|
"Bigger home for big-hearted mum"
The
Star (www.thestar.com.my)
(06/10/06)
While many might know Norlina Alwi as the Nurul Iman Welfare Society For
Children Of People Living With HIV/AIDS in Malaysia (Pernim) president, not
many know that her home in Kampung Cheras Baru houses 31 children who were
abandoned or whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS.
Norlina has legally adopted all these children as her own, hence her family
consists of 39 people including her husband as well as six of her own
children. And she is due to give birth to another in a couple of months.
“These children have been infected with either HIV or AIDS and without their
parents, they have nobody to turn to. I couldn’t bear to watch them suffer
so I decided to take them in,” said the compassionate Norlina.
According to her husband Roslan Zakaria, Norlina had requested to have more
children so that she would be able to breastfeed the adopted babies.
Norlina and Roslan support the family through their own income. Norlina runs
a small catering bu- siness while her husband is a military official.
“We get occasional donations from people but the consistent income for the
family is from the both of us,” explained the 34-year-old.
Even though the Selangor Social Welfare Department is aware of her efforts,
they cannot channel funds to Norlina because her house does not fulfil
certain requirements of a shelter home.
Norlina and her family had previously lived in Ampang but she decided to
move to the bigger house in Cheras to cater to her growing family.
“When we moved in, we got to know that our new neighbours were also victims
of HIV-AIDS, so I decided to take care of the family’s six children as
well,” she said.
The journey for Norlina has not been easy as she has faced many obstacles in
her efforts to fight for the HIV-AIDS children.
Her husband had initially been sceptical and constantly questioned her about
their financial capability to adopt other children when they already had
their own kids.
However, he gradually grew to understand and support her humanitarian
endeavours.
“There were also people who said that I was just doing all this to seek
public recognition and to put myself in the limelight. I used to explain
myself a lot but now I just laugh it off because I think people are
beginning to see the hard work that I put into my family,” she said.
“I don't want my kids to be hidden or sheltered from public view. These are
my kids, why must I hide them?” said Norlina in response to the stigma that
the public attach to the disease.
The kids are sent to public hospitals for treatment of their illness.
Deloitte KassimChan recently contributed RM13,000 to Norlina and the
company’s staff spent an afternoon painting and refurbishing her home. The
money was raised through the Alumni Charity Golf Tournament and personal
donations of the employees.
“We are really happy to be able to help out Norlina because her home is
definitely deserving of our contributions,” said the company’s
communications and PR manager Liew Shan Mei.
 Back to
News Page
|
