The mother of Sarawak orphans

JULIYANAH Abdul Hamid gave up a well-paid job as a corporate senior executive to look after orphans full-time in Sarawak.

Known affectionately as Ibu (mother) to the orphans, the 50-year-old  has been involved with the Sarawak Orphans Welfare Board (LKAYS) — or better known as Peryatim — for a decade and is not regretting a moment of it.

The mother of five was formerly a human resource senior executive with OBYU Holdings in Kuching but left to devote her time to caring for needy children.

In her new undertaking, she has to face numerous challenges in administering the orphanages in Kuching and Miri, and also another home proposed for Sibu. Education has to be provided for the orphans and income generated for the orphanages.

On top of this, she has to be separated from her own family as well as her children in Johor.

“My deep love for orphans and strong desire to see them succeed made me leave my job to become a full-time staff at Laila Taib Orphanage Complex in Kuching in 2000, and Hamidah Orphanage Complex in Miri since 2004,” she told thesundaypost.

It was her passion to help children in need that got her involved with Peryatim, Sarawak — first as a volunteer in 2000, then as manager in 2002 and general manager from 2004 onwards.

The criterion for entering Peryatim is either that the applicant’s father or mother has died or both parents have died, and the applicant must be from a family with   a household income of         less than RM750 per month and aged between seven    and 18 years.

Juliyanah can look back with satisfaction that her work has been rewarded.

“Norfarina Mokhtar will be the first graduate from Hamidah Complex by the end of this year. She will finish her degree in education from Universiti Sains Malaysia while 11 others are now in various institutions of higher learning.

“Amalina Kipli from Peryatim Miri also boosted our image by scoring 9A’s in PMR last year. She was top student of both SMK Agama and Peryatim Miri. All the graduates and Amalina have lost their fathers but proven that with strong determination, good grades can be achieved,” she said.

With her vast experience in human resources, Juliyanah has been instrumental in improving the image of Peryatim and enabling the Hamidah Orphanage Complex in Miri to become the first in Malaysia to be awarded the world-class 5S practices certification by the Malaysia Productivity Corporation (MPC) on July 7 this year.

The accoloade is for achieving the standard requirements of Quality Environment Management System based on the Japanese Kaizen culture of Sort (seiri), Set In Order (seiton), Shine (seiso), Standardise (seiketsu) and Sustain (shitsuke).

The 5S concept, embedded in work processes supporting the integrated management system, provides direct significant impact on improving quality, productivity and efficiency in all aspects of service, safety, cost savings and storage optimisation.

“This is a great achievement for the orphanage and our collaborator, Miri Port Authority (MPA), the first port in the country to receive the 2009 5S Special Awards in Sept 2007.

“It will be a great challenge to maintain the award which covers only a one-year period but I’m confident with the support of all, the award will further enhance our image and continue to win public confidence and support,” she added.

Juliyanah is also a model mother. Her first son, a graduate from Universiti Teknology Mara (UiTM),     is a successful businessman. Her second child (a daughter) is an engineer from University Pertanian Malaysia (UPM) while her third child (a daughter) is a communications officer who also graduated from UiTM.

Her fourth child (a daughter) is taking up an agriculture course at UPM while her youngest child (a son) is doing medicine at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

Asked what inspired her most at Peryatim, Juliyanah said the joy of seeing the orphans succeed in life.

“I feel sad when I sometimes see these children not getting what they request but the most rewarding moment is when the public come forward to support us. It gives me a peace of mind, serving these less privileged children.

“Our achievements are due to the strong support from everyone. I must thank all who have supported us in one way or another, including coorporate organisations, and especially the mass media. Without publicity, Peryatim will be less known and not able to achieve much,” she said.

According to Juliyanah, Peryatim chairmam, Datuk Daud Abdul Rahman who is also the Assistant Minister in the Chief Minister’s Department (Islamic Affairs) and and Peryatim’s board of directors have also been the guiding force behind the smooth administration of the orphanages.

Peryatim has received overwhelming public support and contributed 90 percent to the upkeep of the two orphanages. Government grants only cover up to 10 percent.

The Laila Taib Complex with 200 orphans requires RM70,000 monthly while the monthly average expenditure for the Hamidah complex is RM50,000.

“The children need public support both financially and morally. Before school reopens in January next year, they will require new uniforms and educational aids while throughout the year, they do need constant care from the public,” Juliyanah added.

The expenditures are expected to increase with the extension of the Hamidah Complex to take in 100 more orphans while the proposed complex in Sibu is scheduled to be operational by early 2012. It will be the biggest in the state and can accommodate 300 orphans.

In line with its slogan ‘Orphans the responsbility of all’, Peryatim is banking on continued public     support to give the orphans a chance at life, especially through education and a career later on.

“On our part, we train and employ working orphans keen to give back their skills so that they can take over the management later. We train and assess their performance because we want to show the public that when they left the orphanage and finished their studies, they could return to contribute to the orphanage. We are proud they are best suited for the job because they know the suffering and needs of the orphans,” Juliyanah said.

So far, over 40 orphans from Laila Taib in Kuching have graduated while four have returned to serve      with Peryatim Miri and Kuching.

They are Siti Norfaridiah (warden or supervisor) and Fauziah Adenan (administrative clerk) at the Miri Complex, and Yusran Arshad (warden) and Mohd Haider Osman (administrative clerk) at Laila Taib Orphanage Complex in Kuching.

Peryatim’s objective is to create an excellent individual with high morals, discipline and self-confidence while its vision is to transform LKAYS Miri into a centre of excellence in orphans development and a role model for other orphanages in the country.