10 villagers help repair damaged roof of single mother's home

Thursday, 10 November 2011 10:34

MUAR: A group of 10 villagers decided to team up and repair the roof of a house, which belonged to single mother Sarimah Sariff near Parit Jawa here.

The group, headed by Malik Mad Diah, took pity on the woman who suffered serious depression following the death of her husband three years ago.

According to Malik, the woman, aged 44 and lived with her three children, received monthly financial aid of RM200 from the Welfare Department.

"The aid is just enough for the family to buy food but is not enough for other needs.

"Her fisherman husband, Resul Jaafar, was drowned in the Malacca Straits during a storm about three years ago," he said when met at the woman's house recently.

Malik, who is also Sungai Balang PAS service centre chief, said after losing her husband, Sarimah felt deep emotional dejection and had to make regular visit to the Sultanah Fatimah Specialist Hospital for treatment and medication.

He said some villagers recently informed his service centre that the zinc roofing of her house was in bad shape and some of the zinc sheets were also torn.

He then decided to gather some friends to replace the old roof with new zinc sheets in a gotong-royong style, adding that it cost them less than RM2,000.

Meanwhile, the eldest child Norazina Resul, 20, said she had to stop working to look after her mother, who was also suffering from some growth in her stomach.

She said her mother needed constant care as she would feel dizzy and sleepy after taking her medication, adding that, her mother also had speech and hearing problems.

She said although they lived in hardship, they had kind-hearted kin who lived nearby and always provided whatever assistance her family needed.

"Today, we have the villagers helping us in replacing the old and damaged roof and we want to thank Malik and all his friends," she added.

From The Star