The Struggle

37-year-old Mdm Anisah and her husband have never stopped giving their best since their first child was born. The loving couple has 5 children, ages 11, 9, 8, 3 and 1 month old. Unfortunately for them, their 9-year-old son Aniq was fully diagnosed with autism, epilepsy and intellectual disability at the age of 6.

Aniq is currently enrolled in a special needs school, and he receives up to 90% subsidy for his school fees and transport expenses. Mdm Anisah’s other four children are also recipients of the Financial Assistance Scheme (FAS) and their school fees are fully covered. In spite of this, their assistance from the Social Service Office (SSO) ended in June and will take between 4-8 weeks for renewal. Mdm Anisah has told us that she feels disheartened; after having gone through numerous rounds of interviews for the renewal of assistance as she has been repeatedly told that she needs to return to work before the assistance can be renewed. Mdm Anisah has also been certified by the hospital to be Aniq’s main caregiver due to his medical conditions.

Help Needed – Give Hope

Both Mdm Anisah and her husband were originally both working to support the family. However, as Mdm Anisah only gave birth in end May, she is currently unable to work as she is still recuperating from her surgery. As such, the family is now relying solely on her husband’s income as a private hire driver to get by. While the couple understands that his job may not mean a stable income, they are still thankful for the flexible hours and weekly earnings that the job has to offer, but due to his caregiving duties for the children, he must work shorter hours, and because of this his income has been reduced to only about $1,000 a month. Mdm Anisah confided in us that they have been desperately seeking any form of assistance as the household income is simply insufficient for the household of 8. The family is also struggling to pay off arrears owed to various agencies amounting to around $8,500.

Mdm Anisah told us that while she is grateful for the strong emotional support from her spouse, but she is worried that he won’t be able to handle the mental stress that he goes through daily especially when he doesn’t get ample rest. Mdm Anisah hopes to get well soon so that she can return to work to share the financial load with her husband when their baby is enrolled in infant care.

Financial Breakdown

Ray of Hope would like to support the resilient couple by raising $2,250 ($450 x 5 months) to partially cover their groceries expenses ($250 per month), as well as milk and diapers expenses ($200 per month). Your donations would greatly help a family struggling to get by!