Foreign Workers for Greener Pastures?

Many foreign workers from third world countries borrowed heavily or sold their belongings to pay unscrupulous recruiting agents to find them good jobs overseas. Before they can even start to earn a decent income, they are already heavily in debt.

However, arriving upon foreign shores, they are in for a shock! Instead of jobs they were promised, they find themselves at the mercy of the local HR contractors. Their passports are taken away, "held for safekeeping", and they were then contracted out to local employers, earning meagre pay but working long hours and sometimes everyday without rest. They have no rights compared to the locals. They cannot even afford to get sick, because being sick gets them no pay. Accommodation provided for are unsuitable, unhygenic and most of the time extremely overcrowded.

Work contracts last for three years, during which they cannot go home least they be penalised.

Work levies imposed by the government on the recruitment of foreign workers, meant to be paid for by the employers are deducted from the foreign workers' salaries plus other administrative fees, leaving almost nothing for their own daily survival, not to mention sending home much needed money to their families.

Some of the braver ones try to break free but end up being illegals. Those staying in overcrowded accomodations tolerate living close together without any privacy. Fights break out among them when tolerance snapped.

At the end of their contracts, they go home, defeated, dejected, penniless and still in debt.

Where is the justice for those struggling for survival?

Where is the conscience of the people who trade in other people for their own profits?

Vicki Mah, Social Worker

The Visually Impaired and Handicapped at Bukit Malut

The first 3 photos shows Aishah and her 4 daughters. Aishah is one of the fire victims of Bukit Malut. All 4 of her daughters were born with an eye disorder that makes them squint in the daylight and this is painful sometimes. According to Aishah, all her daughters are normal at night.

I brought them to the specialist clinic at the Langkawi General Hospital where an eye specialist attended to them. He recommended that they wear protective sun glasses in the daytime while he runs other tests on their eye conditions. Dont' they look cute with their sun glasses in the 3rd photo?

The 4th photo shows Yusof Jamaludin and his sister. Yusuf is going totally blind and can only see vaguely through one eye while his sister's condition is slightly better.

I brought them to see the eye specialist and a cataract operation was arranged for Yusuf's sister. However the operation did not do much for Yusuf's sister, but she said that her condition was slightly better after the operation. Unfortunately for Yusuf, he was too far gone and nothing could be done.

The 5th photo shows Ismail, 17 years old, who was born handicapped. He cannot walk nor talk, but he is a very cheerful and intelligent young man. His father recently died of old age and Yusuf is left on his own while his 59 years old mother goes to work for RM6 a day processing ikan bilis at a nearby ikan bilis factory whenever there is work to do. During hard times, her neighbours chip in to help. But even their neighours have their own problems too, therefore I help whenever I can. Vicki Mah, Social Worker

A Blind Training Institution - Behind the Scene

I would never have imagined that those in charitable organisations are so well paid!

A chance interview with a Blind Institution in Penang led to a stay-in position and a window into the workings of such an organisation which is a Home and Training Centre for the Visually Impaired.

Excited to serve and with such perks, it never occured to me then that the original vision and mission of the Home was long gone.

One of the elderly blind, Lucille (name has been changed), who is now in her 70s, has been a resident there since she was 4 years old, abandoned there by her parents who did not know how to care for a child blinded by some unknown illness.

When Lucille was of working age, she became the launderess of the Home and when she retired she continued to stay on in the laundry quarters, irregardless that there was no bathroom nor toilet, as this room has become so familar to her over the years.

At nights she would go to take her bath at another block to find it locked and she would scream and shout her frustrations. No one visits her, not even those who were supposed to care for her except for a concerned staff from a different department. Sometimes they even forgot to bring her meals to her.

Every night, Lucille talks to herself before going to sleep. She almost lost both feet. They were swollen, infected and the skin on one ankle was gone while that on the other ankle was about to peel off tool. Obviously, without medical attention, they would probably have become gangreneous and have to be amputated at worst.

Initially, Lucille refused to go to the hospital, saying that she has no money to pay for medical expenses, but she forgot about her savings held by the Home which nobody had reminded her of.

After a preliminary investigation at the private clinic, the doctor recommended that Lucille be admitted to a hospital for further treatment. Lucille was admitted to the Penang Adventist Hospital the next day and her ankles were saved.

Another blind resident in his 40s, Alan (not his real name), walks twice daily to a nearby hospital canteen for his vegetarian meals sponsored by an inhouse church there. One day I decided to follow him. It was really so pathetic seeing him stumbling into shallow drains, tripping over uneven roads, tree roots and crossing dangerous roads. At nights, he would just sit on the floor of his small room and cry in despair. Why couldn't the Home have arranged some alternatives for him?

