Suhaime Roa may be blind, but he's raised four happy kids

Text Vivi Zainol

If you're a resident of Woodlands, you've probably seen blind busker, Suhaime Roa, playing English songs on his keyboard, harmonica or guitar at Woodlands MRT.

What you may not know is that, Suhaime, 43, is a prolific songwriter who has written hits songs for Malaysia's queen of rock, Ella, and Singapore’s Malay king of rock, Ramli Sarip.

And when he's not busking, he's busy with his brood of four ― Wira Suheel Sarmada, 11, Filza Shazwina, 10, Ammar Waleed Sarmada, 7, and Putri Suhailah, 3. 
 
"He's like the Piped Piper of Hamelin. The children always cling to him. Wherever he is, they'll crowd around him," says his wife, Siti Aisah Sawie, 39. 

From day one, Suhaime has been a hands-on father. “Wira (the eldest) was a quiet boy. But when he was quiet, I didn’t know what he was up to. I had to guess. I used to touch him a lot. So, the bonding was there. He would lick my fingers when he wanted milk,’’ says Suhaime.

Interjects Siti Aisah, "When Wira was 10 months, he spoke his first word, which was 'baba' [what he calls Suhaime]. 'Ibu' [what he calls me] came later."

Suhaime was confident about bringing out Wira on his own in public when he was a baby. But members of public weren't. "They would accompany me, sometimes, three or four people at one time," he says.

When Wira was 18 months old, he started closing his eyes and imitating his father. Once, he accidentally bumped into the wall. Soon, he began to find his own ways of communicating with his father.

Says Suhaime, "When he drew a picture, he would ask, 'Is this nice?' and knowing I couldn't see, he would bring the drawing to me so I could touch it."

Life goes on
Suhaime was four when an accident led to his eventual disability. "My brothers and I were carving wooden toy guns. Somehow, the knife got into my eye. My parents didn't want to remove the eye. So, in just one year, the infection spread to the other eye," he says, with no hint of bitterness.

At a later age, he was sent to the Association for the Blind, where he was trained to be independent and do household chores. He then pursued his studies up to pre-university level, using Braille and a typewriter to do his school work.

In the early '80s, he met his wife when both were in their teens. A newspaper brought them together as pen-pals. They were also members of a Malay cultural club.

"At first, I didn’t believe he was blind. I made him travel all the way from Jurong to Bedok, where I lived, just to prove he was blind," laughs Siti Aisah, a part-time nurse. The couple got married in 1993.

"He's very independent and charismatic. It was only a matter of time before he won over my parents," says Siti Aisah, whose parents initially objected to the marriage.

When the couple had their second child in 1996, Suhaime switched from being a full-time telephone operator to full-time busking and songwriting so he could be home while his wife worked full-time.

They got themselves a maid. Suhaime began busking at Woodlands MRT and the Orchard area about three to four times a week, for two hours or more.

"Busking's a way for me to meet people. They ask me to perform at functions or to write songs for them," he says.

So far, Suhaime has written between 80 and 100 songs, mainly for Malaysian singers. Each year, he receives the royalties, which can come up to $5,000 annually.  IT-savvy, he communicates with the music industry contacts using mainly SMS, the cellphone and the Internet (through a screenreader device which sounds words).

Two years ago, they decided to do without a maid and Siti Aisah switched to part-time work. They also started a home-based Internet business to supplement their income. The family lives in a five-room flat in Woodlands.

The able father
Ask Suhaime if he has problems parenting and he shrugs it off, saying, “We had one child at a time, so I could adjust to the load. We train older ones to look after the younger ones. A buddy system where the older boy looks after the younger boy; the older girl looks after the younger girl.’’

Siti Aisah chips in, "We teach the children to be independent. When they're 10 months old, we let them feed themselves; at two years, they dress up on their own.  We get the older kids to help the younger ones in their homework."

"At home, I do the cooking, he does the laundry, vacuuming and the mopping. The kids will clean their own rooms.’"

"We make sure we have dinner at night and pray together. We're very close-knit. The children treat us like friends. They never grumble, especially Wira, who never says 'no' to his father.’" 

The children are told to "be responsible" for what they do, that "it's important to have the right attitude in life" and "there's no point being intelligent if you don't have respect for others". 

While most parents are wary of their children making too much noise, Suhaime welcomes it.

Says Suhaime, "I need the noise. Otherwise, I don’t know what they’re up to. When they stop making noise, I’ve to go to their rooms and check on them."

Having a dad who is blind has made the children more sensitive to friends at school who are disabled, whom they refer to as their “special” classmates. Suhaime is still proud of the fact that when he performed in a music festival for disabled persons a few years back, Wira volunteered to sign the words of his father’s song in sign language.

Like his siblings, 7-year-old Ammar doesn't even feel his father's lack of sight is a big deal, because Suhaime seems to know when his kids are up to mischief. He says, "My father's not handicapped. He can see more things…"

Grab this month’s issue of Family, available now at all major newsstands and bookstores.