Poor elderly woman gets a helping hand
IPOH: For the past 10 years, 68-yearold Lee Chin Lan collected and sold recyclables to make ends meet.
Her two daily meals consist of potato soup because that is all she can afford.
Lee, fondly known as “Ah Mooi”, said her husband left her 40 years. Her 43-year-old daughter has been in Ulu Kinta Hospital Bahagia since 2001.
“Sometimes I earn RM5 a day, but there are days I don’t have any cash on me.
“I walk as far as I can to pick up recyclable items from rubbish bins and items scattered by the roadside before selling them.
“I am old, staying alone, and have no support,” she told reporters at her house in Taman Sri Kurau in Bercham.
Ipoh Barat MCA Youth chief Aldrich Low Guo Nan and other MCA members paid Lee a visit to give her essential goods and food packets from Yayasan Bina Upaya.
Low, who is also an Ipoh City councillor, said Lee’s case would be forwarded to the state Welfare Department so she can receive some form of aid.
“Her details will also be forwarded to welfare bodies in Bercham so that her physical and mental state can be assessed.
“We hope volunteers can help clean her house, which is filled with all sorts of things,” he added.
Lee said she was hoping to bring her daughter back from the mental hospital to take care of her one day.
“For now, I can’t even take care of myself,” she said.
Lee said she used to work as a cleaner, while her daughter used to study and work part-time.
Lee said her daughter also bought an old car, which she used to drive when she was mentally fit.
“From the time my daughter was admitted, the car has never been moved.
“She doesn’t want me to sell the car, but it is rusty now,” Lee said, adding that she misses her daughter.
Lee said she was grateful to MCA and other caring citizens for coming forward to help her.