“I have 5 kids (2 boys and 3 girls) and I am a grandmother of 4. Normally males marry at the age of 30 or so. For me, I got married at the age of 15. My husband was 30. I wasn’t afraid of marrying an older man at that time [laughs]. I am 40 years old now. I had my first child at 17 years old. We went to Hospital Kerajaan for delivery. It was good. I didn’t know much about family planning. But if you go to the Klink, the nurses will teach you about family planning.
Our wedding ceremonies differ today. Some like to have it grand, some like to have it small. Some people marry at the church and some people will marry at home. I got married here in my home.
It’s been 25 years since and the kampung has changed a lot. We had electricity since I was little but we did not have water. I guess that’s a big difference. We had to take pails of water from the river. We used them to wash our plates, bathe and we even used it as our drinking water. The river was quite far from where we lived. I myself was born in Sungai Pinang. Far from here! At Kampung Kijang and this is my in-laws’ house. I followed my husband to come here”.
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– Humans of Kuala Lumpur went with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA Malaysia) into the jungles of Sarawak, where they were helping out underprivileged Sarawakians and orang asal in their mission to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.
For the next week, Humans of KL, as the biggest storytelling platform in Malaysia covering all the states as its capital, will feature the amazing stories and challenges faced by these Malaysians.
Photostory by Mushamir Mustafa
