“We’ll have dinner at 7pm and I’ll be asleep by 8.30pm”

I wake up at 6am to have breakfast. Normally, I’d eat eggs. I’ll shower at home. Then I’ll watch television and do homework in the afternoon. We’ll have dinner at 7pm and I’ll be asleep by 8.30pm. We have ASTRO (satellite TV) here, as well as the local news channel like TV1, Tv2, Tv3.

Do you have internet? 

No. 

“It’s not enough to eat, but it’s something”

So far there’s only small fishes. I’m waiting until the  water is low at around 3 steps, that’s when there’s more fish. I don’t want to take the boat to go fishing because that means I would have to pay for the rent. It’s not enough to eat, but it’s something. I used to do contractor work before this, but now no more jobs for me.

“Things have changed now.”

I’ve been living in this village here for 70 years, no electricity., no roads, streets or cement houses. Completely village last time.  Pakcik still kuat. Things have changed now. Now pakcik is going to check the ubi (yam). On the way to ubi farm, and pig sty, later to fisherman boat.

“It’s fun to learn.”

[sewing manually] How long does it take to finish one set of clothes?

Around one month. I don’t sell these clothes. I sew them for my personal use. I just learned how to sew my own clothes. 

Why?

Because not many people know how to sew their own clothes these days. It’s fun to learn. 

Who teaches you?

These aunties and uncles here! The uncles here sew too but they make Sirat (the traditional Iban attire for males).

What is this?

Baju kurung. The traditional attire we’d wear during Hari Gawai. 

How old are these old clothes? 100-200 years?

No! They can’t be THAT old. More than 10 years old or so.  

“I don’t know why they fought, but he ran away from where he works.”

“My cucu is 1 year and 7 months old. Ayah ada lari. Tidak tau mana lah. (Her dad ran away. We don’t know where).The mom works at the kilang (factory). The salt factory, wheat flour factory, near Matang. The dad also used to work at the factory, and the palm plantation. He’s 25, and my niece 20 years old. I don’t know why they fought, but he ran away from where he works. Tidak sama haluan (they were not in the same path). It’s not good what happened. They are not a family and they are not in the same haluan. Her name is Kelara. And the government is not helping. If the government wants to help. Mesti ade surat cerai (divorce papers). If no divorce papers they cannot help.

They have married, but they cannot do a divorce paper because the other guy is missing, in the lockup, maybe, or hanged. The husband is missing. Even from his kampung he is missing, we don’t know where he is. The police have yet to find his body (laugh)”.

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– Humans of Kuala Lumpur went with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Malaysia) into the jungles of Sarawak, where they were helping out underprivileged Sarawakians and orang asal in their mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

For the next week, Humans of KL, as the biggest storytelling platform in Malaysia covering all the states as its capital, will feature the amazing stories and challenges faced by these Malaysians.

‘I want to be a teacher when I grow up’

‘Why do you want to be a teacher?’

‘Because I want to be smart!’

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– Humans of Kuala Lumpur went with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Malaysia) into the jungles of Sarawak, where they were helping out underprivileged Sarawakians and orang asal in their mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

Photostory by Mushamir Mustafa

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on July 12th 2018)

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

‘I want to be a policeman! A policeman in Peninsular Malaysia’.

“Why do you want to be a policeman?”

‘So I can catch the bad guys!’

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– Humans of Kuala Lumpur went with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Malaysia) into the jungles of Sarawak, where they were helping out underprivileged Sarawakians and orang asal in their mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

Photostory by Mushamir Mustafa

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on July 12th 2018)

“I’m 90 years old. I was there during the Japanese occupation. I remember things here and there. I was in Sibu when they came to Malaya…”

“I’ve been living here for 30 years. Before that I was in Brunei and was born in Sibu. I worked as a labourer – lifting cement and bricks.

There’s a lot of health problems here. Many do not understand what diseases that they have. Mostly because they are far from the city.

Maybe in the city a lot of young people have sex before marriage. Here, if you like someone, you would marry first before initiating anything else. Some things in life don’t change”. 

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– Humans of Kuala Lumpur went with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Malaysia) into the jungles of Sarawak, where they were helping out underprivileged Sarawakians and orang asal in their mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.

Photostory by Mushamir Mustafa

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on July 6th 2018)