Single mums without marketable skills suffer most since MCO

 

Lapiza Bahadon helping her daughter Rashidah Bahrim (sitting) with her schoolwork at their home at the Seri Anggerik People’s Housing Project (PPR) in Kuala Lumpur.

PETALING JAYA: Single mothers without any marketable skills are among the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and its impact.

While some have taken to selling food or starting online businesses to survive, not all are talented in the kitchen or have entrepreneurial skills.

Lapiza Bahadon used to sell clothing such as tudungs at booths outside mosques and events organised by agencies such as Socso and the Companies Commission of Malaysia on a weekly basis.

However, restrictions on public gatherings enforced after the movement control order (MCO) put a stop to her business, and her side-business selling popiah (spring rolls) also fizzled out because of low sales and high delivery costs.

Rosnah Abdul Hamid outside her flat at the Seri Anggerik People’s Housing Project.

“I need new stock if I want to start selling my tudung online, but I don’t have the capital for that,” said the resident of the Seri Anggerik People’s Housing Project (PPR) at Old Klang Road in Kuala Lumpur.

“It’s hard to start a business if you don’t have the capital, so I don’t really know what to do now,” she added.

A recent Unicef survey found that while low-income families are beginning to show some signs of financial recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, families with a female head of household remain most affected by income loss.

There are about 60 single mothers living at PPR Seri Anggerik according to residents’ association chairman Mohd Faisol Sahrani. Their incomes have been affected by the MCO.

Sri Anggerik residents’ association chairman Mohd Faisol Sahrani and committee member Zabidah Pawan.

While he thanked Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) for rent exemptions for residents’ flats and stalls, and government bodies as well as NGOs for aid such as foodstuff and medical supplies, Faisol said more needed to be done to help single mothers, most of whom have taken to starting small businesses to stay afloat since the MCO.

Not all are as lucky though.

“I don’t have any skills,” said Rosnah Abdul Hamid, another single mother. “I used to depend on my husband, but now that he is gone, my children take care of me.”

There are about 60 single mothers living at Seri Anggerik People’s Housing Project.

Spending her days taking care of her youngest child and a grandson, the mother of six said the pandemic had been especially hard on two of her children who were laid off as religious school teachers when the MCO started.

“Two of my children are now working as Grab drivers, and although they don’t get much pay, I’m just grateful they have jobs,” she said. - FMT