Widow Seeks Help To Build New Home
By Rosli Abidin Yahya

Bandar Seri Begawan - A Brunei citizen and widow, Siti Pakar, 53, who has been living in a dilapidated house without electricity and water supply for the past 40 Years and on a land owned by her relative, pleaded for help from members of the public or organisations to help build her home at a recently purchased plot of land in Kg Lumapas.

Siti stressed that she did not need help to supplement her living, even though she has been living in a run down house with tier 19-year-old daughter at No 59 along a dirt road next to the Lumapas Clinic.

"I have enough to feed myself and my daughter. I grow my own paddy and vegetables, as well as rear chickens for a living to supplement my income," she said.

She has been riding a bike to reach her workplace at the Agriculture Department in Lumapas, where she earns B$600 a month. However, she will need to retire when she reaches the age of 55 in two years' time. Her daughter, who previously studied at a secondary school in the village, has been employed by Koperasi Tasamul as a bus conductor after the business organisation heard of their sad plight.

"My relative hoped that I could move to another place soon, as he needed the land for his own use after my husband passed away two years ago.

"I loaned $35,000 from the bank in order to purchase a piece of land in this village. However, I could not afford to build my own house and may never be able to without help from the public," she added.

The house Siti now lives in was built by herself, and was repaired by the youths of Kg Lumapas (Perlu) on Dec 10, 1996.

Her source of water has been a well on higher ground more than 100 metres away inside a thicket. Using hoses, she has managed to fill the well's water into drums outside her hut for their cooking and bathing needs.

For the past 40 years, candles have been her sources of light when darkness falls. The mother and daughter are also immune to mosquito bites - a natural occurrence living on the edge of a thicket.

The Village Head of Lumpas B cum Acting Village Head of Lumapas A, Hj Chuchu Serudin, had forwarded her applications to relevant authorities and agencies in 2005. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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