To fish or not to fish--that's the dilemma!

We’ve all heard the saying “Give someone a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach ‘em to fish and they’ll eat for a lifetime.” But what happens if the learner doesn’t fancy mastering the art of fishing…what then?

Well then perhaps the smarter move is to find what the learner really wants to learn and then give him the tools of the trade to make particular mastery of the skills needed a real possibility.

Single parents by virtue of the fact they have kids to fuss over, generally don’t make for good or reliable students. Some folks wonder why with all the ‘free courses’ available in the marketplace more single parents can’t garner the skills they need to get on with life.

Take Rainah Kinsang for example. It’s been exactly a year and six months since she became a single mother after her hubby drowned while spearfishing in an abandoned property development site in Subang. This single mother of four boys struggled to raise them single-handedly, found it too tough and promptly packed them off to their grandparents in Sabah while she returned to Subang ostensibly to make something of herself.

She was offered a fully paid 2-year course to learn how to do facial and hairdressing by the YWCA training team. She attended for less than a month and dropped out for good. Seems she didn’t mind the course but the enforced live-in requirement grated on her need for total freedom hence her sudden departure from a course that others less privileged were dying to get into.

She moped around for a couple of months, mulling what to do next, then a friend suggested they both go into the tailoring business. Although not exactly skilled with the needle and thread, she was game for it. Initially it scared her a little but she thought the better insurance hedge would be to sell some ‘bundle-like” clothes so she could meet her share of the rental while taking the opportunity to learn sewing skills.

Fortunately for her, Jumble Station had just received several brand new clothes that still bore the price tagged labels and these were passed on to her in her spanking new shop just two doors away from us. Displaying brand new clothes for sale is the easy part, pricing it at an affordable level is another and here Rainah has had to be guided closely to ensure she does not under-price or over-price the items donated to her for onward sale. It’s hoped that this hand-holding will have to be eased off soon and that she will learn to be more business savvy as time goes on. For now though, instead of lounging on a comfy 3-seater sofa flicking through magazines, she’s been prodded pointedly to take up tailoring and learn to sew from Melini her fellow Sabahan business partner.

Then there’s also Liza, an unwed mother who apparently has learnt the art of doing facials but for some strange reason never seems to stick long enough at it to earn enough to feed year old Alyesha. Jumble Station had assisted her by loaning RM4,000 last year so she could buy 2nd hand facial equipment and furniture but except for an occasional foray into facials, she has hardly made enough to feed a church mouse!
Where once she was able to utilise some space in a hairstyling salon, now she is forced to work from her rented flat because the hairstyling business ‘closed shop’ recently. At RM35 a facial, one would think getting customers around the Subang Mewah neighbourhood should be easy a pie.
Not so, it has been tough as nails because now more people are cost conscious and facials are deemed a luxury not a necessity. She now has a fishing rod in hand, but Liza realises she will need to have the right bait (print some flyers, viral market her skills etc) in order to lure in the customers, the question is, is she and many other single parents, up to the task as yet? Only time will tell!

HELP-ing hand from HELP University College

One of the key factors that Jumble Station puts priority on is the need for education for the children of Single Parents. Why? Education is the passport to future success, the lynchpin that can break the chains and bonds of poverty.

But what if the single family concerned does not have the finance to fund the child’s education? Previously one would have just shrugged it off and gone straight to the working/ employment pool. Today there are other options and one of them is to tap into the potential offered in the area of scholarships by the various organisations.

Hence, when Jumble Station got a chance to meet with Mrs Paul Chan, the co-founder of the well established HELP University College we took the opportunity to broach the subject of scholarships for needy folks – especially for the children of poor single parents. A concerned Mrs Chan was more than willing to offer a full scholarship to deserving children of single parents wanting to pursue a degree here in Malaysia.

Spurred by the desire to see as many deserving smart youngsters get the tertiary education they deserve Mr and Mrs Paul Chan co-founded HELP Uni College which has since gone on to make great strides in private education. Now she agreed to extend a HELPing hand to one of ours.

Sujata, daughter of single mother Panjalai from Angsana Flats in USJ1 was offered a full scholarship to do her foundation and a three-year degree course in accountancy. Despite the distance – from Angsana to the Kommuter to KL Sentral to Damansara – Sujata expressed joy and happiness at this golden opportunity to pursue her studies in a well established and highly respected institute. The only snag is that it costs quite a bit for transport – RM5 x 2 = RM10 to and from the school each day and Jumble Station is hoping to find an individual willing to commit to RM500 a month just so Sujata can travel and have a bit of lunch for the next four years as she pursues a course in accounting.

