By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, April 12: An 84-year-old woman became the oldest person to learn weaving courtesy of a two days’ training course organised by the All Party Parliamentary Group Malaysia (APPGM) in collaboration with Sarawak Dayak Iban Association (Sadia) at Kampung Chawan Pendam here.
Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii in a statement today said his office organised the two-day course for ladies at Kampung Chawan Pendam to help them learn new skills which they can use to generate extra income for their families.
He said the village is one of the squatter areas in the Bandar Kuching constituency that his office has been working with to help them elevate themselves out of poverty.
Dr Yii, who is also a Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak member, added his office also invited the representative from the Sarawak Craft Council to oversee, advise and help the villagers to market their finished products.
In return, the villagers will be empowered and they will communicate with the right agencies so that they can have a sustainable way forward and also seek help if needed especially to help look for markets for their products.
“We believe in the importance of empowering the villagers and to teach them how to generate their own income.
“This is one of our initiatives to empower the residents in that squatters to help them obtain a new skill so that they can learn to be independent economically,” he said.
Dr Yii observed that many of the ladies in the village were often at home when most men in the village went out to work in the nearby factories or construction sites.
Meanwhile, Dr Yii said APPGM has been working with the villagers of Kampung Pendam since 2019 to empower them and implement small initiatives focusing on their economy, health and education.
Since then, he noted other initiatives provided for the villagers include free medical screening, free mammogram and pap smear test for the women, financial literacy training, free tuition for the children and also free pre-school classes for the younger children among others.
“We may be limited in resources, but we will try our best to do the best we can to help empower them so that their children can break out of the cycle of poverty in their life,” he added. — DayakDaily
