Elderly couple gets new home
MIRI: An elderly couple from Pujut 4 squatter area can sleep well now without worrying that their dilapidated wooden house might collapse and fall into the nearby river.
Sixty-year-old Chai Sin Joon and his wife Sitel Nuga, 61, thanked Miri Chai Clan Association for building them a new house located next to their present rotting house.
United People’s Party ( UPP) Pujut chairman Bruce Chai together with members of Miri Chai Clan Association visited the couple on Saturday to hand over the new house to them.
“This new house, which is made from zinc, is meant for temporary use only. It is because UPP Pujut branch is in the process of helping the couple to apply for a decent place to stay,” Chai told The Borneo Post.
During the visit, they found out that the new house had no toilet, which forced the couple to use the toilet at their old house.
“The association is very generous as they want to chip another contribution to build a new toilet for the couple. In addition to that, we are going to fix part of the bridge to the couple’s new house for their safety.”
He thanked the association for coming forward to help the elderly couple after their hardship was highlighted by UPP Pujut branch in a local newspaper.
He assured all that the party branch would follow up on the couple’s application to the welfare department for assistance.
It is learnt that the couple has been living in the dilapidated house along the Baong river for more than 10 years.
Both of them have no children and relatives in Miri.
The husband is unable to walk due to leg injury and has to stay at home alone.
Although they are e- Kasih recipients, the wife has to work as a dish washer at a coffee shop here to supplement the financial aid from the Welfare Department.