Homeless Kuala Lumpur resident Indera Abha struggles to eke out a meager existence by selling salvaged recyclables, so personal appearance concerns understandably take a back seat.
However, a Malaysian charity that offers free haircuts along with meals helps him salvage his dignity.
“I like to get my hair cut. I feel good, and it is free,” Indera, 49, said with a smile missing several teeth, as strands of his thin black hair floated to the ground around him.
Photo: AFP
Wielding the scissors is stylist Azmina Burhan, who runs her own salon, but volunteers with the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen to provide for an often overlooked need of homeless people.
“To me, how people look is very important. You want to look good every day when you wake up, no matter how rich you are, how poor you are,” the 26-year-old said.
Azmina joined the charity shortly after its establishment in 2010, helping to give out food and water several times each week.
However, after encountering hundreds of homeless people who could not afford proper haircuts, she started bringing along her scissors to the soup kitchen, apron and a small stool about once every other month. Each time she goes now, she gives up to 30 haircuts, and counting.
“After you finish getting a haircut you look good, you feel good, and you have that self-confidence in you,” she said, adding that a cleaned-up appearance could help people secure jobs.
For Azmina, the task can mean handling dirty, matted hair. The worst, she said, was a man who slept on the streets and had not washed his hair for months, leaving her hands blackened with dust.
However, she has never turned anyone away and said the image of the smelly, lice-infested homeless person is false and is the sort of stereotype that she aims to eliminate by giving her haircuts.
Her homeless customers can be quite trendy, especially younger ones, and common requests include British soccer star David Beckham’s hairstyles and the longer fringes favored by South Korean and Japanese pop icons.
Malaysian living standards have vaulted steadily upward thanks to decades of strong economic growth, but Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy is not immune to privation, and income disparity has widened.
Pertiwi said Kuala Lumpur and its outskirts have an estimated 1,800 homeless people. Government officials did not respond to an Agence France-Presse request for figures.
Pertiwi feeds up to 700 people four times a week, pulling up with a food-loaded van in three of Kuala Lumpur’s poorer areas.
Volunteer medics also provide check-ups and medicine.
“I didn’t realize it was going to be this big,” Pertiwi head Munirah Hamid said, and added that the crowds of needy are growing.
Azmina is now looking for another volunteer hairdresser to meet the demands of homeless people like Paul Chin, who lives on the street after he lost his job at a car-wash several months ago.
“It’s very annoying,” Chin said shyly of the overgrown shock of graying hair crowning his head as he settled onto Azmina’s stool.
By the time Azmina’s scissors stopped snipping, someone waiting in line shouted: “He’s a new man!”
“Now I feel good,” Chin said, running his hands over his newly trimmed top before disappearing among the crowd of homeless people.
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
EUROPEAN FUTURE? Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama says only he could secure EU membership, but challenges remain in dealing with corruption and a brain drain Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama seeks to win an unprecedented fourth term, pledging to finally take the country into the EU and turn it into a hot tourist destination with some help from the Trump family. The artist-turned-politician has been pitching Albania as a trendy coastal destination, which has helped to drive up tourism arrivals to a record 11 million last year. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also joined in the rush, pledging to invest US$1.4 billion to turn a largely deserted island into a luxurious getaway. Rama is expected to win another term after yesterday’s vote. The vote would
ALLIES: Calling Putin his ‘old friend,’ Xi said Beijing stood alongside Russia ‘in the face of the international counter-current of unilateralism and hegemonic bullying’ Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday was in Moscow for a state visit ahead of the Kremlin’s grand Victory Day celebrations, as Ukraine accused Russia’s army of launching air strikes just hours into a supposed truce. More than 20 foreign leaders were in Russia to attend a vast military parade today marking 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, taking place three years into Russia’s offensive in Ukraine. Putin ordered troops into Ukraine in February 2022 and has marshaled the memory of Soviet victory against Nazi Germany to justify his campaign and rally society behind the offensive,
Myanmar’s junta chief met Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) for the first time since seizing power, state media reported yesterday, the highest-level meeting with a key ally for the internationally sanctioned military leader. Senior General Min Aung Hlaing led a military coup in 2021, overthrowing Myanmar’s brief experiment with democracy and plunging the nation into civil war. In the four years since, his armed forces have battled dozens of ethnic armed groups and rebel militias — some with close links to China — opposed to its rule. The conflict has seen Min Aung Hlaing draw condemnation from rights groups and pursued by the
RSS