Shelter for child survivors of abuse in Malaysia

Uma is a 16 year old who came to WAO in July 2018. As she is an unaccompanied minor, she was referred for shelter placement at WAO, by the Social Welfare Department of Malaysia. 

Uma had gone through a traumatic childhood filled with abuse and neglect. By the time she turned 16 years old she had experienced and survived not only domestic violence but also rape and incest. It was also unfortunate that she had been denied her right to education for four years, by her abusive family. When she was removed from that abusive space by the Social Welfare Department of Malaysia and placed with WAO, it was apparent that she displayed signs of poor anger management, depressive symptoms, as well as other behavioural issues brought on by years of abuse and neglect.

Adjusting to the new space and environment with WAO was not easy for the young teenager. Uma had difficulties in sleeping at night and when out with WAO social workers by day - in public spaces, she would be extremely anxious and exude hyper alertness.To ensure a holistic and rights-based approach in terms of service delivery, our team of social workers and childcare providers worked to provide Uma with adequate medical and psychosocial support, and to make her stay with us as comfortable as possible. We also sourced for private homeschool tutors to bring her up to speed with other children of her age. In addition to that, we also organise various activities like speech and drama, sports activities, and talks on sexual reproductive health rights, for Uma's recovery and empowerment. 

It has been almost five months since Uma came to us, and she has shown significant improvements. She enjoys social interaction especially with other girls her age, is much better at managing her anger, has a gift in drawing artwork and loves Mathematics. She is also determined to improve her English proficiency in order to be able to read articles about feminism, women empowerment, and gender equality. The most wonderful news is to have Uma share with us her dreams and goals for the future. She is ambitious and wants to pursue her studies in the science stream.

We look forward to enhancing Uma's full potential and to help her learn to enjoy her childhood in the near future.