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By MUHAMMAD BASIR BIN ROSLAN
Shopkeepers and visitors to the bustling bazaar at Lorong Haji Taib, near the Chow Kit wholesale market here, are probably used to seeing homeless people loafing about on the five-foot ways.
These vagrants are a nuisance in the eyes of the public due to their dowdy, unwashed and unkempt appearance and the fact that they don’t contribute much to society.
Curious to find out more about them, this writer tagged along when a group of volunteers from Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) visited the Lorong Haji Taib area to provide aid to the homeless people there one evening in March this year.
The visit ended with this writer concluding that it was not fair to judge them because some of them actually came from good families and had held decent jobs before they were dogged by misfortune.
Comprising 55 students and three lecturers, the UPSI team’s visit to Lorong Haji Taib was part of the voluntary activities carried out under the university’s ‘Sinar Harapan’ (Ray of Hope) programme.
They provided food, free haircuts, second-hand clothes and health check-ups to the needy people there, as well as organised a telematch for their children.
Two types of homeless people
Social activist Nur Akma Ali, who regularly provides voluntary services to the homeless community, was also present when the UPSI volunteers visited Lorong Haji Taib.
She said there were two categories of homeless people – the first comprising those with no home of their own and no permanent job and the second, drug addicts.
The first group, according to Nur Akma, was lucky as they were often assisted by individuals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Due to their involvement with drugs, the second group was often despised and ignored by society.
“In my opinion, the drug addicts have never been a nuisance to the public but it’s unfortunate that the people have a negative attitude towards them,” she said.
In her capacity as a social worker, Nur Akma visits the homeless drug addicts three times a week “because they are also ordinary people like us and they need our help”.
She said the addicts also did odd jobs like collecting and selling empty cans, and repairing electronic equipment to earn a living for themselves and their families.
Thrice a week, Nur Akma provides food items like biscuits and bread to the homeless people around Lorong Haji Taib 1, 2, 3 and 4. She also conducts Quran classes for them once a week.
“About 50 homeless people and their children attend each of these classes. I hope the classes would benefit them and help them to transform into better human beings.”
Watch repairman
To the surprise of this writer, most of the homeless people were still busy with their activities, mainly scrounging or rummaging around for items that they can sell, although it was well past 10pm.
Apparently, they only go to sleep after midnight once they have “completed their work”. They sleep anywhere they want and wherever they feel comfortable, even if it is at the side of a garbage dump or inside a ditch.
One of them, who only identified himself as Ijam, was busy poking about a pile of rubbish at Lorong Haji Taib 4, in search of used wristwatches.
The 42-year-old, from Sembulan, Sabah, is skilled in repairing watches and daily, he would go to Pasar Karat at Petaling Street, here, by bus to sell the watches he had repaired. His average income is RM20 a day, depending on how many watches he sells.
Ijam said his life crumbled after he was fired by the management of a factory in Shah Alam where he had been working. Prior to that, he worked as a contractor for house renovations in Kota Kinabalu.
“My world suddenly became dark after I was fired. I had no permanent job or a place to stay so I lived in the streets of Kuala Lumpur,” he said, adding that he left Sabah to work in the peninsula as he wanted to provide his family with a better life.
Ijam also shared his hopes of returning to his old job as a house renovation contractor.
“After I lost my job, I’ve not been able to help my family in Sabah. It’s my dream to become a successful contractor one day. In the meantime, I will continue to repair and sell used watches to earn a living,” he added.
Nurture positive attitude
Another homeless man, who wanted to be known as Vince, said that his family kicked him out of their house five years ago after he started using drugs.
The 35-year-old former lorry driver said it was a colleague who introduced him to heroin, a highly addictive opioid made from morphine.
“As soon as my family members found out about my addiction, they banished me and my mother disowned me. Shortly afterwards, I was dismissed from my job as my addiction got worse. I was also declared a bankrupt,” he said.
Vince, who is from Teluk Batik in Lumut, Perak, said he came to Kuala Lumpur in 2014 and his attempts to get a job as a lorry driver met with failure, obviously due to his drug problem.
“My addiction is getting worse and no one wants to help me except my friends at Lorong Haji Taib 4. I’ve never bothered the public even though they look down on me and my friends here,” he said.
He earns a small income by collecting and selling tin cans and used plastic items. He also gets food aid from people like Nur Akma and his friends who stay in the same area.
Vince is waiting for the day when he can kick the habit and pull himself out from the deadly web of drugs and become a useful human being once again so that he can return to his family in Perak.
Meanwhile, UPSI deputy vice-chancellor (Student Affairs and Alumni) Associate Prof Dr Md Amin Md Taff said the voluntary activities carried out by the university at Lorong Haji Taib under its ‘Sinar Harapan’ programme was aimed at nurturing a positive attitude towards needy communities like the homeless.
“It is to educate our students to come forward and meet those who rarely get the attention of the public and who are in need of help. We want our students to be concerned about what is happening in our society,” he said.
He said the programme also exposed the students to the difficulties faced by the homeless and taught them to be more grateful for what they have.
“I hope other institutions would also carry out similar programmes as these activities would help our students to cultivate humanitarian values,” he added. – Bernama
