Help raise funds to support Baby Fattah, who is HIV positive, as well as the daily running of the Sinar Sofia shelter home for women with HIV. Baby Fattah is the child of a resident of the home. His mother, who is also HIV positive, first came to the centre, with only a small bag of clothes and RM20 in her purse, pregnant with child. Abandoned by her partner, and with no job & no place to go, the shelter is now their home. 

The shelter is now home to several women with HIV. As we know, preparing for a baby and raising a child takes A LOT of effort, resources, and money. Furthermore, running a shelter home isn't an easy task, what more for women with complicated medical requirements and overwhelming stigma attached. Due to the stigma, the shelter does not receive any government grants or help. 

Sinar Sofia is a shelter home in Johor Bahru, Malaysia that works to get HIV positive women & children off the streets, to rehabilitate them, and to provide alternative dignified employment. They work to help break the vicious cycle and provide an understanding ear and hands to the voiceless.

Your contributions will primarily go to supporting medical costs (HIV medication, blood tests), Baby Fattah's milk and diapers, and the daily running of the shelter (groceries, rent, bills).

Rahayu Rahmat, or more affectionately known as Kak Ayu, was sold into the sex trade by her ex-husband. For 6 years, she stayed on the streets, not alone, but with her 4 children. Yes, please read that again. Homeless with FOUR children in tow, and plying the sex trade in JB's red light district. She then contracted HIV. She was then saved and taken off the streets by a community group.

A few years down the road, together with the support of her husband, she decided to give back and set up the NGO Sinar Sofia Welfare Association. 

I am blown away by her strength, her composure and most of all, her conviction to get sex workers off the streets. She has faced tremendous amounts of rejection, even and especially from fellow Muslims, but she stands strong and keeps helping marginalised women.

Find out more about her on this Youtube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUSsXdRdQtg