Family take refuge in abandoned home

Mum and eight children barely making ends meet by selling scrap metal

KULAI: A woman and her eight children are living in an abandoned two-room, single-storey low-cost house with no electricity or water supply.

To make ends meet, they go around the neighbourhood gathering scrap metal and items that can be sold for recycling. They earn RM30 to RM50 per day.

Every month, they receive RM300 from the Welfare Department.

For the past four years, this is how S. Logambal and her eight children, including three girls, have been living. They are aged between eight and 23.

To make matters worse, almost all her children have not been going to school.

“They have lost their MyKads and we do not have the money to pay for the fines. Without ICs, my children are unable to work or go to school.

“All my children except my youngest son have their birth certificates,” said Logambal, who has lost her own MyKad several times and was unable to fork out the RM300 to pay the fines.

She said her husband, who was just released from prison, was unable to work due to a leg injury.

“We rely on my three sons to collect scrap metal for us to make ends meet,” she said, adding that the family would sometimes go hungry due to lack of money.

Logambal said she was grateful to her neighbours who give her water each week, which is stored in plastic drums. For electricity, the family gets power from the house next door just for some lighting.

She said she and her family were evicted from their first house four years ago as they could not pay the rent.

“We found this abandoned house, cleaned it up and made it our home. As it is near an estate, we have had several cases of snakes coming into the house.

“The house owner has since returned and is trying to chase us out,” she added.

The family’s plight caught the attention of Johor Indian Business Association president P. Sivakumar and the Kulai district office.

Sivakumar said it was important for the children to get their identity cards so that they could go back to school or attend technical training that would be helpful in getting a job.

S. Jeevan, a special officer to the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, said he would try to get a public housing unit for the family.

“I will also try to get a van to help bring the entire family to the National Registration Department,” he said.

Dire straits: Logambal (in red and black blouse) and her children talking to Jeevan (second from right), Sivakumar (third from right) and other government officials about the family’s plight at the abandoned house in Kulai.