I know, ive been talking alot about homeless. Despite the terrible nausea, i decided to sit down and write an entry. Quite sometime back i received and email from someone who didnt quite agree about the food distribution. i wanted to reply to her by email personally but somehow my kids with their super fast fingers smash the keyboard and zass, they deleted it. didnt manage to retrieved her email.
im in no position to really respond to the comment coz i dont go out every week. but the few numbers of night i went out was enough to teach me a lesson, not just me but also my lil kids. they no longer play with their food whenever we remind them about the homeless. they take care of their things better now after realising how fortunate they are. That was what a 3 year old boy saw with his own eyes.
Recently, the newspaper highlighted about the homeless, not just the adults but also the homeless kids, they are as young as 10 years old, left roaming in the city of kl to defend themselves. along the way they ended up becoming drug mules for the adults as they needed money.
Thos who didnt get hold of the newspaper, here are a number of link written in the newspaper, i took it from the Star online:
- Sis-in-law found after 25 years
- Getting up close and personal
- Many rejected by family and society
- Scores sleeps in parks n five-foot ways in KL
Sadly, when we talk on homeless, ppl have the mind set of those beggars, drug addicts sleeping at the roadside. yes these scenario exists but as what the newspaper also mentioned:
“These homeless in the capital city are not all beggars or vagabonds. In fact, many of them hold jobs during the day.
However, they do not make enough to pay for houses or rooms and find it easier to make ends meet by sleeping on the streets.
There are no accurate figures on the number of homeless people in the city as only a few non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are aware of their existence.
Many do not even look shabby and a few even have cell phones and dress well.”
“DRESSED in a polo T-shirt, long pants and leather shoes, Amran’s appearance can be deceiving. His fluent English also makes it hard to believe that somebody like him can be homeless and living on the streets for the last 30 years.”
In the New Straits Time recently highlighted on homeless kids
“Several hundred teenagers are living in abandoned buildings in Kuala Lumpur. They roam the streets, robbing and prostituting themselves to survive. One couple even made a sex tape for sale. Shockingly, the parents of some of these kids know what they are doing.
THEY are unwanted, neglected and shunned by their parents and society.
These teenagers, aged between 14 and 18 and numbering several hundred, live on the streets, exposing themselves to the underground activities thriving in the hidden parts of this city.”
I cant remember was it NST or Star that i read few days back ( n cant seem to cari it online) those homeless kids are rather bright, one of them left home age 12 after obtaining UPSR 3 A’s 2 B’s while another gal left after PMR who obtained 5a’s 3 b’s. The form 3 gal left coz father was abusive.
I had my very own up close n personal experience with homeless children. I was on an assignment for my undergrad, i managed to contact a lady from an NGO to bring me to the homeless kids. Accompanied with 2 other uni mate, we met the lady at the bridge near The Mall at 11:45pm. As i approached the lady, who was already with few kids, the lady salam me and whispered “y are u wearing tudung? you gonna scare these kids?!!!” and i was speechless, i did inform her i was from uia, couldnt she foresee we will come with tudung? anyway, i came out with a story quickly for the kids. The 3 of us were problematic children, being sent to a special programe by Social Welfare and we were suppose to be at Kem Ibadah but we ran away from the mosque, hence the attire.
The lady ajak the kids and i to lepak at the mamak, the ice breaking session went pretty well. I asked them how do they survive in the city since its been a year we’ve been off the street. So they told us their story. The youngest was 9 years old. Among the stories, dad remarried and stepmom refused to have him around, sexual abuse/ physical abuse parents, poverty, parents pass away and no relative willing to take them in since relatives pun kais pagi makan pagi.
The were dressed nicely, i asked them where do they get their shower? They go to the public toilets but if they have extra funds they will take up those RM50 hotel room to shower and have a good rest. Money? they steal handphone mostly. What was their tactic? they said usually kt mamak, ppl will placed their handphone on the table and busy reading the newspaper, especialy those who read and put up the newspaper, it will block them from seeing their handphone on the table, that’s when they take it. THey would then sell the handphone at various shops. They said, these shops knows we steal it so we dont really get a good ammount for it. But watever amount we get, we will share it. Any “income” of the day will be shared with everyone, for food mainly. If there’s extra money, they’ll buy new baju at chow kit.
If they dont “earn” anything what do they eat? They will walk at the chow kit area, grab one or two fruits quitely frm the vendor. Most stalls vendor will are busy with customers, they dont notice these kids grabbing one or two fruits (i.e apple, mango, oranges) Or they will go to back alley of restaurant to ask for extra food.
Where do they sleep? Under the bridge at The Mall.
While we were busy talking, the lady left us. Of coz we were panic. How could the lady sukehati tinggalkn kitorang. We were running out of topic, good thing one of my friend (my cousin actually) was like a moving jukebox, we talk about music and the kids started singing to all the song we mentioned. My cousin pun ikut layan nyanyi, segala lagu lah, dari rock zaman 90-an pun diorang layan. It was almost 2am already. We spend another 30mins or so and i came out with the story that we really have to get back to the mosque for the Kem Ibadah before the facilitator/ustazah wakes up for the qiamulail programme. We told them qiamulail starts at 3am so we have to rush and sneak in the mosque again. Pheww, lucky thing we went back in one piece. We sempat walk with them along the kaki lima kedai2 kat KL, diorang sempat lagi tunjuk men and prositute going to the hotel rooms and all.
Few days later, i went to Jabatan Kebajikan for further research, wah diorang trus deny my story, blum dgr lagi waht i have to say. I just mentioned the word homeless children, and the lady was denying it. She said those sume illegal imigrant, from mynmar, and bangsa2 lain. tu sume sindiket. she said, we do our rounds up quite often and never see locals.She just refused to listen to my story. She said i should come again another day, she will put aside all papers and articles for me. But as day passed by, i kept calling her she refused to answer my call. mcm2 alasan her colleague kasi.
And after the NST highlighted on these children, among the respond gov gave was
Read more: Saving the street kids: Government, NGOs seek total solution to problem http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Gettingkidsoffthestreets_Govt_NGOsseektotalsolutiontoproblem/Article/#ixzz0uNNZyexM
It is sad to see such kids going through all this. A 17 years old couple even record their sexual activity and sell it to earn money.
