Hope Place delivers aid to single mum with five children
KUCHING: Hope Place Kuching has come to the aid of a local woman, who is caring for a child with special needs singlehandedly.
Single mother Alice Lizza has five children – all still in school except her eldest daughter and son Khairufaiza Abdullah.
Khairufaiza, 16, is unable to talk and walk due to complications that arose from a high fever that struck him when he was only six years old.
A lice received some help under the 1Azam project last year, enabling her to run a tuck shop at her house in Batu Kitang near here.
Her son is also a recipient of RM400 in monthly aid from the Welfare Department.
However, there are times when she can barely make ends meet.
Her eldest daughter is currently working as a labourer to help supplement their household income.
According to Hope Place founder Kelvin Wan, Alice earns an average of RM100 to RM200 per month from running her tuck shop.
“She also faces competition from other ‘kedai runcit’ (grocery stores) around her neighbourhood. When we came to her house, we could see that it needed lots of repairs, especially the roof.
“Every time it rains, the water would leak into the house. Alice does not have the money to fix it.
“We appeal to any member of the public to come and help us repair the house for Alice,” he said.
During a recent visit, Wan and his Hope Place team presented foodstuff to the family.
For Khairufaiza, Wan gave him a wheelchair and also adult diapers.
Hope Place Kuching is a nongovernmental organisation (NGO) that visits the poor and lessfortunate families to contribute to them essential food items like rice, cooking oil, sugar, salt, biscuits and noodles.
“All these families or individuals barely earn enough to get through the month; hence many are grateful with the assistance that we deliver to them.
“For families caring for individuals with special needs or the elderly folk, we provide to them milk powder, oats and diapers as well,” said Wan.
Hope Place carries out aid deliveries once every two months because of the many families on its recipient list.
Currently, it supports more than 170 families.
For more information on how you can help, call Hope Place via 013- 5672775 ( hotline) / 082- 505987 – open from 8.30am to noon, and 2pm to 5pm, Mondays to Fridays.
On Saturdays, it can be reached from 9am to noon.