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
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