The dedicated and passionate MOW volunteers spent their Sunday visiting and bringing groceries to these impoverished families. The joy and gratefulness expressed by the recipients bring great satisfaction to the volunteers, and it was certainly an activity worth spending their Sunday on.
The new family included in Feb Food Bank called me on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year, pleading for help. The 32 year old mother of four lives in PPR Desa Rejang. The husband abandoned the family about 10 months ago. She is a road sweeper bringing home RM450 a month. Since the departure of her husband, her two older children, aged 11 and 13 years, have stopped going to school as she no longer can afford to send them to school. Although primary and secondary education in Malaysia is free, there are various fees to be paid during the beginning of the school year, as well as bus fares to/from home to school. Her two other children are 4 and 5 years old.
A piece of good news to share ... one of the families in our Food Bank program, Rozana Dollah managed to get her 19 year old OKU daughter, Najiha, enrolled in the 6-months Economic Empowerment program in Rumah Amal Cheshire, Selayang. This is to enable her daughter to learn to be independent, especially when Rozana is no longer around to care for her. It is a live-in program, whereby Najiha stays at Cheshire from Monday to Friday. On Friday evening, her mother will take her home, and send her back to Cheshire on Sunday evening. The fees for the boarding program is RM600 a month (reduced to RM300 from Feb onwards after Rozana appealed on compassionate grounds), while the transport to/from Cheshire in Selayang and Desa Rejang cost Rozana RM50 a week. She only makes RM700 a month as a school cleaner. Fortunately, we managed to find a donor who has committed to pay the fees from Jan to June 2013. When I told her the good news and reimbursed her for the RM600 Jan fees she has paid, she couldn't believe it. She kept asking me "Betul ke Puan? Banyak sangat la Puan. Terima kasih banyak-banyak Puan." Her voice was breaking and she was almost in tears ... I could feel her relief and gratefulness. At that moment, I felt soooo good as the bearer of the good news and the RM600 cash:) The RM50 a week or RM200 a month transport cost is also a big burden on Rozana, and we are still seeking a donor for this. If you wish to help, please contact June at trccpenchala@gmail.com.
It is experiences like this which makes the MOW volunteers go back month after month to help these families ... the feel-good factor knowing you have made a mother, a kid, a family ... happy, relief and grateful.
Thank you to all MOW Food Bank volunteers and donors for showing that you care!
Posted by Kim
Pictures courtesy of Bro Ivan
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