2010-08-13
Sumilah told the reporter she made the prison uniform herself. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
Sumilah from Cambodia has already spent a year serving her sentence at the Kajang Prison. Prior to that, she was only a woman without any significant capability, and her only hope was to marry a man who loved her.
Unfortunately, her husband had an affair with someone and her marriage was in tatters.
After her divorce, Sumilah lost her direction, having no idea what she could do to make a living. She later decided to leave her hometown and came to Malaysia.
However, she was sentenced to imprisonment after she was convicted of overstayed in Malaysia and faking the immigration stamp on her passport.
Female inmates learning the tailoring skills in the prison. Photo courtesy: Sin Chew Daily
Sumilah appeared to be very clam when relating her story as if it belonged to someone else. Nevertheless, when touching on her tailoring skills, she became instantly excited and proudly announced that she can make the clothes similar to what I was wearing.
Her first ever dream
Sumilah said she had learned the tailoring skills and therefore did not consider herself a totally useless person anymore. It was the first time in her life ever having a goal and aspiration.
She admitted it was indeed lucky for her to have learned tailoring in the prison as she could hardly have a chance to learn it at home.
Tailoring her biggest motivation
Sumilah said before she was put in the jail, she was keen on selling things as she could have the opportunity to interact with other people.
After she was sent to the jail, Sumilah was placed in the tailoring workshop and her newly acquired skill has since become her biggest driving force today and she is enjoying it a lot.
According to her, she has stopped crying and thinking of her family like what she did in the very beginning. Instead, she now she now spends most of her time sewing and improving her skills.
She works for eight hour a day like any working class woman and is off during the weekends.
She gets up at six in the morning and begins her day with exercising, bathing and praying. After her breakfast at eight, she would begin her to work at the workshop until eleven, when she would take her lunch, and later continue with her work until five in the evening.
During the past one year at the workshop, Sumilah has learned to sketch, cut, sew and use the sewing machine. Thanks to her attentiveness, she has now been able to master every aspect of tailoring and she has become the top apprentice in her class.
Dreaming of becoming a tailor
Sumilah aspires to become a tailor when she gets back to Cambodia after being released from the prison this July.
She did not inform her family of her arrest in a foreign country but has got a friend to send her regards to her family several months before her release. (Translated by LIM LIY EE/Sin Chew Daily)
No comments:
Post a Comment