The above are just 2 cases of neglect and sorry state of affairs at the Home. Most of the senior blind residents receive RM200 in monthly aid from the Malaysian Social Welfare Department. With this money the senior blind buy their daily needs. What they did not know and was not informed, was that some of these items sits in the storeroom which has been donated by the generous public.

There is nothing much for the senior blind residents to look forward to. Everyday is the same. Real charity and compassion goes beyond just a roof over their heads and 3 meals daily. The management could have at least organised visits or some activities to brighten their lives, looked into their mental well being as well and not neglect and leave them in a prison of their own dark world.

It is such a despairing situation, theirs is a loveless Home.

Most of the staff just take it a a normal job. After they check out at the end of the day, their work is done. Not even the committee members or the Board of Directors take any interest in the going ons of the Home. One of them even expressed such horrors to be around the B...lind!

The deaf, blind and dumb children are labelled the "3 in 1" as in a packet of instant coffee. A very sick joke indeed! The housemothers scream at them daily, shove them around and the children cannot even defend themselves.

The scenario is so different when visitors come around and praise the staff for their "noble work".

Granted that the work can be very trying at times, but great care should be taken to select only the most suitable candidates for organisation such as these and not just anybody who happened to answer their advertisements.

The management and staff of the deaf/blind unit are a law unto themselves. Overall there is no work discipline and they bring whoever they like to their quarters in the Home after hours.

Clearly something must be done. The relevant authorities should conduct regular checks for abuses, interviewing residents of such organisations and making sure that government grants are properly utilized.

Organising fund-raising, charity dinners and such are praise worthy activities, but the organisers and the public need to investigate further whether these funds reach the right parties.

Vicki Mah, Social Worker

Living with a urine catheter for 2 years!

Nyan bin Musa, 70 years old (photo 1) is one of Langkawi's poor and needy. He had a urine catheter in his penis for 2 years straight!

Nyan was admitted to the Langkawi General Hospital 4 years ago for some medical problems. When he was discharged, he went home with the urine catheter still attached. His eldest son, an odd job worker, took him to the nearby government clinic to have it changed every 2 or 3 weeks. Nobody in Nyan's family took any initiative to ask the doctors why this catheter has to be there for so long.

When I met and interviewed Nyan, he broke down and cried. He said that he had prayed so hard to have the catheter removed. According to Nyan's son, his father wore the catheter everyday and even when he worked his garden, digging and what nots, Nyan would just flip the urine bag over one shoulder and worked like that.

I then suggested that Nyan be admitted to the Langkawi General Hospital to see what can be done . Nyan was dressed in a minute and off we went.

Nyan stayed a total of 5 days in the male surgical ward. On day 1, Nyan suggested that the catheter be removed to see if he could urinate normally. The catheter was removed and 15 minutes later, Nyan felt the need to pee. However all he could manage was just a small amount and this went on for some 3 hours. All of a sudden, Nyan groaned in pain and asked for the catheter to be reinserted as his stomach was swelling.

On day 2, Nyan said to me that if nothing can be done, he wanted to go home as there was no one to look after his ailing wife (photo 2). But I encouraged him that since he was already at the hospital, why not wait a while more to see what else could be done.

Two surgeons attended to Nyan. One of them said that a urine catheter should not be inserted for more than 6 months. In Nyan's case, there was some infection, therefore the pain and because the catheter has been there for so long, Nyan's brain could not instruct his bladder to urinate normally, therefore Nyan's brain had to be retrained.

A rubberband was then tied halfway down the catheter and this stop the flow of urine from the bladder. It was only released whenever Nyan had the need to urinate. This method went on till the 5th day. When I visited Nyan on this day, he was sitting on a chair next to his bed and there was no sign of the catheter! He happily said that he could urinate normally and that the doctors had discharged him.

Photo 3 shows Nyan smiling happy to be home and freed of wearing the catheter at last!

Photo 2 shows Nyan's ailing wife. She is bedridden and though she looks so helpless, she is still very alert and not hard of hearing. Two feet from her mattress, is a hole cut in the floorboard and to which a squat toilet was installed. To this she drags herself, whenever she need to answer the call of nature and to take her baths. As there is no piping to the ground, Nyan scoop up whatever comes down and bury it somewhere else.

The kampung people tries to help in whatever ways they can, but whenever I could, I would also send foodstuffs and other cooking essentials to help. I really love this work!

Vicki Mah, Social Worker

Looking for a Miracle for HOPE

During a 2 month stay in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, a staff of a local NGO brought me to the Central Market. As we walked around, I saw this boy in the photo above.

In this article, I shall call the boy, HOPE. Hope's uncle who was there told us that everyday, they would go to the Central Market to seek the goodwill of the people there for their survival. To me, I thought that Hope was probably 12 or 13 years old because of his size but he was already 17 years old then. Hope has no immediate family and depend solely on his uncle.

