Going from homeless to hopeful
With some help, Rifle Range family get another shot at life
GEORGE TOWN: The new year brings new hope for Looi Say Chye, who had to sleep in the corridor of Penang’s oldest low-cost flats with his wife and children on Christmas.
But they clung on to hope and made do with whatever they had as kind Malaysians came to their aid.
Looi, 53, now works at a Chinese medicine shop in Beach Street.
His new boss pays him RM1,500 a month, although he has a limp and only partial control of his right arm.
“My new job is not physically taxing and I’m grateful for it,” Looi said when The Star dropped by their new home yesterday.
He said he takes the bus to work from his new unit in the Rifle Range flats where he lives with his family after they were evicted from another unit.
The owner had painted the walls of this small one-bedroom unit in warm hues of beige and added glossy floor tiles to create the impression of space.
Three days after the Looi family’s night on the corridor, a man who wanted to be known only as Khor offered them the unit.
An NGO called the YSYS Welfare Association paid six months’ rental upfront.
Many others also helped by furnishing their home with a fridge, washing machine and television.
Although the Good Samaritans declined to reveal how much they spent, Internet checks showed that rental at Rifle Range flat is going for between RM300 and RM450 a month.
Things went downhill for Looi in 2010 when he met with a road accident and broke his right leg, leaving him with his limp.
A year later, he suffered a stroke and ended up with only partial use of his right arm.
Holding on to a job then became a major challenge and after losing his
My new job is not physically taxing and I’m grateful for it. Looi Say Chye
last job as a delivery man in a photocopy shop, he owed his former landlord three months’ rent, which led to the eviction.
The next challenge for the Looi family was schooling for the daughter and son, aged nine and six. They do not even have birth certificates.
Looi’s Indonesian wife Umiyati, 43, said Kebun Bunga assemblyman Cheah Kah Peng is helping to look into the matter.
“Our children ask us about school whenever they see other kids going to school,” Umiyati said.
“We received overwhelming public response for this family, and my main focus now is the children’s education,” Cheah added.