Jason Kwan is another bright student keen to pursue a career in advertising. We’re approaching The One Academy for a possible scholarship but in the meantime, are there any kind souls out there, ready and willing to invest in educating a bright yet poor student? If so just buzz or send an SMS to 016-2202958 and we can chat .

Say hello to Urban Station

Urban Station, a collaboration between DUMC’s Urban KL Fellowship catering to the homeless, the street people and Jumble Station, focused on Single Parents in need, made its debut on April 22 2009.

Urban Fellowship of Street Ministry as all of us know it has been around for quite some time and is located at the 1st floor of the old Klang Bus Station. Back in its heyday the bus station was a hive of activity with many buses heading out from KL to the rest of the other states. Today however it acts as a feeder terminal for the Klang and KL centric buses.

JS was approached to assist urban Fellowship set up a thrift shop in the heart of KL specifically to help create job opportunities for its many street folks, most of whom find it tough to get anyone to give them a job. Since Jumble Station believes in partnering others to assist the needy plus it makes it easier for others to reach us in KL instead of in Subang Jaya, the collaboration made a lot of sense to both partie

Urban Station was born from this need to recycle items, re-energise humans and rebuild lives. In line with that we began employing a young homeless couple to assist us in the shop but the weekend before the launch, they scooted off, never to be seen again.

Ah well, some people blow the opportunities given to them, others make good use of them. Now we have a more matured woman and a street savvy yet very teachable guy willing to assist us in making Urban Station a success.
So folks, if you are around the KL bus station area, do drop by with your friends and buy an item or two to help the needy. Proceeds after overheads will go towards the needs of the street folks and single parents who are poor so every helping hand in making Urban Station a success will be mightily appreciated.

Just for the launch we had DUMC senior pastor Daniel Ho, CES director Pastor Margaret Loy and Jumble Station co-founder Lim Lian See cutting the ballooned ribbon while our JS dancers performed a short country line dance to the beat of Achky Breaky heart song and I must say we were a refreshing change, adding both colour and youthful zest to this once very quiet place.

A big thanks to all our fiesty boot stompers from Adrian, Lian See, Joyce Leong, Mae Ane, Noni, Meksue, Eng Yao and DJ Pingngan. Let’s put our special caring stomp on KL and its environs via Urban Station itself!

Teaching Single Parents to fish

Some people deplore the idea of assisting those in need by giving out purely cash or groceries. For Jumble Station, we believe in meeting emergency needs via cash or in kind (giving donated items to single parents free of charge) first so that physical needs are met uppermost, after which, we will look at a more long term solution to their current predicament.

So yes, giving them fish to eat is important but teaching them to fish is a more sensible and more sustainable way to ease them of their financial woes. However teaching single parents in need to fish is a pretty daunting task not least because the desire to learn to “fish” has to come from them first.

One key thing is that one must first try to ‘lure’ them into the benefits learning to fish and it’s tough because first off many of the poor single parents are less skilled, poorly educated and lack self-confidence or are still psychologically too traumatised to try something new.

There are of course some exceptions and two of them come to mind. The first is single mother Rusnani who has 6 children to care for and whose spouse, a drug addict, abandoned her while she was expecting her last child. Nani possesses an enviable skill – she can cook and her signature dish – ayam berempah and nasi kukus (spicy fried chicken and steamed rice) is deliciously mouth-watering!

Nani came to Jumble Station’s attention when a friend who had promised to loan her the down-payment for a van that she needed to ferry her cooking utensils and ingredients, was nowhere to be found. All she needed was just RM3,000 to get a van that would help her to kick-start her food business at Damansara Heights, KL.

Recognising her desire to work and feed her children Jumble Station gave her the money needed to get a second hand van and she has since garnered quite a loyal following of customers who were willing to stand in line to await their ‘packed aromatic lunch”.

The snag is that she does not posses a licence and was constantly facing harassment from DBKL officers who would cart off her cooking gas tank, her cooking implements and chicken and impose a hefty RM300 fine each time she wanted her items back.

We stepped in to assist again by writing an appeal letter to DBKL seeking their help in getting her a licence but to no avail. Fortunately, she managed to secure a spot near the mosque premises where she is now able to conduct her daily business unhindered while her customers are delighted to know that their supply of ayam berempah remains uninterrupted. For Jumble Station it is enough to know that she is now capable of shouldering the burden of caring for her children independently and her desire now is to be able to hire some workers to help her in this business whilst expanding her reach to other places as well.

For single mother Panjalai, who earns only RM600 as a kindergarten helper and has only RM200 to survive on after deducting rental each month, learning to ‘fish’ is something she is just beginning to grasp. Jumble Station assisted her by securing her a small space in a shoplot at Angsana Flats for RM100 rental where she can now sell some items to the local residents there.
This little shop now sells detergents – powdered and liquid – formula from the well recognised name Kleenso.

