Dr.

Hartini Zainuddin

1. Profile
y Position Hartini Zainuddin is the Managing Director and one of the Founders of Rumah Jagaan Kanak Kanak NurSalam, Chow Kit, the only 24 hour crisis center for children under 18 in Malaysia. The center focuses on providing marginalized children with basic needs as well as counseling and protection services, amongst others. Many children are abused, neglected, trafficked, and abandoned. Many others are stateless, having no documents because they were trafficked. The center is a collaboration effort between Yayasan Salam Malaysia and the Department of Children s Welfare, KL. Academic Qualification Ms. Zainuddin received her BA and M.Sc in English and English Education, and received her Doctorate from Columbia University, New York. Experiences - Ms. Zainuddin is a member of the Ministry of Women and the Family and Community Development s National Advisory Council on the Welfare and Protection of Children. She is also a member of a number of national task forces including Child Protection Policy Training, on multiple issues that include trafficking and stateless children. She has worked on children s issues in the United States and Malaysia for 26 years. - At the age of six when most of us had little to no care for the world around us, Dr Hartini Zainudin, then a child herself, knew she wanted to work with children when she grew up, specifically underprivileged ones. Ironically for her parents, who were distressed by her career choice when she wound up working with troubled youth in notorious Harlem in New York, the idea stemmed from her own upbringing of happy memories she wanted to replicate for children who were deprived.

As she grew up, her ambitions became more explicit - she would settle away from Asia and someday work with UNHCR or UNICEF. She chuckles, trailing into a reverie, "I had this whole romantic idea in my head of the work I was going to do, entering war torn areas, carrying children in slow motion and the background music playing..." Alas, life has a funny way of working out and when reality hit that she was back home for good, she admits, "I was just not prepared to work in my own backyard." She had taken a year off and returned to Malaysia when her father had fallen ill and for a while seemed contented with teaching children creative writing while she tended to her father. Then one year became two, and then three when she began to seriously contemplate what she wanted to do. She started out as a volunteer with Yayasan Salam Malaysia and because of her experiences in Harlem was directed to Chow Kit. The neck of woods which is also infamously known as the red-light district of Kuala Lumpur and where children of sex workers and drug addicts live neglected while their mothers entertain clients. Many of these children have no identification and end up on the streets, becoming prey for child traffickers or are victims of abuse. "When I first came out here, there was just a horrible stigma and discrimination. They were called names because they were children out of wedlock, and such. It was all very much about hate." And so it became her aim to provide a shelter for these children and to champion that any child on Malaysian soil should receive the same protection and rights no matter what nationality, race, religion or creed. The development of the daycare centre called the Rumah Nur Salam in Chow Kit began during a difficult time for Dr Hartini personally. Her father went into a coma after suffering a heart attack and she dealt with it in her own way while keeping vigil by his side. "I wrote and submitted the proposal for Rumah Nur Salam during the 10 hours when he was in a coma. It was an example of something really good coming out of something really bad. And Nur Salam was truly built around a lot of love. It's just more sentimental for me," she says, compared to the centre for 0 - 5 year olds and 13 - 21 year olds which came later. Now into Nur Salam's 4th year, Dr Hartini reveals that other than child trafficking, the prevalent problem is child abuse. "I mean, it's punching faces, beating with sticks, burning them with cigarettes, kicking them until they vomit blood, rubbing chilli in their eyes, faeces...and no one is arrested or they are arrested and released," she cries. When the case of the 7-year-old who tragically died after a two-hour beating by his teacher broke in April, she said wearily, "What's frightening is the consistent pattern of miscommunication or no communication amongst the authorities who are there to ensure the protection of a victim. Welfare is overworked with their own set of problems.

"Just think, it is seven times more expensive to rectify the problem after the fact than stopping it from happening. My little kids need safety and comfort; they need people to hug them and tell them everything will be okay. They simply need love."

2. Contributions and Achievement

Two outstanding individuals receive Unreserved awards

Monday, 12 December 2011 11:00 Anuja Ravendran 0 Comments

(From left) Redberry Group chief creative officer Kassandra Kassim with the Unreserved cover featuring Syed Zainal Abidin,together with Saleha, Lee and Redberry Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Datuk Siew Ka Wei at the 1st anniversary ceremony

Sunday May 9, 2010

Saving one child at a time

DR Hartini Zainudin is a whirlwind of a woman. She talks a mile a minute, dazzles you with her big heart and leaves you awed and inspired by her work: she is one of those who set up Pusat Jagaan Nur Salam in Chow Kit, Kuala Lumpur, in April 2007.

Dr Hartini Zainudin believes that given the chance, even the poorest person can do something for himself.

I asked the babysitter for Zaras papers and name, but she didnt have anything for me. My instincts told me to walk out, but how could I? I took Zara with me. I knew if Id left her there, she would likely be dumped on Pulau Ketam, for prostitution, child labour and who knows what else! Then I went to make a police report. When we went back to the house, the woman and the other child were gone. I dont know what happened to them. It took her two years to obtain the necessary papers for Zara, who now has permanent resident

My father was very poor and had to stop schooling to help bring up his 14 siblings. He never forgot his roots and always taught us that even the poorest person can do something for himself. Everyone deserves respect and a chance, her parent believes. He used to tell me that a sacrifice is not a sacrifice if you call it that. One must beikhlas (sincere) and do things from the heart. From her mother, Dr Tini adds, I got this great love for children and the gift to talk to them. I will