KOTA KINABALU – When the Malaysian Red Crescent Society set up its first call centre in January to assist stressed-out Sabah folk, the calls were mostly from secondary school and college students finding it hard to learn from home amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Then, the calls got more dire, coming in from people who have lost their jobs, and need food and money to get through these difficult times.
Recently, the Red Crescent’s Mental Health and Psychological Centre (MHPSS) received a call from a man who was contemplating ending his life.
Norsahizah Suntang, one of the employees in charge at MHPSS here, said the man was from Kuala Lumpur.
“Overall, the call centre has received more than 3,000 calls since it was established here on January 2. On average, we get over 30 calls a day, with the centre operating between 9am and 5pm six days a week, except Sunday.
“There are seven members manning the phones, with around five on duty each day.”
Most of the calls are from college and secondary school students, she said.
“They would usually talk about expensive data (plans) and weak internet services.
“Adding to their pressure are parents and siblings who ask them to run errands and do other things.”
Although young, she said, the students sometimes have no one to whom they can confide their problems, and so, they seek out the call centre.
The second group of frequent callers are the unemployed, who are usually desperate for food and financial aid, she said.
Norsahizah said the team notes down callers’ details and builds a list to be handed to the Social Welfare Department or civil society groups.
Aid will be collected for these individuals, and the centre will check on whether they have received the assistance, she said.
“We also take cases from those in distress on our WhatsApp group. We do this because some of them are too embarrassed to talk over the phone.”
Norsahizah, who is also involved in humanitarian work distributing food baskets and giving talks on keeping good hygiene, said the Red Crescent is one of the organisations in Sabah that extend aid to migrants.
Migrants are usually left out of the state government’s aid efforts, which focus on Malaysians in the B40 and hardcore-poor groups. – The Vibes, July 11, 2021
