Help pours in for elderly couple living at dumpsite

KOTA KINABALU: Help has come for an elderly couple whose deplorable living conditions in Tawau were featured in pictures shared widely on social media.

Among the help offered to Jurrah Abdul Halim, 63, and her husband Amil Bala, 70, who live in a rundown shack on a former dumpsite in Jalan Damai in the district, was a better place to reside in.

However, Jurrah said they would have to consider the offers first.

“Let us think about the offers and if possible, let us spend Hari Raya here first,” she said in thanking the public for their donations.

Her husband, too, expressed his reluctance to move elsewhere while burdening others.

Pictures of them in the small shack surrounded by discarded items, which the couple have called home for the past four years, went viral.

The hovel, which has no electricity and water supply, is just big enough to fit the two of them and even looks in danger of collapsing.

On Thursday, Majlis Permuakatan Sri Tahfiz Al-Baghdadi Tawau director Roslan Ramli said they were ready to assist the IMM13 holders (Filipino refugees) in any way possible.

He said they decided to help the couple after hearing about their plight through social media and news outlets and seeing for themselves their living conditions.

“This place is unsafe for anyone to live in,” he said.

Roslan said they had identified several houses which would be suitable for the elderly couple to move in to.

“I hope they will consider the offer. We will provide them with the house rent, utilities and care for their welfare,” he added.

Apart from Roslan’s organisation, they also received basic necessities from the Kalabakan Umno division.

Its chairman Andy Muhammad Suryadi Andi Bandy said the gesture was to help ease their burden.

He also hoped more people would come forward to help the couple.