Out-of-work labourers to forgo Gawai this year
MIRI: Making preparations for this year’s Gawai Dayak is the least of Mathew Ayom’s concerns.
The labourer and his coworkers have been living without any income since the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO) on March 18, up until the current Conditional MCO period.
They are the breadwinners of six families who are living in Kampung Lusut Kanan, Taman Tunku here.
Mathew said they heard about the possibility of some works to resume next month, but nothing had been confirmed yet.
“This year’s Gawai is definitely going to be a very sad time for us, but it’s the least of our concerns.
“Our biggest problem now is putting food on the table,” he said when met yesterday.
Mathew said their main focus at the moment was to keep it together despite the hardship brought about by Covid-19 pandemic.
“We pray that we would land some jobs soon and be able to bring home some earnings again.
“We’re not thinking about celebrating Gawai right now; instead, we’re all thinking of ways to survive all these things
– the pandemic, the loss of income and the bad economy, in general,” he added.
Nonetheless, Mathew said he and the other labourers were grateful for all the small blessings, such as donations from generous individuals and local associations like the Legacy Teresang Dayak Club.
When contacted, club founder Ugik Jalit said his team had been helping the labourers and their families as much as they could within their capabilities.
“Since the start of MCO, we have presented donations to the families three times.
“The contributions are just some small things, such as packed food items, rice, sugar, salt and cooking oil.
“We hope that others would come and help them as well,” he said.
Ugik also advised those wishing to help these families in any way that they could, to contact Mathew directly via 019725 3349.