Good Samaritans come to aid of disabled entrepreneur

Nina (left), Azman (right), Adrian (second left) and the cleaning crew.

TUARAN: When floods hit a number of districts in Sabah following the continuous downpour last Saturday evening, Azman bin Saidin, founder of Pusat Usahawan Latihan OKU Sabah, here, was among one of the most affected.

It wasn’t even raining at the centre, but all the furniture, machines and other items in the centre were swept away as the centre is located near a river.

With orders pending due to the Movement Control Orders, his health condition… it was not easy for him.

Luckily, Good Samaritans who found out about this, reached out for help from their network.

The founder of Grow the Goose — a Malaysian social enterprise running financial empowerment workshops and mentoring programs for kids, teenagers and family, Nina Othman is currently initiating Grow the Good Fund, to help the centre.

She said, “Azman needs a break”.

Azman is a single father. He lost his wife during the delivery of their daughter who is now 7 years old.

He met with an accident while working in Pahang four years ago and had a total knee replacement. His mental stress grew after having to face the realization that he has a permanent disability.

He also suffered severe pain with his injury and was later diagnosed with MDD – Major Depressive Disorder and Schizophrenia, for which he is currently on medication.

Upon returning to Sabah, Azman had to care for his mother who needed dialysis three times a week. He had to fund the treatment on his own, which cost RM350 per session three times a week.

He lost his mother last year.

“He is the sole breadwinner caring for his daughter and 83-year-old father. He also looks into the welfare of 30 more people from his centre.

“Despite his own condition and many challenges, he persevered and started a project – Taman Pencinta Haiwan to teach Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) Eco Tourism and Entrepreneurship.

“In Nov 2019, he expanded his initiatives to empower PWDs and founded Pusat Latihan Usahawan OKU – this time focusing on producing fine pieces of furniture using Pine Wood imported from Canada.

“He created a three-month Furniture Making & Entrepreneurship Program. The first batch had 22 graduates and some started working with him full time.
“Business was starting to get orders from individuals and cafes and then, MCO, and now this. They were left with a mud fest,” said Nina.

Grow the Good Fund started with a cleaning up process yesterday, where volunteers from Team EZplast, TONIBUNG (led by Senator Adrian Lasimbang) and Team Methodist Disaster Response Team Sabah came to help with cleaning the centre.

Nina said the cleaning process is not yet finished, and it will be continued today.

“Apart from cleaning, we also need daily essentials for his family of three, eight trainers and four staff. This one already started coming.

“After that, we will be raising funds for the centre’s new furniture making machines, capital to buy new materials and also relocation plans because setting up a furniture workshop next to a river was never his permanent plan.

“We are also planning to help Azman to refund all pending orders so that this centre can start over,” said Nina.

Grow the Good Fund, said Nina, will not be collecting donations for immediate relief at the moment, but rather focusing on medium-long term rebuilding efforts.

“Our plan now is to channel our net profits from all Grow the Goose workshops and programs from July to Dec 2020 to this fund, where we will distribute to the centre, and hopefully more communities,” she said.

For more information about Grow the Goose workshops, those interested can contact Nina at 012-235 0355 or email  growthegoose@gmail.com

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