Kleenso’s founder Mr Lee Teck Meng was kind enough to participate in this ‘teaching to fish’ exercise by supplying Panjalai’s shop with several of his branded products including bleach, softener, floor, glass and bathroom cleaners, car polish etc. There were also liquid detergent refills where one could bring one’s old plastic containers and buy the refill for a much cheaper price. Panjalai would earn some 30sen to 50sen per bottle sold while Jumble Station chipped in by passing to her some children’s toys, both big and small, to enable her to draw in the mothers and children to her shop.

It’s been only a month or so since this fishing experiment got started but so far, the indications are that both Nani and Panjalai are excited and pleased with their little ‘ventures’ and are gaining greater self confidence as the days go by. For Nani it is a move that is paying off well because she is now able to return RM200 a month to Jumble Station while Panjalai finds her retail venture very encouraging – she is able to pay off her RM100 rental for this month and have a little left over for her two teenage children.

Jumble Station hopes to get some flyers printed for them and that should help get more people to know about their products and to actually buy their products so that they can live more financially independent lives. So if you have a party planned and need great food – don’t miss Nani’s mouthwatering ayam berempah and if you need dishwashing liquid detergent to clean up after that, just swing by Panjalai’s shop to get some.

Admittedly both do not need ‘charity’ but they can go far with your strong, unstinting support. At Jumble Station we’re truly hoping that these two early successes will visibly inspire many more single parents to do likewise and thereby free themselves from the shackles of poverty. We really do want them to know that a hand-up is far better than a hand-out long term!

Jumble Station has a singular vision to assist single parents in need. If you have toys, clothes, electrical or electronic items, collectibles, furniture, books etc, do drop them at F1-01-05 Angsana Flats, USJ1 Subang Mewah, Subang Jaya, Selangor or call 016-2202958 for collection of bulky items.

JS dancers wow Angsana crowd during free medical clinic

Sunday, March 1 ....Some 750 residents of Angsana Flats at Subang Mewah, USJ1 were given free medical treatment and check up on Sunday March 1 2009. Organised jointly by the
Rotary Clubs of Bukit Kiara Sunrise (RCBKS) and The Rotary Club of Shah Alam (RCSA) in collaboration with Jumble Station, a NGO helping poor Single Parents and the Angsana Residents Association, the event saw some 15 doctors from both the private and government hospitals.
The Free Medical Camp was to create health awareness among the poorer community of the low cost flats of Angsana Flats, to provide free medical consultation and medicine to this community and to provide a health education for the residents there.
It began with a line dance exercise by Jumble Station volunteers and promptly at 9 am the crowd started streaming for the medical check up. Pfizher (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd;s Care –A –Van conducted tests to check the cholesterol and blood sugar tests for those aged 40 onwards as well as for blood pressure, Body Mass Index and obesity tests, among others. There were also free ultrasound tests for the kidney area, eye tests conducted and a mobile pharmacy manned by qualified pharmacists to dispense free medicine. Many youngsters were given de-wormed medicine while several adults were surprised to learn that they had high blood pressure and needed to be more careful of their own health.
Tan Sri Muhammad Muhd Taib, the Minister of Rural and Regional Development was scheduled to officiate the closing but technical delays in his flight return to Malaysia prevented him from turning up. The guest of honour was Lion Group Medical Assistance Fund trustee Colleen stood in his place while Elsie Low, President of Rotary Club of Bukit Kiara Sunrise, Chandra Sekharan, President of Rotary Club of Shah Alam, and Azmy Awang, President Persatuan Penduduk Pangsapuri Angsana were the VIPs.
Jumble Station dancers, wowed the crowd with a lively rendition of a Malay dance titled “Dikir Puteri” led by our talented Adrian Ong, MekSue, Noni and her daughter Shamine. Our Dikir team was led by yours truly and other very sporting guys and gals – Rontau, Mae Ann, Eng Yao, Lian See, Sujata and her mum and Jessica.
The main sponsors for Angsana Flat’s medical camp included Lion Group Medical Assistance Fund, Pfizer, Pyrogen Technologies, Kossan Bhd, Hartalega Sdn. Bhd, Alkarich Sdn. Bhd., Michael Gan and Maestro Swiss Trading Sdn Bhd

Falling between the welfare cracks….

At Jumble Station (JS), we often get this question from well wishers and donors – why can’t the single parent go out to work or get welfare help if their situation is so bad. Well, most times, the single parent is illiterate or poorly educated so menial jobs or factory work is all that she can aspire to.
Next is the issue of getting sufficient pay, enough at least to cover the cost of transport going to and from work, food and childcare fees – working as a housemaid or a factory hand certainly won’t cover this, not if you have 4-5 constantly hungry kids to feed and clothe.