I promised myself that one day, I will try to find a plastic or neuro surgeon who could give Hope a chance at life. Imagine at 17 years, he has to beg for a living, who would even employ him with a face like that? Behind that growth, I believe that Hope has a normal face and God willing, someday someone will give Hope a new face and not be a freak that people just stare at.

IS THERE SUCH A SURGEON OR ANYONE WHO IS GENEROUS ENOUGH TO GIVE HOPE A NORMAL LIFE? SEARCH YOUR HEARTS AND COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS...

Vicki Mah, Social Worker

Prostitution, Rape, Stealing and Other Crimes

Many crimes would have been prevented if children were properly educated before they became adults and part of our society. We are to blamed. Parents especially have a big role to play in this, failing which, teachers should be trained to teach such moral subjects in schools.

Instead subjects like sex eduction are taboos - parents and teachers go red in the face, get tongue tied when their children or students ask about the birds and the bees.

The impression that we get is that it is something dirty and not to be spoken of. Why is this so when God created sex as a wonderful thing for love and reproduction?

A 12 year old girl noticed bloodstains on her panties when she was in the school toilet. It had also stained the back of her school uniform. She was so embarrassed but did not know what is happening and what to do. She rushed home and fashioned a sort of napkin to staunch the flow. Her mum came to know about this and only then did the mother inform the daughter about menstrual periods that girls get when they come into womanhood.

Many teenagers are terribly curious about sex. Without proper education they try all sorts of way to satisfy their curiosity about sex through pornographic materials, through the internet and in pirated CD and DVD shops, pornographic movies are bundled into black plastic bags and sold over the counter to anyone who ask for them.

Not surprising also, most clients of pornography are top police officers who got theirs free for not raiding that particular shop or for informing the dealer of an imminent raid.

Where prostitution is concerned, would any respectable girl or woman in her right mind offer her body for sell? Exposing herself to humilation, diseases and injuries in the process? If there was no demand, there would be no supply. People think of prostitutes as dirt, but have they considered why that "prostitute" was in that trade in the first place?

Men think of sex all the time, and when they cannot get it by normal means, they try other means :

Sandra (not her real name), was trying to obtain finances to start her business. She did not have collateral so banks are out. Someone introduced her to some influential people who deals in venture capital. The Datuk arranged a dinner with a group of his colleagues at a service apartment. After dinner, the Datuk told her that the amount needed was peanuts and she would a a cheque for it if she agreed to sleep with him...

Molly (not her real name), was working from home. One evening she called her architect to her home to discuss the plans for her new office. He came nursing a bad cold. In kindness, Molly offered him a tot of brandy to help his condition. Molly also poured herself some. They discuss the plans and then Molly had to answer the call of nature. When she came out, they finalized their discussion and finished their drinks... not knowing that her drink was spiked. That was the last thing Molly knew. When she came to the next morning, she found herself naked and raped ...

Tina (not her real name), wanted to migrate to Japan. She gave notice to her landlord saying that she also wanted to dispose of her apartment furnitures. Her landlord brought over his friend who had shown interest to take over the lease of the apartment and wanted to buy some furnitures as well. A viewing was arranged. In the apartment over drinks, the landlord, his friend and another acquaintance drugged Tina's drink and raped her one by one. Though Tina was conscious throughout, she could not put up much resistance as she was unable to move and because one of them had a gun with him...

Many times, it is difficult to find jobs, especially for poor, illiterate people. What can they do? Surely they know that it is wrong to commit stealing and other crimes. I do not believe that they do this because it is the easy and lazy way out. But if for some of them, their families are starving and there are not many who would help, would this not drive them to do something that they know is wrong?

Criminal minds also originate from abuse in early childhood. Who is then to blame?

WHAT IS WRONG WITH OUR SOCIETY? We should get to the root of the problems, do something about them and not just point fingers at the wrong parties.

Just think how much money our government would save if there was no necessity to imprision anyone if everyone were to do their part to educate true morals and values to the young early in life.

Vicki Mah, Social Worker

Children of Bukit Malut, Langkawi

Young children of Bukit Malut, Langkawi, roam the village all day, some as young as 3 years, barely clothed, many shoeless on dirt paths strewn with garbage. Many are left alone, unsupervised as their parents tried to find work during the day to feed their families.

Many of the school going children study at Sekolah Bayas - a primary school which is quite a distance from the village. In some classes, the children are quashed like sardines. For quite a number of them, it takes them some 2 hours just to get to school.

Reason? The village vans that transport themn to and fro have to wait for enough passengers before the vans can move.

Though the van fare is not much, it can be quite a sum barely affordable when many parents earn only RM6 a day processing ikan bilis at nearby ikan bilis factories, also especially when there are more than 3 school going children in a family.

Would these children have a better future than their parents? Would the local Langkawi community eventually accept them?

Vicki Mah, Social Worker