In Malaysia, there have been a number of high-profile cases of ‘baby dumping’.
The term is used to describe… tossing infants alive from windows and abandoning them in fields.
According to government figures there have been more than 500 such as case record since 2005.
Ain has been been living in this shelter since she was six months pregnant with her son.
There are 20 other unmarried pregnant women here with her.
“I was afraid that I will shame the family if I stay in Perak. This house is a shelter for us, for us to cover our disgrace and for us to change,” she says.
Ain was only 20-years-old when she found out she was pregnant... with her stepfather.
She said her stepfather was aware of her pregnancy and wanted to be responsible. “But I couldn’t accept that.”
In some cases women in her position have ’dump’ their babies in waste bins, bushes, drains and public toilets.
The Orphan Care organization that runs this shelter is trying to offer these women another way.
“About 90 percent are actually Muslim girls because of Islam,” says Puan Noraini Hashim, the Deputy President of Orphan Care.
“I think it is a huge stigma to have baby out of wedlock so usually when they come here they have no one else to turn to. They haven’t told their parents, the boyfriends sometimes they are around, and sometimes they have left.”
When a baby is placed in the hatch, the weight of the baby will trigger an alarm in the caretaker’s room. So far, Orphan Care has received 71 babies.
They also have a database of thousands of parents wanting to adopt these children.
“We are here to actually find solution for the end product which is the baby. Whether or not we are here, there are still going to be abandoned and unwanted babies. So it is part of the solution. We are not offering holistic solution for the whole chain of event.”
Even though there are initiatives like baby hatch appearing... in Malaysia unmarried mothers still feel they have very few choices.
“I don’t know when I will leave because I don’t even have a plan now,” says Ain.
Having been isolated from society for almost 3 years, leaving the shelter seems like a big step forward for Ain.
