I Can, Why Not You?

Driven By Instinct To Survive

Despite Adversity...

Jenny Pong making funeral shoes to earn income from home:

Jenny Pong on a plane to a meeting:

Jenny Pong adorning herself from her wooden trolley:

I Love You, Mama!

In this month of May, Jenny wants to say “ I love you, mama.”

Award From Sultan of Perak

Jenny Pong received award from Sultan of Perak.

 

 

Pong Siew Ching's New House Built By Good Samaritans

A group of Samaritans built a house next to the ancestral house (the wooden house that the family stayed for over 50 years), to be ready for Pong Seow Chin by Chinese New Year 2016. The housing project for Pong had been a dream for eHomemakers for over five years. It has finally come true.

（霹靂‧怡保18日訊）半截人馮秀珍原本希望有人幫她維修破爛不堪的舊木屋，不料卻有人為她興建一間新屋子，令她喜出望外，也使她感激又感動，興奮不已！

馮秀珍笑迎新居入伙！	“來，姑姐，我們一起去新家看看！”馮秀珍身旁的侄女，歡歡喜喜拉著她的手去新居。
馮秀珍：進入新屋，感激又感恩！	建築商特別為半截人設計的睡房，即寬闊又方便。
半截人有新家了，她帶著感恩心搬進去居住。	半截人有了新家，活動空間增加了，因為她兩頭走。

（圖：星洲日報）

她目前滿懷歡喜，感謝所有幫助她的熱心人士，她說，即使有人幫她建一個小涼棚，她都感激不盡，何況現在是建新屋子，她除了感恩，也不知該說甚麼。

住在怡保崑崙朱羅附近木屋區的馮秀珍是一個沒有雙腿的殘障人，她在過去二十多年來爬在一個方塊木板上過日子；她因雙腳被鋸的部份太高和其他身體問題，無法像一般殘障人坐在輪椅或裝義肢。

《大霹靂》社區報於半年前報道馮秀珍希望獲得熱心人士幫助維修破爛的舊木屋新聞；她的舊屋子當時處處漏水，尤其是廚房的屋頂，已經破爛得不能遮蔽雨水。

籌逾6萬建屋

對此，一班好心人和商家結合力量，一人出一份捐款，籌獲將近6萬令吉作為建屋經費，又遇上一名熱心建築商負責不足餘額，在9月23日開始動土，最終建好一所長45尺、寬30尺半磚屋；她對於這所新屋子感到非常滿意。

“新屋就建在舊屋旁邊，我每天從舊屋望過去，一直看著屋子的每個部份建設；期待的心情越來越熱烈，如今整所屋子完成了，好開心啊！”

她指出，上述好心的建築商體恤她殘缺身體的狀況，在設計新屋子時，包括廚房、廁所、房間、電擎…，都遷就她的方便，使她感到很欣慰。

邀善心人今赴入伙午宴

為了感謝幫助她興建新屋子的人士，馮秀珍將於明日（19日，星期六）舉行新屋入伙午宴，邀請善心人士一起出席。

她說，雖然有了新屋，她的舊屋子將不會拆除，住了這麼多年，她對舊屋裡每個物件都有了感情，存有很多回憶；現在，她有兩頭家，兩邊都用。

新興電器出資

這所四房一廳的單層屋，由新興電器聯合怡保協豐大摩哆車隊、江沙Victory Freedom Bikers和實兆遠Bikers、建築商與熱心人士聯手合作打造，佔地800平方呎。

在9月份期間，新興電器出動15人前往現場，以瞭解屋子的搭建進度；出席者包括新興電器（吉隆坡）有限公司執行董事林金錦、江沙Victory Freedom Biker主席劉政展和實兆遠Bikers主席張偉年。