It helps if your kids are a little older, then you don’t really have to worry about paying a childminder and your kids can care for themselves after school, leaving you free to get a job. Such was the case of single mother Panajalan who JS has been helping on a monthly basis.

Panjalan has a 19 year old son, Kumeran and a 17 year old daughter Sujata. Her husband died of a heart attack in January last year leaving her with no money or income. She currently works at a small kindergarten which is a walking distance from the flat she is renting just above JS’ shop at Angsana, USJ1 Subang Jaya.

Her take home pay is RM595 each month, rental for the flat is RM380, utilities is RM37 a month and the kids get RM4 a day for bus fare and lunch

Monthly income/expenses:

Take home pay: RM595
Rent: RM380
TNB + Water = RM37
Allowance for bus fare + lunch for 2 kids = RM160 a month
Balance left for food = RM18

Not surprisingly, the family has been subsisting on bread and milo and occasional handouts from relatives who are themselves not rich. Jumble Station learnt about their plight and took them to the Welfare Department for aid.

After close to 6 months of waiting, the Welfare Department finally agreed to provide aid but it turned out to be only RM100! So its RM50 per child - is that all? We took another trip to the Welfare office and we were told quite curtly that the RM100 was only for Sujata and not Kumeran!

Turns out Kumeran, having turned 18 last year was not eligible for welfare aid according to the Malaysian law. The law disregards the fact that Kumeran is still studying (fees paid for by a relative) and unemployable for perhaps another 2-5 years!

When asked if there was any aid for a single mother, the Welfare staff swiftly said “No”. She then asked for Panjalan’s age and on learning that she was only 50plus said, oh kalau you 60 sahaja boleh dapat sumbangan (oh if you’re 60 you are entitled to aid for the elderly). When I told her that even with welfare aid the family only has RM118 to survive on, the Welfare staff offhandedly suggested that Panjalan find a 2nd job. A very dejected Panjalah said that she is unable to cope with a 2nd job because she currently has high blood pressure which makes it tough to work long hours!

So there you have it – a family genuinely in need of help but the Welfare Department has its hands tied by laws that make very little sense. Even the RM100 aid it gives now will be stopped next year once Sujata hits 18 years old! At that time, Panjalan will be older, frailer and more sickly while her kids will need more money to pursue their studies because education is the only way in which the family can someday get out of the vicious poverty cycle that now enslaves them.

In the meantime, Jumble Station is pitching in to assist with groceries each month, Kumeran earns as little by repairing the CPUs that come to JS and Sujata earns RM10 each time she volunteers in our little shop. The next three to four years will be tougher as Kumeran pursues his interest in Computing studies and Sujata guns for accountancy but where will they get the money to pay for their studies?

The one year since their sole breadwinner died has not been easy for them at all but one must salute their determination to earn where possible and make do with whatever they have. It is families like these that deserve a helping hand and it’s time the law is amended to meet needs rather than age criteria don’t you think?

Back to School Rush!

What’s usually the biggest headache parents face towards the start of a new school term? Finding the cash to buy new school uniforms, school shoes, bags, books and stationery. If you have more than two kids, the problem becomes a migraine indeed and if you’re a Single Parent, it’s enough to send you to the loony bin.

Realising this, Jumble Station got together with a couple of charitable souls from various churches, led by Damansara Utara Methodist Church’s Excel Community Services and several CGs, to assist Single Parents and their children cross this tough hurdle. The “Back to School” party was also organised to coincide with the festive Christmas season to bring greater cheer into their weary and tired lives.

Some 50 Single Parents and 130 children from Desa Mentari which is a stone throw from Sunway were able to participate in this event where they were royally treated to a sumptuous dinner replete with one humongous stuffed roasted turkey donated generously by Victoria Station and topped off with packets of Cheezels and Tiger biscuits from Kraft that had the little ones smiling from ear to ear. For many of them, these were rare treats indeed!

While the children were delighted to get a set of spanking new uniforms, school bag and stationery set, many of the single parents too were not forgotten and each went home with a goodie bag filled to the brim with grocery items that ranged from ‘beras’ to cookies, oil to flour among others.

Lucien a freelance photographer took some candid and picturesque shots of the fun filled event and the pictures themselves tell a very telling tale of how a thoughtful few, with lots of enthusiasm can bring tremendous joy to many of the less privileged, more importantly to the Single Parents who are generally overlooked during the ‘Back to School” rush. At least this time, they weren’t!

Interested in helping single parents in need – call us at 016-2202958