SHAH ALAM: There are times when 28-year-old B Muggnisuari goes for days without a meal, but that is not what hurts her the most.
It’s the way her children are treated when they seek help from neighbours.
“They were chased away,” the mother of five tells FMT, her voice quivering with heartbreak and disappointment.
“I have gone days without eating. I will feed my children but I won’t eat because I believe that feeding them is more important than feeding myself.”
If they are lucky, Muggnisuari and her children, aged four to nine, will have plain rice to eat.
But, there were many days when they don’t have rice.
“On such days, we’ll simply have coffee and go to sleep.”
Her husband, who has been in and out of prison, is serving time for theft, leaving Muggnisuari to raise their children on her own.
She works as a cleaner and earns less than RM200 a month.
And when she can afford it, she will treat her children to a packet of nasi lemak, which they share.
If it wasn’t for a good Samaritan, who only wants to be known as Neesha, their days would be even more grim.
Neesha would sometimes buy the family food and other essential items.
Their shanty-like house in Shah Alam – which Muggnisuari and her children have called home for the past 10 years – is far from secure, with a leaky roof that frequently collapses.
When it floods, the children would scramble on to the few pieces of furniture in the house.
Muggnisuari claimed three of her children had experienced electric shock in the past after the house was inundated by flood waters.
She is desperate to provide a better future for her children.
“There has not been a single good day for them.”
FMT is collaborating with the Suriana Welfare Society (Reg No PPM-010-10-04122010), which will manage assistance for the family.
Contributions can be made directly to Suriana Welfare Society, Maybank account number 512 361 505370. Kindly include the reference ‘Muggnisuari’.
Those who wish to make donations in-kind can contact 1300-88-2200 for more information.