Wednesday, November 12, 2008

PKAF Membantu Mangsa Kebakaran di Sg Sumun, Hutan Melintang




Kebakaran yang menimpa rumah Mazlan bekas pelajar Sek. Teknik Seri Manjung pada 18/10/08 yang lalu jam 8 malam.
The sad looking shack built by the villagers for Puan Hasanah and Mazlan
RubbleUstaz Syed and Encik Ramlan looking at a photo which is partly burnt
Encik Ramlan and Ustaz Syed giving explanations to the three makciks
Mazlan and his former Pendidikan Islam teacher

Mazlan picking up a partly burnt page of the STESMA magazine

What is left of the STESMA 2007 magazine

A partly burnt photo of Ustaz Syed kept by Mazlan that was salvaged from the rubble

Another page from the STESMA magazine

The men chat outside while the ladies do so inside the shack

What is left of Mazlan's motorcycle
The makeshift toilet

Even the trees were not spared


Puan Hasanah and her neighbours

There is no electricity in the shack and so they have to use the oil-lamp
Miss Cheah and the three ladies

This morning in school, Ustaz Syed asked if Puan Kamariah and I could go with him to Mazlan's village to try and persuade his mother, Puan Hasanah, to temporarily stay at the Pondok in Batu 10 while a new house is built for her. He said that he and Cikgu Suhaimi had tried asking her to do so on their first visit but she had refused them. I totally agreed with him that the shack that she and Mazlan are currently living in is actually really bad. If there is a strong wind, then it would be bye, bye to all the rusty zinc sheets that are used as the walls of the dilapidated dwelling.

Well, today I got to see firsthand how bad the condition of the place is. In the pictures that were taken by Cikgu Suhaimi, the compound appear to be really big but not so in real life. Anyway, the place was filled with rubble of what used to be a house. After only about 10 minutes inside the shack, I was sweating profusely as it was really hot inside the shack. I made an excuse of going out to take photos for a while as I was suffocating and also drenched in sweat. I also noticed that the zinc sheets were rusty and there were holes in them and there were openings at the top. I am sure that if it rains heavily, the both of them would be drenched. Besides, the mosquitoes were having a fun time sucking my blood. I should have brought mosquito coils for them as there is always this fear of dengue fever or malaria.

Both Puan Kamariah and I then tried to convince Puan Hasanah to relocate to the Pondok for the time being as this would be to her best interest. I started the ball rolling by giving a few reasons why she should go to the Pondok. Then Puan Kamariah took over and tried to extol the virtues of the temporary relocation. However, try as we could, Puan Hasanah refused to budge from her land. Mind you, she had two strong supporters flanking her and there was no way that she was going to agree to our proposal. So that meant that our mission had failed.

Anyway, Encik Ramlan asked Puan Ayun Bastia (the wife of the village head, the one with the purple headscarf) if the villagers were willing to help build a new house for Puan Hasanah if all the building materials were supplied by well-wishers. If the villagers were willing then Encik Ramlan will be sending the building materials worth around RM6,000 next week.

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