Struggling to feed five kids

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A SINGLE mother in Air Itam is raising three children on a salary of less than RM500 per month.

M. Rajanee, 58, earns the paltry sum working as a dishwasher at a restaurant below her rented flat in Air Itam.

She earns RM25 for a full day’s work from 7am to 8pm but due to her asthmatic conditions, she can only work on an average of three days a week.

More than half of what she earns goes to paying the RM300 monthly rental of her flat.

Heavy burden: Rajanee taking her medication for asthma while assisted by her children (from left) Varmaneswary ,11, Anjalai Devi, nine and Nageswary,10 at thier home in Air Itam.

Rajanee said her husband abandoned the family 10 years ago and his whereabouts were unknown.

However, it became more challenging when she also had to take care of her elder brother’s two children aged nine and 13.

The two had been under the care of Rajanee since the beginning of the year when her brother, a single parent himself, was killed in a road accident.

Pertubuhan Kebajikan Yakin, a welfare organisation based in Tanjung Bungah had been assisting Rajanee since July last year by providing her with sundry goods and cash aid from time to time.

Its secretary P. Balan said they wrote a letter to the Welfare Department the same month to seek monthly aid for the single mother.

“We received a reply in September saying that Rajanee will be given RM100 per month under the department’s children assistance scheme.

“We hope the public could lend a hand as her expenses have increased to about RM1,000 per month, now that she has to take care of her brother’s children,” he told reporters during a recent visit to Rajanee’s flat.

He added that her neighbours had also been kind and caring to the family by giving them food, and even furniture and appliances.

“A Good Samaritan even provided her with transport to the Penang Hospital to seek treatment for her asthma.”

Balan also said they were working on sending the children to tuition classes as well as applying a low-cost home for the family.

Also present during the visit was Penang Hindu Sangam religious committee chairman P. Mahalingam.