Recycling Kindness
Discover the inspiring story of Uncle Samy,
a 67-year-old who found
a heartwarming purpose
in collecting recyclables and unlocking the goodness of humanity.
I came to Kuala Lumpur from Ipoh at the age of 17 to find work. My parents had nine children and I was the fifth child. My father fell severely ill to a point where he couldn’t walk and became disabled to work at all. So my mother had to assume the role of the family breadwinner with a cleaning job in the Tanjung Rambutan Hospital. She earned a measly RM500 a month and it was scarcely enough to cover our house rental and food for all of us.
Eventually, she took a loan from someone but couldn’t afford to pay it back. The matter went to court. And I felt so bad for my mother. “Aiyoh, until court lah,” I sighed to myself. So all of us siblings decided to work to help her pay off the debt. We worked in coffee shops, and did any job that came our way to find any money to help her out. I came to Kuala Lumpur, and found some contract work.
As a contract worker, I would do jobs such as mixing cement, carrying bricks and other similar laborious tasks. It was hard work and I was merely earning a wage. I couldn’t find jobs anywhere else because I had only studied up to Form One. My English wasn’t good and my Bahasa Malaysia wasn’t good enough. After doing contract work for a number of years, I felt I was getting too old for this and I didn’t have the energy for it. So I decided to collect recyclables instead.
The recyclables collected are stored in his house compound before they are sorted and sent to recycling centres. Some drop by to his house to deposit their recyclables.
With my motorbike, I would ride around picking up anything that could be recycled such as papers, boxes, plastics and metal items. I then sold them to recycling centres and they would pay 30 sen for a kg of recyclables; but for metal items, they paid RM1 per kg. Metal recyclables are harder to find. In a day, I could earn up to RM30 or RM50, and in a month about RM1500 – that is if you worked really hard and did not sleep! I have been collecting recyclables for the last 20 years. But nowadays, there are many collecting them as well, so my income is less now.
My work day starts at around 11am or 12pm and I go out for my collection rounds. Due to my diabetic condition, I sometimes feel tired in the mornings and have difficulties getting up. Once I am finished with my afternoon rounds, I would come home and rest for an hour at around 2pm. Without that one-hour rest, I just cannot function as my body will feel lethargic. Around 4-6pm, I head out again to look for boxes and return once my bike is full. The work isn’t difficult, but ever since I was diagnosed with diabetes, it has become problematic.
I have been living with diabetes for over 20 years now. About two years ago, my diabetes took a turn for the worse, and my left leg had to be amputated. I wanted to have a prosthetic limb made, but the cost was RM8000. I reached out to an old friend who did scrap metal in PJ Old Town. He was someone I had known from before when I rented a place from him and would help him collect metal recyclables. Although he is well to do now, he has never forgotten me, always inviting me to his place for functions every now and then. He decided to give me RM5000 for the prosthetic limb and also provided me with a motorbike that was customised for disabled riders. He is truly a humble man, and I like him.
Left: The tricycle motorcyle is fitted with a carriage to store recyclables collected on Uncle Samy’s daily rounds.
Top: The bike has a hand lever as a clutch, for ease of use.
Many people have been helpful to me too. A lady in Kelana Jaya had put my contact number in her WhatsApp group. And another lady in Kampung Subang would call me to collect the recyclables in her neighbourhood. She would tell her neighbours to keep their recyclables for Uncle Samy. There are about 10 houses there. The SS3 Petron station would keep empty carton boxes for me to collect. Others will call me on the phone to collect their items. Once, the Indonesian contractors called me to their construction site. “Anneh, mari angkat itu besi.” (Brother, come and pick up the metal), he said on the phone. The amount of metal items collected filled up my bike. I offered to pay them, but they declined. “Tak mau. Angkat pergi saja,” (No thank you, just take it and go,) they said.
When you are good to people, people in turn are good to you. It is my hope
that everyone is good to each other. I want to be good towards everyone.
People have been very helpful. In my neighbourhood, I get along well with everyone. There are Malay families, Chinese families and a few Indian families. There are also Bangladeshis and Myanmarese too. There are a few police officers who live nearby and are my friends. Sometimes when I have a drink at the mamak shop, and the police are there, they won’t allow me to pay. One time, while I was about to pay, and the cashier received my money, the officer scolded the cashier for letting me pay!
When you are good to people, people in turn are good to you. It is my hope that everyone is good to each other. I want to be good towards everyone.
