KUALA LUMPUR: The death of an innocent, cheerful four-year-old girl who inherited HIV from her parents, is enough to tug at the heart of even the toughest.This was definitely true for 44-year-old Marhalem Mansor and his wife Jamaliah Sulaiman, 44, who used to be volunteers of the PT Foundation but have started working permanently for the community-based organisation, since two years ago.
“We chanced upon the girl about two years ago at a hospital in Kuala Lumpur when we were volunteers, helping people with HIV,” Marhalem said when met by reporters during a gotong-royong at a cemetary in Gombak here yesterday, in conjunction with the upcoming World Aids Day celebrations on May 16.
Jamaliah said the girl had never experienced love from her parents as she was abandoned from birth.
“We were glad to have been able to spend the last few days with her as she was already like family to us.
“She also looked happy and was heard telling friends that she was glad to have brothers and sisters at the foundation, even if it was for a short while,” she added.
The PT Foundation is a non-governmental organisation which obtains funding from the women, family and community development and health ministries, to help drug addicts, prostitutes, transvestites, beggars, neglected children and those affected by HIV.
The organisation then provides those involved, with moral guidance, support, food and offers them an opportunity to become volunteers. — Bernama