Tong (fourth left) taking a group photo with the representatives from WAO and sponsors.

PETALING JAYA: The Women's Aid Organisation (WAO) has an extra reason to be thankful, especially during this time of Ramadan, with the handing over of a new child care centre to the establishment.

The youth arm of Real Estate and Housing Developers' Association Malaysia (Rehda) officially handed over the new centre on April 20 to replace the one that burned down in 2016. The event was officiated by parliament member Hannah Yeoh.

The new premise incorporates masonry, wood, and roof tiles from WAO’s previous child care centre and is built entirely with donated materials, sponsored labour and expertise of pro bono consultants.

“This WAO child care centre will be the first platinum-rated green child care centre in Malaysia by GreenRE, the leading Malaysian green building certification body. This ensures that the running costs of the centre going forward will be reduced, which will be a great benefit to the WAO which operates entirely on donations,” Rehda’s acting president Datuk NK Tong said.

Designed with green design principles in mind, the new centre ensures there is sufficient daylight and natural ventilation for the increased comfort and wellness of an expected 20 children.

The new centre would act as a shelter for child victims of domestic abuse and a base for WAO to provide specialised counselling therapy to traumatised children.

“With this, we aim to cultivate an environment where children are able to process their trauma safely, through counselling, therapy with play, and simply by existing within a place where they know that their safety and care is an utmost priority,” WAO president Shanthi Dairiam said.

“We recognise that child care centre in the community is so important, and sorely needed because of the unaffordability and inaccessibility of good child care,” she added.

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