WE WILL NEVER BEG POLITICIANS FOR HELP

We will never beg politicians for help, says villager

TUARAN July 19, 2012: A welfare recipient said they would never beg the politicians for help even though they are poor.

“If they are sincere to help us, we welcome them with open hearts, but we will never beg,” said 53-year-old Aishah Tohdiki, one of the three recipients of Kesatuan Kakitangan Ko-Nelayan (Keskons) welfare programme at Kampung Sembiluk, Mengkabung here, yesterday.

Kampung Sembiluk is part of Kampung Mengkabung, where about 45 families are living in poor conditions in the water village.

Aishah said some of the women from the village had been chosen to join various classes such as sewing and baking, but the poor condition of their houses and basic facilities in the village did not help them develop their skills into a business.

“I just came back from Kota Kinabalu for a baking class under the Kemas programme. It was a great experience but I will never get the chance to bake during this coming Ramadhan and Hari Raya because my house is not in good condition, and I don’t have the capital to start.

“Every two weeks, the sea water will rise and reach our floor, and almost every month we will have to find planks to replace our floor. A few groups came to our village, promised us to help with the house repair but they never came back,” said the single mother of four.

She said Keskons’ initiative to give cash assistance and hampers of kitchen goods was very appreciated but the tiny bridge connecting their houses in the water village was the most important to be fixed as soon as possible.

“Some villagers had spoken to our leaders but we have not received any assistance until now.

“If assistance is not coming, we will have to pray harder that the weather will be good to us. We sometimes sleep on the wet floor, but we hope there will be no strong wind to destroy our house,” she added.

President of Keskons, Adam Daud, who headed the welfare programme yesterday, said Keskons was only a small part in Ko-Nelayan trying to reach the unprivileged community.

He said only three families in the village had been chosen for the programme for a start, to give back something to the community.

The two other recipients yesterday were Balong Ismail and Madlikah Kumbali.

by Mariah Doksil