KUCHING- Single mother Maureen Lee needs a home she can afford – so she can be reunited with her son, who is now at the Salvation Army Boys Home.

She's so desperately poor that she walks home from work – an hour's walk – and skips on meals.

A unit at the Kuching Municipal Council (KMC) Flats, a scheme meant for people who are struggling in the city, could come in handy.

She said she heard about the flats from a friend who suggested that she apply for it as the rent was more affordable.

"I heard that the flats are to help those who are struggling to survive in the city.

"I've walked around the flats a couple of times to see if there was a vacant lot but what I saw surprised me. I saw residents driving big cars. I thought the flats were meant to help the needy," said Lee, adding that it was unfair to those who truly deserve to live there.

She is a deserving case. LIfe has been a run of misery for this 42-year-old sales promoter. From a broken marriage to the death of her mother, they all hit Lee like a tonne of bricks when she was pregnant with her son.

Recalling her past, Lee said the shock of a broken marriage and her mother's death made her lose her memory twice.

"I lost my memory twice during my pregnancy. I could not even remember how to cook a simple vegetable dish," she said in her rented home at Kenyalang Park in Kuching.

Lee said her friends and the thought of her son had kept her going.

Lee earns about RM600 (S$253) per month and is struggling to make ends meet. There were times when she had to skip meals just so they would not go hungry the next day.

"I am already a vegetarian so I do not have to spend on meat,"she said.

Lee said it was difficult to make others understand why she had to cut back on many things.

"I do not feel nice asking friends for help too. I'd rather go hungry then let them know I need money for lunch,"she said.

"Colleagues often ask me why I live the way I do. I simply tell them that I do not have a choice.”

The strong-willed mother said she had to send her 14-year-old son to the boys' home after he got mixed-up with the wrong crowd and began committing petty crimes.

Her work schedule did not give her enough time to watch over him.

"I caught him stealing our rent money twice and decided that the boy's home would do him good. What I really wanted was for him to focus on his education, at least complete Form Five.

"I visit him whenever I can and of course I want him back with me but in order to do that, I need to have a proper roof over our head,"she said.

Lee is renting the house at Kenyalang Park with her sister who is also working in the city.

The rental, she said, is RM480 (S$202) per month. And this, added with utility bills, was eating away a major part of her income.

Besides, she also has to pay a RM100 (S$42) fee to the Salvation Army for her son.

"If I could just get a unit there (at the KMC Flats), it will certainly help me in a big way," she said.