林金錦說，馮秀珍居住的老祖屋破爛不已，加上她永不放棄的精神令人敬佩，新興電器決定出資聯同其他組織和建築商，為馮秀珍搭建新家園。

新聞背景

患怪病跌倒骨折鋸雙腿

現年49歲馮秀珍在19歲時懷孕誕下雙胞胎女兒後，女兒宣告夭折，她過後患上醫生也無法解釋的怪病，導致她突然癱瘓，全身沒了知覺，並昏迷了2年。

丈夫在她昏迷時離她而去；命運坎坷的馮秀珍醒來後，因一次跌倒導致骨折，不久後雙腿被鋸掉，使她在過去20年來趴在一個四方木箱型的四輪推動車子上過日子。

雖然失去雙腿成為半截人，可是馮秀珍沒有放棄自己，她積極從事公益活動和擔任激勵講師。

一直照顧馮秀珍的父母馮瑞金和周水蓮，分別於2013年和2011年去世，目前她與一哥一弟、侄女和一名友人住在祖屋，靠家人接濟和福利金過活。（星洲日報）

Mun Sang Poh: She Lay Belly-Down Half Her Life, Yet She Did Not Cry

Source:Mun Sang Poh

Dreams and Desires

Jenny no longer believes in letting fate decide her life for her stating, “If I had given up then, I would have died a long time ago when the doctors had given up hope on me and advised my mother to get a coffin.” Jenny Pong is a middle-aged women of 49 years, who has grown up in poverty, lost people dear to her, undergone trying times and has had both legs amputated. She is an incredible woman, a perfect example of perseverance through hardship and strength through suffering.

At a young age of 12 years old, Jenny had to drop out of school in order to help her family due to their poverty and financial issues. By the mere age of 15, she was already working in a factory, packing tyre tubes, to help ease the financial burden of her family. She would also wake up very early every morning to collect ‘pucuk pakis’ (fern shoots) which her mother would then sell in the market. Growing up in a simple house with a simple lifestyle has humbled Jenny even more so now, after her amputation. She is now more empathetic towards others and delights in the opportunities to help other people through hardships and sadness. With many problems and illnesses in her own body, such as leukemia, kidney problems, diabetes and chronic spinal pain (not to mention she suffered from a heart attack), she is able to feel towards those going through the same pain as her. She is an inspiration to many others who suffer from new spinal injuries and she helps relieve their pain and sadness through talking it through with them.

Just because Jenny is disabled you would have thought that it meant she was out of doing house chores. Wrong! Jenny continued to do house chores almost immediately after her ordeal such as dusting the furniture, preparing breakfast in the mornings, and even playing babysitter to her nieces and nephews. These chores are challenging to begin with, but Jenny had to do it on her stomach, with no legs and using a trolley as her only form of movement from place to place. But thanks to her mother’s insistence and prompts in making her do all the chores, she became stronger. “If it had not been for my mother’s strength and pushing, I would not be able to face the future with the determination I have now. Self-pity and depression were never far away.” Jenny is also grateful to her mother, as she now does not like people to feel sorry for her, so she can show people through her actions that she is not someone who needs sympathy.

Jenny has dreams like any other person, and hers is to be first and foremost a chef and own her own restaurant. Regardless of being short of two limbs, Jenny has a passion for cooking and is actually very good at it, according to sources. She has stoves placed on the ground and on small shelves for easy use and access. She is very independent in cooking. 

In the video below, Jenny taught her niece how to prepare Udang Lemak.

She has never shown any complaints to the inconveniences she has to face when cooking but rather revels in being able to cook regardless of circumstance and situation. Jenny’s second dream, one that is very dear to her, is to be a motivational speaker, reach out and speak to people/victims who have either suffered from the same illnesses, diabetes, spinal injuries, as her or are going through a tough time due to said illnesses. Her wish is to combine both dreams and create a restaurant attached to a motivational centre.

Everyone will go through some sort of test of hardship in their lives, no one is exempted. It is the way you handle and overcome the situation that will determine the type of person who you will become. Take the hardship as a difficulty and give up, and you will end up as someone who wallows in self-pity and depression. Take the hardship as an experience and a lesson learned, and you will end up as someone who grows in their wisdom, strength and happiness. Life will give you a tough hand, the choice lies within you on how you will deal with it. When you fall down, will you simply lie on the ground forever, or will you take the initiative and pick yourself up and carry forward to pastures anew? 

Written by

Nadiah Mohd Nasir

11 April 2015

Life as Jenny Pong

Often we think that an accident, a calamity or even the death of a loved one are all it takes to unhinge us and make us depressed for eternity. We think that we will never be able to bounce back from something that terrible, and more often, when something that high a degree of misfortune happens to us we tend to play the blame game, whether on a friend, a family member or God, we feel that in that moment, life is unfair and these events should not be happening to us.

