Mother and son homeless at McD for almost a year!
I was in the office at 2.10am yesterday getting ready to call it a night after the Saturday Night Rounds when the office phone rang. I was tempted to ignore but my gut feeling was it must be some kind of emergency for someone to be calling the office at this hour. I was glad that I took the call.
Tze Ni, our volunteer rang up to inform that she found two homeless person (a 61 year old mother and 23 year old son) who have been staying in Mc D near The Curve for almost a year already (!). I went immediately to the location to see what can be done to help this two poor souls. Not long after I've reached and managed to see them. When I approached them they seemed very frail and shy to talk. It seems they have been homeless for many months from their outlook and smell. I tried to offer them food first and they declined although they hadn't eaten for days. They told me they don't feel like eating anything at that moment. Breaks my heart hearing that.
After some moment of ice breaking session, I got to know that and Madam Mah became homeless after she lost her job as a cleaner and failed to pay for her room rental. Her husband had passed away long time ago and the 23 year old man (Wong) is her only child. Wong seems to be a "slow" person and have very low self confidence and only studied till Standard 6.
They have been walking around looking for a job but failed and will bunk over at this Mc D almost every night. Whatever odd or full time jon they tried to look for ended in failure due to their appearance and most jobs were already overtaken by cheaper and quicker foreigners.
As they ran out of money, there are many days that they didn't actually eat. That was shocking to me. It looks to me that Madam Mah is also very affected by the homelessness situation that she is in. It seems both of them were being looked down upon with their own family as well. Hence the reason they didn't seek any help from Madam Mah's siblings.
After learning more about their background, i offered to house them for the night before making other arrangements to further help them. They immediately took my offer without the slightest of hesitation. When I am ready to bring both Wong and Madam Mah back to Imbi to be checked into a hotel, TzeNi and her friends also contributed some donations to help them which was very kind.
So we went back to Kechara Soup Kitchen office and got them new sets of clothing and toiletries before checking them into a hotel for the night. I also spared them some cash so that they can go buy food and necessity. Both of them were very thankful and I can see from their eyes they were very glad that they finally have a decent bed to sleep on. We will see what we can do to help them out with job recommendations. As both of them are probably still smarting from their recent predicament, I am not entirely sure if they can gel into the working environment that quick. I will need a willing employer and a very patient one perhaps as the lady is already 61 but still she feels she can do cleaning while the young man has very limited skill set, probably a general worker in the kitchen perhaps.
Anyone of you my friends who are willing to help, please pm me and we shall see what happens. Any job that any of you have in mind to offer must at least fulfil their needs as in accomodation. Thanks in advance!
Beliau diberitahu bahawa ibu dan anak itu berada di restoran makanan segera yang terletak berhampiran dengan bangunan CurveNX, bersebelahan pusat beli-belah The Curve.
Sejurus tiba beliau sempat berbual dengan mereka dan kisah wanita itu dan anaknya dicatatkan di Facebook.
Mah dilaporkan memberitahu Cheah, dirinya menjadi gelandangan selepas kehilangan pekerjaannya sebagai seorang pembersih lebih setahun lalu, dan tidak lagi dapat membayar sewa biliknya.
Cheah
"Dia kehilangan suaminya beberapa lama lalu dan terpaksa membesarkan anaknya seorang diri.
"Mereka cuba mencari kerja tetapi tidak berjaya kerana penampilan dan berbaju kotor serta tidak terurus," katanya.
Menurut Cheah, anaknya kelihatan "lembam" dan tidak mempunyai keyakinan diri.
Beliau berkata, pasangan ibu dan anak itu lazimnya menghabiskan masa mereka di restoran berkenaan dan juga tidur di sana.
B Kasthuri, 30, juruwang di cawangan resoran berkenaan mengakui pernah melihat mereka berkali-kali.
"Kadang-kadang saya lihat mereka, tetapi sudah lama mereka tidak datang di sini,” kata Kasthuri.
Seorang pekerja resoran itu yang hanya mahu dikenali sebagai Punitha, berkata pengurus cawangan berkenaan membenarkan mereka yang tidak mempunyai tempat berteduh untuk tidur di dalam resoran itu.
"Kadang-kadang pada waktu malam mereka akan datang dan tidur di dalam. Biasanya, saya nampak mereka (gelandangan) apabila saya pulang lewat."
Cheah berkata, beliau kemudian menawarkan Puan Mah, 61, dan anaknya, yang hanya dikenali Wong, 23, untuk bermalam di sebuah bilik hotel di Imbi, Kuala Lumpur, selepas mendapati mereka tidak mempunyai sebarang pekerjaan dan tinggal di jalanan.
Tawaran itu tidak ditolak dan mereka menerimanya dengan gembira.
Namun, kedua-dua mereka meninggalkan bilik hotel pada keesokan harinya dan tidak dapat dikesan meskipun Cheah cuba mencari di sekitar jalan-jalan di Kuala Lumpur.
Malah pasangan itu juga beg pakaian dan kelengkapan yang diberikan kepada mereka, kata Cheah.