It all started 25 years ago when Petrina Shee and her friends chanced upon two children carrying buckets of water in Sentul, Kuala Lumpur.

When asked, the kids said they had no water at home.

“So we decided to stop and help them,” recalls Shee. “(We found out) they were children of a single mum who had five kids, and were squatters living in the demolished KTM quarters earmarked for development.”

Shee felt that there was something more that had to be done for them.

“We sibuk (be a busybody) and asked if we could go to the kitchen and saw there was no food and nothing was cooking on the stove even though it was already 6pm. Shocked, we asked if they were going to have dinner and they said ‘yes’ to jaga muka (save face),” she says.

Shee then asked if they had food and once again, they said yes. She then asked for permission to open the small refrigerator in their kitchen and found nothing in it.

When children are treated as individuals worthy to be heard and respected, they grow to become individuals who are able to contribute to society.

“We went out and bought roti canai for them, and they were so happy. We were also happy that we could do something good for them,” says Shee.