WE LOVE YOU: Paravathy and Pompayah with Parimala who suffers from Down Syndrome
At 40, P. Parimala should be taking care of her elderly parents, seeing to it that they live through their golden years in comfort. But she was born with Down Syndrome, has the temperament of a child as well as a deformed left hand and foot. So she has to rely on her parents to care for her instead. However, they are aging and were abandoned by their three able-bodied younger sons.
These are individuals the country's social safety net is meant to protect. Her mother, Parvathy, 62, limping from an industrial accident in 1987 and now suffering from the after effects of a Chikungunya infection early this year, walks to a nearby church, where she works as cleaner. Parimala's father, Pompayah Raman, 75, works as a rubber tapper despite his age and ailments.
"In a good month, I can earn RM300. But that hardly happens. If it rains, or the weather is too hot, we cannot tap rubber. But I can only know the condition once I reach the estates," he told Malay Mail.
Every day at day break, Pompayah leaves his humble little home, located at Taman Meranti in Bahau, Negri Sembilan, to ride his motorbike 14km to the rubber estates, to find out if he can tap rubber that day.
Despite his failing eyesight he has no other options.While they have enough funds to buy food, money is desperately needed, he explained, to fix their modest one-storey home that is without a front gate.
Each time it rains, water streams in from large cracks running through their zinc roof rendering one room completely unusable. And when it floods, water enters the living room through the front door.
The family used to receive only RM80 from the Social Welfare Department. After several appeals aid was increased to RM300.
Parimala remains a concern for her parents. She avoids people and screams when she sees people approaching.
"Sometimes she screams and I fear neighbours think we are abusing her," said Parvathy. With both parents working, there is no one to look after Parimala as the neighbour they had asked for help is unable to do so.
"We often find Parimala standing in the middle of the street when we return. Because of that, we have to leave her locked in all day and that hurts us," said Paravathy, who confessed she had tried many times to get her daughter educated.
Parimala also began attending a Welfare Department-run community based rehabilitation centre in Bahau but the van that picks her up is never consistent, they explained, citing last month as an example when Parimala only attended the CBR three times.
They further claimed they do not always get the RM150 allocation given to those who register with the CBR and when they do, RM50 is deducted for Parimala's transport cost.
Copyright 2009 Malay Mail Sdn. Bhd.
May 27, 2009
MALAYSIA: Aged parents slog on to take care of Down Syndrome daughter
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia / The Malay Mail / May 27, 2009
No end to their suffering
By Darshini Kandasamy
FATE might be fickle but people in need should at least be able to rely on the Social Welfare Department for consistency.
WE LOVE YOU: Paravathy and Pompayah with Parimala who suffers from Down Syndrome
At 40, P. Parimala should be taking care of her elderly parents, seeing to it that they live through their golden years in comfort. But she was born with Down Syndrome, has the temperament of a child as well as a deformed left hand and foot. So she has to rely on her parents to care for her instead. However, they are aging and were abandoned by their three able-bodied younger sons.
These are individuals the country's social safety net is meant to protect. Her mother, Parvathy, 62, limping from an industrial accident in 1987 and now suffering from the after effects of a Chikungunya infection early this year, walks to a nearby church, where she works as cleaner. Parimala's father, Pompayah Raman, 75, works as a rubber tapper despite his age and ailments.
"In a good month, I can earn RM300. But that hardly happens. If it rains, or the weather is too hot, we cannot tap rubber. But I can only know the condition once I reach the estates," he told Malay Mail.
Every day at day break, Pompayah leaves his humble little home, located at Taman Meranti in Bahau, Negri Sembilan, to ride his motorbike 14km to the rubber estates, to find out if he can tap rubber that day.
Despite his failing eyesight he has no other options.While they have enough funds to buy food, money is desperately needed, he explained, to fix their modest one-storey home that is without a front gate.
Each time it rains, water streams in from large cracks running through their zinc roof rendering one room completely unusable. And when it floods, water enters the living room through the front door.
The family used to receive only RM80 from the Social Welfare Department. After several appeals aid was increased to RM300.
Parimala remains a concern for her parents. She avoids people and screams when she sees people approaching.
"Sometimes she screams and I fear neighbours think we are abusing her," said Parvathy. With both parents working, there is no one to look after Parimala as the neighbour they had asked for help is unable to do so.
"We often find Parimala standing in the middle of the street when we return. Because of that, we have to leave her locked in all day and that hurts us," said Paravathy, who confessed she had tried many times to get her daughter educated.
Parimala also began attending a Welfare Department-run community based rehabilitation centre in Bahau but the van that picks her up is never consistent, they explained, citing last month as an example when Parimala only attended the CBR three times.
They further claimed they do not always get the RM150 allocation given to those who register with the CBR and when they do, RM50 is deducted for Parimala's transport cost.
Copyright 2009 Malay Mail Sdn. Bhd.
WE LOVE YOU: Paravathy and Pompayah with Parimala who suffers from Down Syndrome
At 40, P. Parimala should be taking care of her elderly parents, seeing to it that they live through their golden years in comfort. But she was born with Down Syndrome, has the temperament of a child as well as a deformed left hand and foot. So she has to rely on her parents to care for her instead. However, they are aging and were abandoned by their three able-bodied younger sons.
These are individuals the country's social safety net is meant to protect. Her mother, Parvathy, 62, limping from an industrial accident in 1987 and now suffering from the after effects of a Chikungunya infection early this year, walks to a nearby church, where she works as cleaner. Parimala's father, Pompayah Raman, 75, works as a rubber tapper despite his age and ailments.
"In a good month, I can earn RM300. But that hardly happens. If it rains, or the weather is too hot, we cannot tap rubber. But I can only know the condition once I reach the estates," he told Malay Mail.
Every day at day break, Pompayah leaves his humble little home, located at Taman Meranti in Bahau, Negri Sembilan, to ride his motorbike 14km to the rubber estates, to find out if he can tap rubber that day.
Despite his failing eyesight he has no other options.While they have enough funds to buy food, money is desperately needed, he explained, to fix their modest one-storey home that is without a front gate.
Each time it rains, water streams in from large cracks running through their zinc roof rendering one room completely unusable. And when it floods, water enters the living room through the front door.
The family used to receive only RM80 from the Social Welfare Department. After several appeals aid was increased to RM300.
Parimala remains a concern for her parents. She avoids people and screams when she sees people approaching.
"Sometimes she screams and I fear neighbours think we are abusing her," said Parvathy. With both parents working, there is no one to look after Parimala as the neighbour they had asked for help is unable to do so.
"We often find Parimala standing in the middle of the street when we return. Because of that, we have to leave her locked in all day and that hurts us," said Paravathy, who confessed she had tried many times to get her daughter educated.
Parimala also began attending a Welfare Department-run community based rehabilitation centre in Bahau but the van that picks her up is never consistent, they explained, citing last month as an example when Parimala only attended the CBR three times.
They further claimed they do not always get the RM150 allocation given to those who register with the CBR and when they do, RM50 is deducted for Parimala's transport cost.
Copyright 2009 Malay Mail Sdn. Bhd.
