SANDAKAN – Despite having to travel across mangrove areas and dilapidated bridges, the journey did not dampen the spirit of the Sandakan UMNO division’s Puteri and Youth wings from delivering food aid to communities affected by the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO ).
Puteri wing team, led by Shaninah Sani, has been doing these activities since the first phase of Movement Control Order (MCO) in March.
She said the intention was to give assistance to both, Malaysians and foreigners who were in dire need of help.
“This pandemic has not only hit the country, but the whole world and one of the steps to break the chain of the pandemic is through humanitarian efforts,” Shaninah said while delivering aid in a squatter area here.
She said that despite having limited funds, her team has managed to deliver assistance to about 1,000 families identified through Facebook and public information.
Shaninah said there were times when those who needed help during the CMCO were discovered by accident such as the squatter settlement here.
“Recently, we assisted a pregnant mother who had a miscarriage in a squatter settlement who needed help to go to the hospital for treatment.
“The situation in the area is pretty sad and we quickly realised that there are other families that needed help too, so we are moving in to deliver food aid,” she said.
A squatter resident who wanted to be known as Norhanina, 21, thanked Sandakan Umno Puteri for providing assistance to the family of her brother-in-law, who lives with his parents and his two young children.
“My brother-in-law's job is uncertain. Now that CMCO is being enforced, he finds it difficult to find a job to support his family. His wife has left him long time ago,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sandakan UMNO Youth chief Muslie Mustafa said the collaboration with Puteri wing has enabled more people with food shortages to get proper assistance in baby formula, food items including fresh produce, clothes and so on.
For the record, the Sabah Local Government and Housing Ministry stated that Sandakan has 34 squatter settlements involving almost 30,000 Malaysians and foreigners, making the number of squatters in this district the second highest in the state after Kota Kinabalu. – Bernama, November 9, 2020
