Sabariah Hosni nee Irene (with cap) is a single mother of three children – two boys, one 12 and another 10 as well as a girl aged 8. Her husband passed away when the youngest girl was only 1 year old and Sabariah has been raising the three children on her own all these while.
She relies on her skill as a hairdresser to make ends meet but where her shop is located, just one door away from Jumble Station itself, means that she is never sure when or how much she can earn in a month because the customers are all from the poorer sections of society.
Recalling how tough it is to be a single mother Irene says that when she first decided to rent a shoplot there, hers was the only shop in that exact location and customers were few and far between. No buses ran through the new area and she had to walk her kids to school each day and back. Business has since picked up but even then, there were many times when customers would come into the shop, have their hair cut and then inform her that they ‘forgot’ to bring their cash! This makes it really tough for her to meet her RM800 rental at times, causing her to sometimes be late in her rental payments.
Still this plucky single mum has managed to make a life for herself and her kids and just last month she managed to save just enough to get her very own place at Jati Flats across the road from the low cost Angsana Flats. Her rationale for buying the flat? “I didn’t want to pay someone else’s housing loan by renting for the rest of my life so I saved as much as I could to ensure we have our own place where no one can kick us out if they want to,”she says.
Well, more recently Jumble Station was able to assist Irene in a practical manner – NST journalist Charles and his wife Lisa from Bangsar wanted to give away their 8-month old sofa set and has asked whether JS wanted it. We sure did! We brought Irene over to meet Lisa and collect the sofa set (one two seater, one three seater and two single seaters) for her new flat. See accompanying pix.
She relies on her skill as a hairdresser to make ends meet but where her shop is located, just one door away from Jumble Station itself, means that she is never sure when or how much she can earn in a month because the customers are all from the poorer sections of society.
Recalling how tough it is to be a single mother Irene says that when she first decided to rent a shoplot there, hers was the only shop in that exact location and customers were few and far between. No buses ran through the new area and she had to walk her kids to school each day and back. Business has since picked up but even then, there were many times when customers would come into the shop, have their hair cut and then inform her that they ‘forgot’ to bring their cash! This makes it really tough for her to meet her RM800 rental at times, causing her to sometimes be late in her rental payments.
Still this plucky single mum has managed to make a life for herself and her kids and just last month she managed to save just enough to get her very own place at Jati Flats across the road from the low cost Angsana Flats. Her rationale for buying the flat? “I didn’t want to pay someone else’s housing loan by renting for the rest of my life so I saved as much as I could to ensure we have our own place where no one can kick us out if they want to,”she says.
Well, more recently Jumble Station was able to assist Irene in a practical manner – NST journalist Charles and his wife Lisa from Bangsar wanted to give away their 8-month old sofa set and has asked whether JS wanted it. We sure did! We brought Irene over to meet Lisa and collect the sofa set (one two seater, one three seater and two single seaters) for her new flat. See accompanying pix.
Much later too, Irene was also able to get a dining table and chairs, a bed, two cupboards and dressing table from another journalist Diana Chin without having to pay a sen for them. Both the donors and Irene were happy with how this has worked out and we at JS are delighted to be able to bring some measure of happiness to both parties – the giver of the items is happy to know the goods given is put to good use by someone who really needs it and can't afford it while the single mum is blessed with the very things she needs, at a time when she needs it most!
Here's how we at JS are fulfilling our promise - that Single Mums in need, get the products in JS for free first before it gets sold to the poor in the shop itself. Know of any single mum in need, point us in their direction.
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