Anna and her children seen with the food aid given by SDNU Sibu.
SIBU (July 9): A woman and her two children squatting in a wooden shack in Teku here yesterday received food assistance from Sarawak Dayak National Union (SDNU) Sibu branch.
Its chairman Chambai Lindong said the woman, Anna Mawas, used to work as a labourer up but lost her job after the second Movement Control Order.
“She was renting a room at a shop house but could not longer afford the rent after running out of money.
“She and her two children, a son aged 11 and a daughter aged five, moved into the shack about two weeks ago and are running out of food as no aid has reached them,” he said in a statement.
He said Anna, who hails from Baleh, Kapit is married to a foreign national who was deported back to his country in January this year.
“The family is now left on their own to fend for themselves. This shack is not safe and certainly unsuitable to raise her children. They need more than just food aid, including decent and proper housing,” he added.
Chambai also said he was informed that the shack had been broken into previously and that some of the family’s basic belongings had been stolen.
On the food aid from SDNU Sibu, he said it would be able to last the family for a certain period of time.
However, he urged the relevant authorities to extend assistance to the family, especially for the sake of Anna’s two children who are currently studying at Destiny for Children – a non-profit organisation providing free classes to underprivileged children.