Love ... in despair

Love ... in despair -
- by Indrani Kopal | May 12, 09 -

- Mother's Day Special -

Forced by poverty and disability, a woman contemplated suicide. She wanted to take her 13 children with her.

Those who wish to help her, please contact Andrew Raju at

Andrew Raju
012-612 5146
Malaysian Public Service Society
No.146, Taman Bukit Ampangan,
70000, Seremban, NSDK
Tel: 06-764 9929
Fax: 06-761 1257
email: [email protected] - - -

Trapped in the razor-sharp jaws of poverty, rubber tapper N Parameswari saw hope fading fast.

Fate had also added another cruel twist. She lost three of her fingers in an accident while working at a sawmill in Seremban.

Pushed to the brink, the 29-year-old single mother sought to end her life and that of her 13 children, six of whom are hers.

Her husband, whom she confessed to still loving dearly, had abandoned her to marry her sister, who left her four children in Parameswari's care.

Parameswari also takes care of her brother-in-law's children, whose mother had passed away.

'The pain was unbearable'

Relating her ordeal to Malaysiakini, Parameswari, whose face speaks of a thousand sorrows, said she could not tolerate it any longer.

"The pain of watching my children sleeping in hunger was becoming unbearable. I was disgusted and thought of ending all our lives," she related.

Since the accident, Parameswari has been receiving RM50 every month from the Social Securities Organisation (Socso).

But with so many mouths to feed, the aid coupled with her meagre income does little to alleviate her desperation.

"I use the money to buy one kg of rice, almost every night, my children's only meal will be kanji (porridge) and water... sometimes it is only water."

Despite the hardship, Parameswari refused to send the children, aged between six and 15, to work.

She wants them to go to school and get a sound education so that their lives would be better in future.

Those in primary school receiv