KUCHING: The Youth Community of Kuching went on a humanitarian journey of uncovering the life-style of some village folk living at the city fringe recently.
The group, together with the New Sarawak Tribune crew, headed to Kampung Semariang Batu to get up close to some families, who turned out to be underprivileged.
Mariam Me’e, 50, a mother of eight, talked about a hand-to-mouth existence.
“My husband is a sickly man yet we have 10 mouths to feed. “Yes, we get by – barely though.
“My only concern is one of our children. He belongs to the people with special needs group. “Much of our effort we put to looking after him because he is incapable of helping himself without our help.”
Mariam made an appeal for assistance from the authorities concerned. Ruqiah, 65, a mother of three, said her only hope is for some repair to be done on her dilapidated house.
“I only sell ‘kuih-muih’ (cakes and cookies) which earns me RM20 – RM30 per day. My husband is a fisherman but with the fickle weather he could be forced to stay onshore for days.
“All I can say is, life can be so hard.”
Disabled Hajijah Raba’ee, 30, a mother of two, is understandably a pitiable sight to see. She depends on her 53-year-old mother Rokiah Bujang to look after her and her two children.
Raba’ee was too sad to speak and asked her mother to tell how the family get by with life.
“I make some money chopping up woods in the forest and collecting jungle produce. These I sell to neighbours.
“Besides the money I make selling firewood and jungle produce, we are thankful to the Welfare Department which continues to give us cash aid on monthly basis through e-kasih.
“But if the government can help me, I would like to request for equipment to make ‘kuih muih’. I think I will be able to increase my income if I sell cakes,” Rokiah said.
The only man the group met that day was Baderi Ismail, 34, a carpenter and a father of five children, two of whom belong to the people with special needs group.
“I am grateful that the two are under the care of the government at the Matang Special School, but if the authorities could help me, there is one area where I would like them to come in.
“My home needs basic washroom facilities to make life more comfortable for these two children of mine. That’s all I need.”
The Youth Community of Kuching consists of 23 young people from all walks of life who group together for one common goal – to help highlight the plight of needy families.
The group also collect used clothes, household items and foodstuff from members of the public to be donated to these families.