Ever wondered what it would be like to have to go through such harrowing circumstances? Such as poverty? Or surgery to amputate both your legs? Or to have your husband leave you in the most trying times of your life? Jenny Pong knows what those are like. She is just another person, like you or me, who has been given a tough hand at life. She is an absolutely incredible woman who makes no time for sadness but rather focuses on making her life happier. She knows that everyone goes through bad things in life, and has decided to be one of those who twists the bad and makes it good. Rather than being upset at the loss of limbs, Jenny Pong takes it in her stride and lives day to day being happy and content.

Most people would question, ‘What is it that you can possibly do without the use of your legs?’ In actual fact, just about everything. In order to live life to the fullest, you have to continue on and not let the emotional sadness pull you down. Jenny moves around her house on a home-made trolley, thanks to her younger brother. She lies on her abdomen on the trolley and moves herself around using her hands. This is Jenny’s only mean as to move herself around in a relatively quick and easy way. The alternative was to drag herself by her arms along the floor, ripping her clothes and perhaps even injuring her belly. 

An organization known as ‘Limbs for Life’, initiated by Bandar Utama Buddhist Society in PJ, makes its own prosthetic limbs for people who cannot afford to pay for them. Funded by Corporate and Public donations, ‘Limbs for Life’ offers people with amputated limbs a free service in being fitted with a prosthetic limb as well as maintaining the fitting by having checkups every so often. For someone like Jenny, having a prosthetic limb fitted would make her life so much easier, not only in terms of physicality but also emotionally as well. Life as an amputee is tough, but over time Jenny got used to living this way. So imagine if she was given a fitted prosthetic limb? It would be an emotional rollercoaster for her, but in a very good way. She would be able to do all the things that she used to do, and with so much ease. 

Source: The Star

Jenny Pong is just one of those people that even if you weren’t able to offer her the treatment for the prosthetic leg, she would still live her life happy and with no unhappy thoughts to bring her down. She is just one of those people with whom you really want to meet. Her positivity is contagious and you feel comfortable and laugh straight off the bat with her. She will put your life into perspective and teach you more about living life happily merely through her actions alone. She has inspired those who have met her and they find her loving and caring even though she has had so much taken away from her. She demonstrates the ability to be truly grateful for all that she has and does not look at what has happened to her as an obstacle on the path to her future. She refuses to let sadness rule her life, and is happy at every opportunity. Someone who has lost an awful lot, sure knows how to live an amazingly bright life. 

Written by
Nadiah Mohd Nasir
11 April 2015

Jenny Pong: Hiruscar® Advertorial

Source: Sin Chew Jit Poh

Jenny Pong: Hiruscar® Advertorial

Source: The Malaysian Women's Weekly May 2014 Edition

Poor in living, rich in heart

"Qiang" Chinese for "strength"

Pong loves to share her stories to provide me with a deeper understanding of the amazing woman she is and the difficulties she's experienced in the past.

When she was recovering in the hospital due to an infection, her husband did not come to visit. I ask myself, why is their relationship is so fragile? How can her husband leave Pong along during such difficult times?  But Pong does not think like I do.  She accepts her situation as it is and focuses her attention on the future and a rapid recovery.

Later on, something more horrible happened. Her father-in-law came to see her. He arrived to share news with Pong and her mother that a coffin was arranged.  Her father was quickly preparing for her death. 

Despite the challenges Pong faces everyday that are unfathomable to most, she is resilient and maintains her positive attitude and hopeful outlook on the future. 

One of the dishes we
ate in the restaurant
in Ipoh

Recently, I was fortunate enough to visit her home and meet her family! I did not know what to expect at first because I had never been to Ipoh.  It was a great feeling to be welcomed into her home by the family and treated with kindness and love. 

The family was overwhelmingly generous and served me dinner not once but three times!  That night, I ate dinner three times. We enjoyed chicken and noodles cooked by Pong first. Her brother Danny soon returned with three tremendous durians and divided them among us to share. Finally, Pong's niece returned from work and took me to one of the community's most famous restaurants. I was taken back by their generosity and was so grateful for their kindness.  I hope to thank her family in the future to show my appreciation!