Fatimah presents a cash donation to Hamdan.
KUCHING: A group of welfare officers and volunteers helped to clean and declutter a single father’s dilapidated house recently. They also delivered assistance that would hopefully help the jobless man get on the right path out of poverty.
Hamdan Ikok, 49, and his five children live in the rundown house in Mukah, which has water supply but no indoor toilet or electricity supply.
According to Minister of Welfare, Women and Community Wellbeing Datuk Fatimah Abdullah, the Welfare Department staff, and Sayang Squad members from Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu (PBB) Telian, Balingian and Dalat, welfare volunteers as well as Civil Defence Force personnel joined forces following a tip-off.
“The house is cluttered, messy, dirty and unhygienic, making it unfit for occupation. My first concern is the poor living conditions of the family. Despite being in despair, the living environment has to be at least clean and decent,” she told The Borneo Post when contacted yesterday.
She said Hamdan is actually a volunteer for the Civil Defence Force, whose wife left him last year. The Welfare Department contributed kitchen equipment and utensils, food and daily necessities, clothing, as well as mattresses, while the Sayang Squad donated cash.
“Civil Defence will try to help Hamdan get a permanent job in the force, while Hamdan’s children in Primary 5, Form 2 and Form 5 will be registered to receive RM350 financial assistance each under the Children’s Assistance Scheme beginning next month,” Fatimah said. She said Telian assemblyman Yussibnosh Balo has also pledged to help with a grant to build a new house for the family.
“But first, we need the Land and Survey Department to allocate a site under the resettlement scheme. Hopefully, this can materialise so to provide the family a decent and comfortable home,” she added.
On the underlying issues surrounding poverty, Fatimah pointed out that a collective effort is required to eliminate poverty in Sarawak.
“Each and every one of us needs to perform our social responsibility to make our community a better place. We can, in our ability, lend a helping hand to those in dire need,” she said.
“On the government’s part, we have various assistance available but our mission is to help poor people like Hamdan help themselves return to self-sufficiency and get out from poverty.”
Fatimah urged community leaders and village heads in Sarawak to be more observant of those requiring help in the community as well as to report cases immediately to the relevant authorities and agencies.