MUKAH: This year’s Hari Raya Aidilfitri will be a quiet affair for Ajiah Raili and her family due to financial constraint.
The 36-year-old housewife said there was not much she and her husband Rozman Osman, 41, could do during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Ajiah and Rozman, a fisherman, have five children ― four boys and one girl aged between seven and 19 years. They are staying at Kampung Petanak Hilir here.
Their second child, a 16-year-old boy, is mentally challenged and quit school while in Form 4 last year.
She said the family used to celebrate Aidilfitri on a moderate scale and it was a normal affair for her considering the family’s financial situation.
“This year we may not celebrate Aidilfitri because we do not have sufficient income to spend.
“It is alright for me, because I understand our family’s financial situation,” she told New Sarawak Tribune yesterday when asked if her family planned to celebrate the coming Aidilfitri.
According to her, she and her daughter worked as helpers at a food stall in the housing estate here for about four months, but stopped because the stall closed due to the movement control order.
Ajiah added that she used to take orders from customers for her tailoring service, but had stopped doing so this year due to health reasons.
She revealed that the sewing machine was given to her by the government under the 1Azam programme in 2012.
She and her family are staying at her late father’s house, an old wooden structure built on stilts.
Ajiah added that the house had been slightly repaired through government financial assistance about three years ago.
