Hope Place helps family with food, educational aid
KUCHING: Hope Place Kuching is helping a family whose breadwinner is a recovered stroke patient but still unable to work.
Zakaria Poniman, 51, presently relies on his eldest daughter, 19, to bring food to the table for the family residing in Matang.
“The family of six rents a small room in a shoplot. Zakaria, who has four daughters aged 14 to 19, had severe stroke in 2021 which left him bedridden and on tube-feeding,” said the nongovernmental organisation (NGO) in a statement yesterday.
Hope Place said Zakaria used to work as a security guard and his 41-year-old wife, Wati used to be a sales assistant.
Both of them lost their income after Zakaria had a stroke and Wati had to take care of him.
Even though Zakaria can now walk and eat normal food, he remains very weak and is unable to speak clearly.
“The main breadwinner of the family is their eldest daughter Wahida who works in a coffee shop. Her 18-year-old sister Wardina also pitches in, working part-time in another coffee shop.
“According to Wati, her children all dropped out of school last year because of money constraint.
“However, knowing the importance of education, she wants her younger children aged 14 and 17 to go back to school next week,” said Hope Place.
During the recent visit to the family, the Hope Place team also found out that Wati is visually impaired and has hearing problem but never had a thorough health check.
“Both Zakaria and Wati are long-term diabetic patients. With two school-age siblings and two disabled parents, all responsibilities rest on Wahida and Wardina’s shoulders.”
Hope Place is thus supporting the family with regular basic food aid as well as school supplies for the two younger children.
The NGO also thanked all donors who provided school supplies for 450 students under its assistance scheme this year.
Hope Place welcomes all donations and will issue receipts upon request.
Donations can be made directly to its Maybank account (511289001160) or by scanning the S Pay Global QR code on its Facebook page.
For more information, call Hope Place on 082-505987.