The company gave Suzana the keys to the 650sq ft house last week. It also gave the family basic furniture and provided electrical fittings for the house.
It is a modest home by normal standards, but it is a whiff of heaven to Suzana and family, who lived in miserable conditions for five years, first in a chicken coop and then in a crumbling house in an oil palm estate in Balik Pulau.
TNB was moved to help them after FMT carried an article about their misery last May. The company first facilitated power supply to their home and then went on to build a new house for them.
The house is built on the same plot of land where the rundown house used to be. Suzana inherited the plot from her great grandfather.
The power company built the family a shack at the back of the house while it was being built.
After receiving the keys to her new home, Suzana called FMT to give thanks for highlighting her plight.
“God be praised,” she said between tears. “I am so glad that I finally have a home with lights and a working fan.”
Penang TNB retail head U Ananda Rani Ulaganathan, who handed over the keys to the house to Suzana, told FMT houses built under the Baiti Jannati project would usually cost RM50,000 each. But in Suzana’s case, she added, TNB spent an additional RM20,000 to strengthen the foundation of the house and to supply fittings.
Up to last December, the company had spent RM30.4 million to build 703 houses under the project .
Suzana said she hoped to focus on rearing chickens to enable her to feed her family. She has two daughters living with her. They are aged five and seven.
Her husband, garbage collector Rosman Darus, got into an accident with a trailer last month and broke one of his legs.
The Penang government, through the state Department of Veterinary Services, built for Suzana a chicken coop last October and provided her with 100 chicks to rear in a pilot project to farm free-range chicken.
She travels on her motorcycle to sell her poultry with her two children in tow. She is hoping to get a sidecar for the motorcycle for the sake of the children’s safety. She is also appealing for the donation of a used refrigerator.
Readers wishing to help Suzana can send a WhatsApp message to FMT’s Helpline at 019-3899839.