Many of us know what it's like to be in love. Some of us know what it's like to be betrayed by lovers. Much could be felt by Josephine, a new mother with her newborn of just a month of age. Josephine is a Malaysian who was happily married to a Singaporean man who is the father to their newborn Singaporean Citizen registered infant.

This young Malaysian mother is currently residing in Singapore on a Short Term Visit Pass (started 30 August 2021, expiring on 30 September 2021. The mother of the newborn and her husband share a highly conflictual and volatile relationship. In February 2021, Josephine was physically abused by her husband and moved out of her marital flat to stay in a crisis shelter. She and her infant have been residing in the crisis shelter since. Her husband has threatened multiple times to withdraw as the sponsor for her visit pass in Singapore. The inconsiderate husband also refused to renew her pass previously on 31 August, but she managed to extend her pass for another 30 days through a social worker's appeal. While her husband has presently made a verbal commitment to reapply for a short term visit pass for her on 28 September, it is unsure if he will follow through with the commitment on the day itself. Josephine is feeling tremendously anxious about the future of her and her baby in Singapore, and helpless as she is fully dependent on her husband's sponsorship to continue staying in Singapore.

To make matters worse, Josephine has been made even moreso fearful of moving back to Malaysia as she is estranged from her family residing here. Her family is aware of her newborn but is unsupportive and disapproving. Josephine is also extremely limited in financial resources and social networks. All this has led her to feel even more suffocated in regret, remorse, hopelessness and anxiety for the livelihood of herself and her child that if not accepted by anyone else, only has the mother to be welcomed and nurtured by. Thus, she would require assistance and support with her living expenses and housing while she navigates the systems and rebuilds a life in Malaysia which we at Yayasan Chow Kit are raising funds for their security.

Josephine has not applied for the baby's passport yet. Should her short term visit pass expire on 30th September without renewal, she faces the risk of deportation and would have to be seperated from her baby as the baby will not be able to travel without a passport. We hope to use the funds to appeal for the short term visit pass to be extended for a period that would allow her to apply for the child's passport and provide the professionals more time to do longer-term planning with the family to ensure their safety and sustainability that will be built from the launch pad that you help us provide to them.

Yayasan Chow Kit is helping to raise some funds to help support her initial cost (flight ticket, quarantine stay, meals for first 10 days in quarantine) as well as longer term support of a permanent room/place to stay once she is out of quarantine.

The initial needs may cost RM 3000 with an extended 6 months of support will come to RM 3500 for accommodation and and additional RM 4000 for her expenses until she becomes sustainable.

Whatever sympathy had for the mother is ten fold in empathy for her child who certainly deserves better. Through that empathy, we could grant them security and ensure them the capability to create their liberty. Love may have caused some of us to make similar mistakes, but it is from compassion that we managed to come back stronger from those checkered pasts. 

We will be frequently and promptly communicating with our donors on the updates and progresses that are being made by the mother and her child in starting a new life and where they have arrived. If at any point, her case is resolved sooner than expected, we will communicate the exact details to every ome of our noble donors and will inform you of how much of the funding was used for their case, and that any spare donations would and could be used towards donations for other children in similar positions of hopelessness. All of which will be relayed accurately with relevant evidence to back the change that is being made in these lives.

We may not be able to upload photos of Josephine and her baby up on social media currently due to the complexities involving their safety as of now. We will certainly be updating whichever details will be most appropriate and suitable to show their progress in their new lives from the love and compassion that counts. Much from people they've never met yet can show love and compassion that does not need to be doubted in sincerity.