Championing adoption: (From fifth left) Fahmi; Che Puan Besar Kalsom; Datin Elya Lim Abdullah, wife of OrphanCare founder the late Datuk Adnan Mohd Tahir; Faizah; and other guests at the fundraising high-tea in Kuala Lumpur. — YAP CHEE HONG/The Star
KUALA LUMPUR: Ten years ago a mother visited an orphanage hoping to adopt a child to keep her eight-year-old son company.
The woman was introduced to a four-year-old boy with skin issues.
“The first time I met him I was not sure if we wanted to bring him home," said the woman who finally adopted the child six months later.
“He had skin issues and was presented in an unpleasant condition.
“But as we drove back from Kedah to Bukit Fraser, I cried in the car with my husband driving.
“I thought to myself if not me, who would get this child out of the orphanage,” said the mother, whose identity is withheld to protect the child.
Now in her 60s, she said she had no regrets keeping the child, who is a decent-looking 14-year-old.“Thanks to OrphanCare, they helped with the adoption process of our son from the orphanage in Kedah,” she said, adding that 12 other parents had rejected the child prior to her adopting him.
Her husband shared that after adopting the boy, they soon found that he was a naughty child.
"He would break household items and valuables in the house.
“When we took him, he behaved as though he entered into a new world. He looked shocked as though he was not used to the new environment outside the orphanage,” said the homemaker.
Today he is learning a lot more things like conversing in English language and building relationships with his step-brother.
Another mother who is a doctor in a public hospital shared a similar positive experience.
“Many of my family members adopted children so they were supportive of me and my husband doing so,” said the 32-year-old.
She said both their children were adopted.
Their daughter who is four now was adopted when she was just six months old.
Their son who is now six months old was also adopted with the help of OrphanCare.
“When we first saw our daughter we had an instant attachment to her, although she did seem to appear a bit distant and awkward.
“After about two months (when she was eight months old), my daughter grew very fond of us and started calling my husband ‘papa’ and me 'mama'.
The couple had a similar experience adopting the second child.
OrphanCare Foundation chairman Tan Sri Faizah Mohd Tahir said there have been an increase this year in the number of babies placed at OrphanCare either anonymously at the baby hatch or brought by their mothers.
“Up till today, OrphanCare has saved 639 babies,” she said at the fundraising high-tea at a hotel here yesterday.
The event was also graced by OrphanCare foundation royal patron, Cik Puan Besar Hajjah Kalsom Abdullah, and Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil.
