It is where the 53-year-old takes her well-deserved rest – never mind that it’s on a thin mattress – after toiling the entire day.
The Sarawakian is resigned to her fate, one that has dealt her a cruel hand.
Hidayah, a Muslim convert, has been cheated several times over by unscrupulous people and had to put up with employers who refused to pay her.
The business she set up at Chow Kit failed. People came, took her goods, but never paid her a sen, she said.
Now she is stuck with a loan she took from Amanah Ikhtiar Malaysia (AIM) and struggles to raise RM410 a week to service the instalments.
Yet, despite this, Hidayah is prepared to put up with such misery, which includes climbing four flights of stairs to deliver gas tanks to residents at a block of flats so she can send money to her three sons in Kuching.
“As long as it is nothing illegal, any job will do,” the mother of four told FMT.
Hidayah moved to Peninsular Malaysia 16 years ago after her divorce. Three of her sons, including her youngest, are living with her former husband, and one followed her.
And even though her three sons are working, they are not earning enough to contribute to support their youngest sibling, who is 16 and in school.
So, it is all up to Hidayah, who embraced Islam this year. Not that she has not done it before.
In her early years in Kuala Lumpur, she also laboured to ensure her children could go to school.
The Covid-19 pandemic, however, has only rubbed salt into the wound.
“Since the pandemic, I’ve been getting less work and earning less. These days, no matter how much work I do, I can only make RM50 a day,” she said, adding that age has caught up with her and she does not have the strength to take on more jobs.
All of this, Hidayah said, has snuffed out her dream of returning to Sarawak to celebrate Hari Raya. She needed at least RM2,000.
“I’ll bear with missing my children for as long as I can. This is my first Raya, but I’m used to being alone.”
But Hidayah has met some kind souls along the way.
They include the owner of a shop lot in Ampang who allowed her to move into the storeroom.
She pays rent when she has extra money or pays it in kind, including doing chores.
“He is very kind. He even loaned me a motorcycle so I could go to work.”
Friends have also chipped in to help her service her loan, although she said she will repay them when she can.
Hidayah’s plight has also received the attention of women’s NGO Nation of Women (NOW).
Its welfare bureau chief, Suhana Roshandin, said they are helping Hidayah set up an online business.
“We’re showing her the ropes. She previously sold used clothes, and we’re teaching her how to do it online. And this will help clear off her AIM loan,” she said.
Those who wish to help Nur Hidayah, drop us a WhatsApp message on FMT’s Helpline at 019-3899839. Click here to Whatsapp us.