Trapped in the razor-sharp jaws of poverty, rubber tapper N Parameswari saw hope fading fast.

Fate had also added another cruel twist. She lost three of her fingers in an accident while working at a sawmill in Seremban.

n parameswari and her 13 children story 130509 02 Pushed to the brink, the 29-year-old single mother sought to end her life and that of her 13 children, six of whom are hers.

Her husband, whom she confessed to still loving dearly, had abandoned her to marry her sister, who left her four children in Parameswari's care.

Parameswari also takes care of her brother-in-law's children, whose mother had passed away.

'The pain was unbearable'

Relating her ordeal to Malaysiakini , Parameswari, whose face speaks of a thousand sorrows, said she could not tolerate it any longer.

n parameswari and her 13 children story 130509 01 "The pain of watching my children sleeping in hunger was becoming unbearable. I was disgusted and thought of ending all our lives," she related.

Since the accident, Parameswari has been receiving RM50 every month from the Social Securities Organisation (Socso).

But with so many mouths to feed, the aid coupled with her meagre income does little to alleviate her desperation.

"I use the money to buy one kg of rice, almost every night, my children's only meal will be kanji (porridge) and water... sometimes it is only water."

Despite the hardship, Parameswari refused to send the children, aged between six and 15, to work.

She wants them to go to school and get a sound education so that their lives would be better in future.

Those in primary school receive free meals at their school canteen while for those in secondary school, Parameswari could only fork out 50 sen in pocket money.

The single mother had also applied for financial assistance from the Welfare Department of Negri Sembilan but this took months to process.

Her disability also posed a problem in securing a better paying job.

Life takes a turn... for the better

Just when Parameswari had come to the conclusion that death was the only remedy, fate had a pleasant surprise in store.

Her plight was brought to the attention of Andrew Raju, who runs the non-governmental organisation Malaysian Public Services Society (MPPS).

n parameswari and her 13 children story 130509 03 It so happened that Raju was looking for disabled mothers to be invited for a Mother's Day function he had organised.

After visiting her, Raju immediately launched a donation drive while MPPS volunteers helped clean the family's house and donated food and drinks.

Following this, Parameswari's ordeal was also highlighted in the newspapers, and it tugged on the heartstrings of many Malaysians, who began to flood the family with bags of rice, canned food, schoolbooks and even furniture.

Today, hope once again burns brightly in the hearts of the single mother and her children, who now enjoy three meals a day and sleep on comfortable mattresses.

VIDEO l 5 mins