Mr. Yesu A/L Arokiasamy

NAME: Yesu Arokiasamy

ASSISTANCE NEEDED: WELFARE AID AND LIVING SKILLS

NATURE OF HELP NEEDED: Yesu was born handicapped in 1971 at Taiping, Perak. He was raised at Serdang, Kedah for almost 30 years before moving to live with his sister in Penang. His parents have passed away a long time ago and he has been living on and off with his siblings and friends. He has two elder brothers, two elder sisters and a younger sister.

Yesu has premature growth in both his legs and his left hand is brittle and weak. He finds it difficult to hold objects with it. He uses his hip to move around.

At present, Yesu is staying temporarily with a friend as his siblings have deserted him. He rides an old faithful three-wheeled motorcycle. He uses the bike to look for recyclable items and survives on a daily basis by selling them. The friend who gave him shelter has since passed away, so he hardly gets any food from the friend’s family.

Recently the bike broke down and he had to come up with RM204 to get it repaired. The mechanic retained his identity card and his driving licence and would only return them after he had paid him the money for the repairs.

He approached his friends for the money but no one could spare such an amount. They suggested that he meet a well known politician who lives about 100 km away. They were able to raise a small amount to send him on the trip. He managed to locate the politician but was extremely disappointed when he refused to give him any money but instead gave him RM20 and sent him on his way.

Later he learned that a local politician could be of help but he too declined citing the reason being that the state government was running out of funds. The politician said he might be able to help him next year. He then approached a businessman who just asked him to pray that God would help him. The businessman was not willing to part with RM200. By then, Yesu had traveled countless times to Penang from Parit Buntar, Perak looking for help.

He finally approached us as a last resort. Upon learning of his problems, we immediately got in touch some contacts who pulled together some money among themselves and gave him the RM200 with an extra RM10 and a lunch packet for his trip home. We did contact the mechanic to verify that his request was genuine.

A few days later, Yesu called us to say he has gotten his licence and IC. We will be writing to the Welfare Department to obtain further assistance for him.