ARA DAMANSARA: For traditional husbands and fathers, their sense of self-worth is very often tied up with being the one who brings home the money to put food on the family table.
If illness robs them of the ability to do that, the mental anguish can be almost as debilitating as any physical pain.
Mohd Suhaimi Marzuki was diagnosed with diabetes four years ago but was still able to make roti canai and sell it for a living. However, his health took a turn for the worse this year. He’s lost several toes and can now barely stand, let alone work.
FMT met him and his family – his wife, seven-year-old daughter and mother-in-law – in their People’s Housing Project (PPR) unit.
Suhaimi’s voice quivers as he speaks of his wife Normaizan Saminan, who is now his family’s sole breadwinner.
As the 34-year-old recounts the year’s events, from losing his ability to earn money to his wife taking on double shifts to make ends meet, tears begin to trickle down his cheeks.
He’s gradually learning to live with being totally dependent on his wife, but it’s not easy.
“Now I can’t make roti anymore, it is my wife who works,” he says. “I’m very proud of her. She works as a cleaner and sells snacks to make around RM1,200 a month.”
The problem is, he says, that’s not enough to pay their regular monthly expenses which come to RM1,500. They are now relying on the i-Lestari Withdrawal facility, which allows EPF contributors to withdraw RM500 a month for a year, to make up the shortfall.
“Once this scheme is over next year, I’ll somehow have to go back to making roti canai,” he says.
Normaizan says she did not expect to be thrust into the breadwinner’s role. Previously, she just helped her husband with his roti canai business.
But she tells FMT she doesn’t know how to make roti canai herself, and this is why she has taken on double shifts as a cleaner and started selling ice-cream at the PPR.
“Our normal monthly expenses don’t include the medical supplies we need to buy every two weeks to clean my husband’s wounds. All the medicine and bandages cost RM50 each time.”
She begins her day by preparing food for her husband, daughter, and her mother who is also unwell, before leaving for work at dawn.
Desperate to find a way out of their bleak financial situation, she is planning to start an online food business selling nasi minyak and nasi tomato.
“But I really hope my husband will get healthy again and we can go back to the roti canai business,” she tells FMT.
However, with a chronic and progressive illness like diabetes, it’s hard to see a way back to how things used to be.
Those who wish to help Suhaimi may drop a WhatsApp message on FMT’s Helpline at 0193899839. Click here to Whatsapp us.