Refuge for abused women in Malaysia

Mei Lee and her two kids Shi Hui, 9 years old and Shi Liu, 6 years old were admitted to WAO shelter in June 2019. A had been exposed to physical and financial abuse since 2015. Although her children, Shi Hui and Shi Liu were not directly abused, they witnessed the abuse at times. As a result of being in an abusive environment and trauma exposure, when Mei Lee and her family first came to WAO, she felt very vulnerable and fearful, as her husband had tried to contact her friends she was previously staying with to find out her location. He additionally threatened he would harm her friends, and told them he would kill her if he managed to locate her. She hoped that coming to WAO shelter following receiving this threats would increase her feeling of security for her and her children.

When Mei Lee and her children came to WAO, her primary concern of safety and security was acknowledged and proactively addressed. WAO managed to obtain an IPO and then a PO that covered both Mei Lee and her kids. Following getting this protection, she gradually regained her sense of security for her and her kids, and progressively felt like she could start taking control of her life once again. She actively participated in counselling sessions as well as empowerment programmes, and her kids were delighted to have the opportunity to be homeschooled, and be involved in the various sports and other intellectually stimulating and skill building programmes.

With secured legal protection for Mei Lee and her kids and the skills they had learnt from their participation in WAO programmes, Mei Lee soon gained the confidence to start looking at places she could move to outside of the refuge to build a future for her and her kids. She developed a plan with her social worker and acted on the plan by visiting a few places and engaging her friends to help her secure a place. When she and her children left the shelter, they felt empowered and supported. It was evident that the combination of a safe refuge, legal protection, and psychosocial, physical and intellectual programs had thoroughly benefited A and her family in terms of supporting and empowering them as a family unit to be able to move forward with their lives.