Homeless 'Maria'

In movies, dramas, and even some books, we often come across stories like young girls falling in love with a guy and end up running away from home. Has this thought ever crossed your mind that it might be happening in our real life? Our subject, who is known as Maria (she refused to reveal her real name), an Indonesian, had led this dramatical life.

Originally, she was a girl from a happy family. However, when she was 17, she met a guy when she was working. The guy treated her very well, like a princess. After a while, they decided to start a relationship. When her parents knew about it, they didn't agree with it and started to give comments about that guy. They commented that he is not a good guy and asked her to end her job and work at another place. She started to rebel. Her parents kept giving her advices but she didn't listen to any of them. Finally, her parents couldn't tolerate her any more and they quarrelled. Because she was so young, she couldn't stand the nagging from her elders, she left her home and went looking for the guy. Then, the guy suggested to come to Malaysia because he found a job with high payment in Kuala Lumpur. When they reached Kuala Lumpur, they lived together like normal couples. A few months later, she realized that she was pregnant. She happily told the guy but the guy instantly rejected her and asked her to do an abortion. However, she refused to do so and they had an argument. The guy immediately chased her out of his house.

Ever since she came to Malaysia, she didn't work and had no income. Hence, she had no money to go back to her home or find a place to stay. In addition, she was so stubborn and embarrassed to contact her family. In the end, she ended up homeless. She had her baby delivered in the public restroom and since then, she has been staying under the bridge with the remaining money she had. In order to continue living, she begged at the bridge. 

We found her at the bridge near Bandaraya LRT station with her 3-year-old child. while revealing her story, her tears kept rolling down from her cheeks. She regretted not listening to her parents and hoping that time would turn back so that she could have another chance to choose again.


BY:
CHAI LING XIN
CHIN JIE YING (ALBEE)
ELAINE KUM SZE LIN
SHARYL ANDREA STEPHEN
YEONG YEE SIONG