Although Malaysia is moving towards becoming a developed nation, certain segments of society such as the B40 Indian women community still live in extreme poverty. Life is certainly not a bed of roses but a daily uphill battle for these women who struggle to put food on the table to feed their families even before the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Their livelihoods are in turmoil since the enforcement of the Movement Control Order (MCO), as most of them are predominantly daily wage earners who lost their jobs and are unable to seek employment in these critical times. Their livelihoods are facing the worst-case scenario, as they are no longer able to make ends meet to feed their hungry families, especially for those with many members or dependent elders. Some of them have no choice but to have one meal a day in order to conserve their meagre resources.

Realizing that this community is in dire need of food during the MCO, the Community Mobilisers from three constituencies in three states (Sungai Petani, Kedah; Hulu Selangor, Selangor; and Jempol, Negeri Sembilan) collaborated with the BAC Education Group to initiate a fundraiser to alleviate the despair of this affected community.

Through GiveBack.my, a crowdfunding platform powered by the BAC Education Group, fellow Malaysians were encouraged to reach out and support this community by sponsoring RM30 worth of groceries for a week’s supply for one family. This week’s supply consisted of the staples they would need like rice, cooking oil, lentils, and other dry basics.

It is comforting to witness humanity at its best as RM 8,000 was successfully raised in the first round of this fundraiser. In this second round, the community gave back a total of RM 5,000 in pledging their support towards this cause.

A big shout-out and thank you for all the beautiful souls who bring a little ray of hope to this community by ensuring that their families never go hungry during these tough times!