special children have all they need and want as well as be able to lead happy and active lives.
As for the strange looks she receives when she is with both her children, Efazana said she has learnt to walk with her head held high.
“They are my children and I love them. I am happy because they are happy children in spite of their personal challenges,” she said.
Both Muhammad Haziq and Farzana Husna are attending a special school which is being conducted at two classrooms specially allocated at SMK Taman Gembira in Klang.
