Shelters for the Underprivileged Children

Children.

Why are children important? Children are our future, and without them, our country and the world will not progress. Charity towards these underprivileged children not only benefit the children themselves, but also affect our society positively.

Without a normal childhood, these neglected young children are then left to fend for themselves. Not knowing when the next meal will come or if they will get to attend school, they are deprived of developing emotionally, physically and socially. Hence they are more likely to be depressed, have low self-esteem, zero to little education and even suffer from lack of nutrition. As they grow up, they are at a disadvantage in all aspects versus their peers, which may lead to lack of job opportunity to survive on their own, and may fall into criminal activities due to desperation.

These are the realities faced by underprivileged children in Malaysia:

31% of households have no books for children
25% of school-going children skip breakfast 3 times a week
There are over 157,000 children in Malaysia living in poverty
4 in 10 households have no toys for children under 5 years old
20.7 of these children face stunted growth
8 in 10 students study in living rooms (because there is no where else)

Social Welfare Department of Malaysia (JKMM) suggests that child abuse and neglect cases has been steadily increasing in 2020. Up to this point, there are many more child abuse cases that go unreported, due to many factors and one of it was due to shame or embaressment.

Tedboy collaborates and works with various non-profit organizations and most of these organisations help the poor, and/or underprivileged children. One of these organizations that we would like to highlight is SHELTER Home for the Children.

Briefly, SHELTER is a registered welfare organization, that has been in existence since 1981 to help abused, abandoned, neglected or at-risk children and is supported mainly by the public.

It started from a group of friends that have the same vision to help homeless children in a squatter settlement along Old Klang Road. After many years of ups and downs, they decided to focus on particular rising cases which are abuse, neglect and abandonment of children and youth in Malaysia.

We reached out to Mr Yong, one of the committee members from SHELTER Home For Children to share more about the organization. Check out the interview:

Can you introduce yourself and tell us briefly about your organisation (How many homes, how many children, how did the children end up in the homes)?

I am Mr Yong. I joined SHELTER Home For Children 3 years ago. I worked in the manufacturing industry for the past 30 years. My last job was an Operation Manager in the sterilization industry at West Port Facility. Currently, we (SHELTER) have 3 homes in and around the KL area. Shelter 1 has 12 children aged 4-12 years old. Shelter 2 has 10 teenage girls aged 13-18 years old. Shelter 3 has 11 teenage boys aged 13-18 years old. We have 33 children in total. We provide care to children in need and raise public awareness on child abuse.

What are SHELTER’s Vision, Mission, and Goals?

Our vision is to provide children at risk a better childhood and future. Children at risk are children and teenagers who are abused, abandoned, and neglected. We aim to give them a quality of life enjoyment and satisfaction deserved by all children and to ensure they have hope and prepared to be a good citizen in the future.

Our mission is to protect, guide and heal the children by building strong communities and loving families. We aim to rescue and protect children from risky and dangerous situations. We help them to overcome scars and trauma from the abuse and ensure past experiences do not pose a threat to their future undertakings. Aside from all that, we are active in developing social awareness programmes and community based projects by being a credible voice advocating positive societal change and better government policies.

What compelled you to join SHELTER?

It’s not ‘compelled’ but the passion to help the needy, the voiceless, and the weak. I have been managing the feeding programme for the urban poor in the past 25 years as a volunteer. I would say that I had enough of a high-stress job and terrible traffic jams at my workplace, that I decided to follow my passion.

What other community work does SHELTER home do?

We did other community service which are MAP (Multiple Aid Program), YTP (Youth Transformation Program), FBC (Family Based Care), and teaching as well as starting sewing skills at Refugee School 1 in Subang, School 2 in Puchong , and School 3 in Ampang.

Testimonials of successful charity work that changed someone’s life/ Inspirational journey of SHELTER children that made it?

Melissa is one of the eight Former Residents in SHELTER who completed her ACCA at Sunway University under the Jeffrey Cheah’s Scholarship. She managed to secure a full time job with one of the big ‘fives’ audit firms after graduation. We are happy for her! To Melissa, education is very important. She saw a lot of seniors in SHELTER struggling to study in a proper college after SPM. After all the hardwork and determination, she finally made her dream come true.

Read more: Melissa’s dream came true. http://shelterhome.org/newsmaster.cfm?&menuid=19&action=view&retrieveid=283

What are the obstacles or challenges that SHELTER face?

Due to MCO, all fundraising programmes stopped. Treasure Hunt, Fundraising dinner and Calendar sale are badly affected. New intake of children are required to do a swab test and quarantine for 14 days. Extra expenses and manpower needed at this point of time.

How can we as an individual help?

Each individual can donate RM15 or more and we will give a 2021 desktop calendar to show appreciation. Besides, they can be involved in our community service such as serving, teaching etc.

What do you want the public to know more about with regards to SHELTER?

Shelter is not only about a home for destitute children but we go out to poor communities to lend a helping hand in food aid, social assistance, and job placement sometimes.

Tell us 1 most memorable experience you had with a SHELTER child.

A 13 years old boy now 17 who used to hate school, loiters at shops for free wifi, rebellious, and unhappy child who sees no hope in life has transformed to be a state badminton player, enjoys & does well in school, and is disciplined.

What does SHELTER (Home for Children) mean to you in 3 (or more) words?

Transforming lives of needy children.

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to e-interview you Mr Yong! We wish all the best for SHELTER!

Tedboy is proud to inform that we are also doing our part to help the needy children! We collaborate with SHELTER Home For Children to raise funds for the organization and each donor will obtain a complimentary calendar. All proceeds will be donated to the organization.

Kindness is simple! Let’s do our part as a community to help children that are in need and raise public awareness for child abuse.

Donation RM15 To SHELTER Home: https://www.tedboy.com/donation-rm15-to-shelter-home

Donation RM50 To SHELTER Home: https://www.tedboy.com/donation-rm50-to-shelter-home

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