A CARING HOME: Reintegrating children with their biological families or placing them with adoptive parents is better than letting them languish in orphanages, stakeholders tell Suzanna Pillay
IMRAN Ahmad, 55, enjoys walking in his leisure time and has walked all over Kuala Lumpur. This time, the director of a leading organisation plans to undertake a 214.6km solitary walk from Ipoh to Kuala Lumpur to support OrphanCare, a non-governmental organisation (NGO) established in 2008 that aims to give every orphan and abandoned baby a chance to feel love and care in the security of a family.
Spread across six days, his journey is divided into six segments: Ipoh-Kampar, Kampar-Bidor, Bidor-Slim River, Slim
River-Kerling, Kerling-Rawang and Rawang-Kuala Lumpur. The first leg of Imran’s journey kicks off today.
He intends to walk most, if not all, of each segment, then take a bus or hitch a ride to the next rest stop, if he hasn’t reached it already. His target is to walk 30km a day, but the distance doesn’t faze him.
“I think of it in terms of miles, so it’s only 22 miles really. Besides, I will be taking it easy and walking at a relaxed pace.
“It is an activity that I enjoy very much because it allows me to see a lot more of the environment around me than either driving or cycling.
“I have been on many walkabouts around KL. This year, I decided that I would do one that would take a week. It was suggested to me that it would be a waste to walk for a week without supporting a cause, so I decided to do my bit for charity and raise awareness about the good work of OrphanCare.
“I have supported OprhanCare for many years and help them by writing articles because they address a real need. Every child needs a family, and not to be institutionalised and left to ‘age-out’ in an orphanage, but instead, be placed in a loving, caring family environment to develop their full potential.
“Granted, OrphanCare cannot change the world, but they can change the lives of the children they place with loving adoptive parents.
“I am looking for sponsorship pledges on a per kilometre walked basis and my optimistic target is to be sponsored at the total rate of RM1,000 per km.”
The public can make pledges in the format of RM1 per km or RM5 per km, and so forth, on Imran’s Facebook page (www.facebook.com/ImranWalk) or send an email to ImranKLwalk@gmail.com.
Imran will publish the number of kilometres he walks each day on Facebook. Once the total distance he has walked is listed, the public can deposit their contributions into OrphanCare’s bank account (details in the infographic).
At the launch of the first Malaysia Adoption Day last Friday, OrphanCare Foundation chairman Tan Sri Faizah Mohd Tahir said orphanages were an outdated concept and should be replaced with families or family-based care.
“Children should not be isolated from the community. Research shows that children left in institutional care are deprived of stimulation at an early age and are more likely to face social, emotional and psychological problems later in life.
“This can make it more difficult for them to lead normal lives when they leave the institutions.”
She says one of the foundation’s biggest challenges is to find people willing to adopt older children aged 2 to 16 and children with manageable physical disabilities.
“Most will only consider adopting babies.”
To highlight the plight of these children, OrphanCare held Malaysia Adoption Day with the support of the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry in the hope that more people would open up their hearts and homes to orphans.
The event was officiated by Deputy Women, Family and Community Development Minister Datin Paduka Chew Mei Fun.
Government statistics show that an estimated 13,700 children live in institutions and orphanages.
OrphanCare has arranged the adoption of 17 older children aged 3 to 12, while eight were reintegrated with their biological families through its deinstitutionalisation project.
Deinstitutionalisation is the process of reintegrating children with their biological families or placing them with adoptive parents.
Faizah says Malaysia Adoption Day’s objectives are to raise awareness; promote positive perception of adoption; encourage people to adopt, especially older children and children with manageable physical disabilities; educate society on the mental and physical harm suffered by children in orphanages; and, spurring discussion, debates and forums at the national level to garner support from the government, like-minded NGOs, communities, businesses and individuals.
OrphanCare has saved 241 babies, of whom 148 were adopted by parents and 93 biological mothers were persuaded to keep and raise their babies following counselling. Twenty-eight of the 148 babies who were adopted were found in baby hatches.
An average of 100 babies are dumped every year in Malaysia and more than 50 per cent do not survive.
OrphanCare runs baby hatches in Petaling Jaya, Johor Baru and Sungai Petani. It also collaborates with KPJ Healthcare Bhd to ensure that babies left with KPJ are placed with adoptive parents.