A Welfare Department officer records the particulars of Margaret (right) and her five children, as her brother and his wife look on.
SIBU: The Welfare Department yesterday responded to the plight of mother-of-seven Margaret Ngaoh, which was highlighted Tuesday by the local press, by dispatching its officers to determine the sort of assistance that could be given to her.
The two officers visited Margaret at her rented room in Jalan Mission where she stays with five of her children as well as her brother, 21, and his 18-year-old wife.
“We want to see in what ways we can help. We will give a one-off immediate assistance first, which is RM300, while waiting for the monthly assistance to come.
“Looking at this case, we are looking at the possibility to providing children’s welfare assistance which is RM100 monthly per child,” one officer said, adding however that Margaret would only receive RM450 in child assistance as that was the maximum amount allowed per household.
He said the application process would take about a month, and would have to be renewed each year.
Margaret, who earns about RM1,000 a month working at a 24-hour convenience store, had been looking to apply for aid from the department to ease her family’s financial situation but did not know how to go about it.
She said her husband currently works at a timber camp in Kapit but only returns to see the family once in every five months.
Of the five children staying with her, the eldest is 13 years while the youngest, 13 months. Three of them are of schooling-age but do not go to school.
Her two other children, aged 11 and 15, are staying with her aunt in Kuching and are in school.
As for her brother and his wife, Margaret said both are jobless although her sister-in-law helps to take care of her five children while she is at work.
“I earn about RM1,000 a month but I have to spend RM280 for rent and RM250 for the butane gas canister for cooking.
“I also have to spend about RM300 for my youngest child; the rest I try to save as best I can to buy food for my family,” said Margaret, whose usual work shift is from noon till midnight.
“I get one day off a week, which is on Wednesday, and only three days for the entire year to celebrate Gawai,” she added.