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"Single mother’s plight leads to
setting up of association"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(04/12/05)
MARRIED to a drug user at 20, Laila was a single mother long before her
husband left her five years ago. The 36-year-old mother of five has always
known hardship and heartache, but her HIV+ diagnosis a year ago overwhelmed
her completely.
“After he died last year, I fell sick and was hospitalised. That’s when I
found out. I haven’t worked for a year.
“The Umno people built a new wall for our house, but the roof is leaking
badly. We do not sleep in the rooms because I don’t know if it’ll hold,”
relates the soft-spoken woman whose serene demeanour belies her anxieties.
But it was Laila’s heart-rending wails as she gave vent to her fears and
frustrations during a counselling session at the Raja Perempuan Zainab 2
Hospital in Kota Baru that moved fresh graduate Zahrain Zulkifly to
establish an association to help HIV+ single mothers called Prihatin.
Zahrain is familiar with the plight of disadvantaged women because his
mother, staff nurse Zaimah Hussin, has been counselling them since 1995.
“We have always helped informally, but it was time to set up an association
to help single women who are HIV+. Laila only had RM20 with her; to feed her
five children that day,” recalled Zahrain, 25, who has since helped Laila
obtain a monthly aid of RM240 from the Welfare Department, and enough in
donation to pay for her children’s school fees and books next year.
“An NGO like Prihatin can go to the ground, and they will be more easily
accepted by the people,” said Raja Perempuan Zainab II Hospital director Dr
Ghazali Hasni Hj Md Hassan, who is also Prihatin's patron.
In the past year, Zahrain and his former college roommate Zul Ikhsan Yusof
have secured financial aid for single mothers from the social welfare
department, Malaysian AIDS Foundation and individuals. They also managed to
get Yayasan Pembangunan Ekonomi Islam (Yapim) to pay for the examination and
school fees of the children of the 80 single mothers registered with
Prihatin.
“We are also helping to get scholarships for the children, and monitoring
how they do in school. Their children's schooling is one of the biggest
worries of single mothers,” said Zahrain.
Next year, Prihatin plans to set up a halfway home for single mothers to
acquire income-generating skills so they could be independent, “we have the
land, and commitment from Kemas to provide the training,” reported Zahrain.
* These stories also appear in Bahasa Malaysia on mStar Online at
mstar.com.my
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