Discover the inspiring story of Uncle Samy,
a 67-year-old who found a heartwarming purpose in collecting recyclables and unlocking the goodness of humanity.
I came to Kuala Lumpur from Ipoh at the age of 17 to find work. My parents had nine children and I was the fifth child. My father fell severely ill to a point where he couldn’t walk and became disabled to work at all. So my mother had to assume the role of the family breadwinner with a cleaning job in the Tanjung Rambutan Hospital. She earned a measly RM500 a month and it was scarcely enough to cover our house rental and food for all of us.
Eventually, she took a loan from someone but couldn’t afford to pay it back. The matter went to court. And I felt so bad for my mother. “Aiyoh, until court lah,” I sighed to myself. So all of us siblings decided to work to help her pay off the debt. We worked in coffee shops, and did any job that came our way to find any money to help her out. I came to Kuala Lumpur, and found some contract work.
As a contract worker, I would do jobs such as mixing cement, carrying bricks and other similar laborious tasks. It was hard work and I was merely earning a wage. I couldn’t find jobs anywhere else because I had only studied up to Form One. My English wasn’t good and my Bahasa Malaysia wasn’t good enough. After doing contract work for a number of years, I felt I was getting too old for this and I didn’t have the energy for it. So I decided to collect recyclables instead.
The recyclables collected are stored in his house compound before they are sorted and sent to recycling centres. Some drop by to his house to deposit their recyclables.
With my motorbike, I would ride around picking up anything that could be recycled such as papers, boxes, plastics and metal items. I then sold them to recycling centres and they would pay 30 sen for a kg of recyclables; but for metal items, they paid RM1 per kg. Metal recyclables are harder to find. In a day, I could earn up to RM30 or RM50, and in a month about RM1500 – that is if you worked really hard and did not sleep! I have been collecting recyclables for the last 20 years. But nowadays, there are many collecting them as well, so my income is less now.
My work day starts at around 11am or 12pm and I go out for my collection rounds. Due to my diabetic condition, I sometimes feel tired in the mornings and have difficulties getting up. Once I am finished with my afternoon rounds, I would come home and rest for an hour at around 2pm. Without that one-hour rest, I just cannot function as my body will feel lethargic. Around 4-6pm, I head out again to look for boxes and return once my bike is full. The work isn’t difficult, but ever since I was diagnosed with diabetes, it has become problematic.
I have been living with diabetes for over 20 years now. About two years ago, my diabetes took a turn for the worse, and my left leg had to be amputated. I wanted to have a prosthetic limb made, but the cost was RM8000. I reached out to an old friend who did scrap metal in PJ Old Town. He was someone I had known from before when I rented a place from him and would help him collect metal recyclables. Although he is well to do now, he has never forgotten me, always inviting me to his place for functions every now and then. He decided to give me RM5000 for the prosthetic limb and also provided me with a motorbike that was customised for disabled riders. He is truly a humble man, and I like him.
Left: The tricycle motorcyle is fitted with a carriage to store recyclables collected on Uncle Samy’s daily rounds.
Top: The bike has a hand lever as a clutch, for ease of use.
Many people have been helpful to me too. A lady in Kelana Jaya had put my contact number in her WhatsApp group. And another lady in Kampung Subang would call me to collect the recyclables in her neighbourhood. She would tell her neighbours to keep their recyclables for Uncle Samy. There are about 10 houses there. The SS3 Petron station would keep empty carton boxes for me to collect. Others will call me on the phone to collect their items. Once, the Indonesian contractors called me to their construction site. “Anneh, mari angkat itu besi.” (Brother, come and pick up the metal), he said on the phone. The amount of metal items collected filled up my bike. I offered to pay them, but they declined. “Tak mau. Angkat pergi saja,” (No thank you, just take it and go,) they said.
People have been very helpful. In my neighbourhood, I get along well with everyone. There are Malay families, Chinese families and a few Indian families. There are also Bangladeshis and Myanmarese too. There are a few police officers who live nearby and are my friends. Sometimes when I have a drink at the mamak shop, and the police are there, they won’t allow me to pay. One time, while I was about to pay, and the cashier received my money, the officer scolded the cashier for letting me pay!
When you are good to people, people in turn are good to you. It is my hope that everyone is good to each other. I want to be good towards everyone.
When you are good to people, people in turn are good to you. It is my hope
that everyone is good to each other. I want to be good towards everyone.
