Our New Website

Our new website is up!

We would like to record our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to Mr. Amir Sariffuddin for designing the website for us on a volunteer basis.

We hope with the new website, friends of Rumah Aman will be informed about our charity work and the activities of the children.

We also take this opportunity to convey our heartfelt thanks and gratitude to our former administrator Ms Saliyati Suhaimi for designing our very first website.

We would also like to thank Mr. Jamalus Ramli from the bottom of our hearts. He had started this blog for us and through it, we were able to disseminate information on Rumah Aman.

Please do visit our website at http://www.rumahaman.com

Welcome Muhammad Azim

Finally, our 30th child, Muhammad Azim bin Mohd Abdullah Sajat, 6, arrived in Rumah Aman on March 31, 2009. Muhammad Azim is an orphaned child who was living with his mother, three sisters and an elder brother at a low cost flat in Port Klang near Shah Alam.

He has adapted well in Rumah Aman and making fast friends with the other boys his age. Before joining Rumah Aman he attended a government sponsored kindergarten at the flats he lives in and he now know all the alphabets.

We hope, by the time he attends school next year, he will be well prepared.

Earthworks, Retaining Wall Work in Progress

The earthworks and the building of retaining walls of Rumah Aman 2 have started!

Machines and equipments were brought in on Tuesday March 17, 2009 and work started the next day.

The earthworks will consist of leveling the ground up to the

foundation level and excavation works for the retaining wall.

A generous neighbour has agreed to let us use water from his home until we get our own water supply from the water authority.

The earthworks and building of retaining wall are expected to be completed in four months time.

We welcome anyone who would like to donate or sponsor building

materials for Rumah Aman 2.

First Rumah Aman 2 Site Visit

The boys, Rumah Aman staff and their families visited Rumah Aman 2 site located at the Sungai Buloh Country Resort in Saujana Utama on March 9, 2009 in anticipation of the building works that will commence soon.

All of us were driving towards the site that morning but halfway, it started to rain heavily so we decided to head to the club house turned Thai restaurant instead. The security person was kind to let us use the premise since it had not yet started operations for the day.

After everybody was gathered and settled, Jamalus Ramli, the husband of our administrator, Rosnah Abdul Mutalib lead the doa and among others asked that Allah bless and protect us and the community around us, give us guidance and to make thing easy for us in this endeavour.

Our founder, Abdul Rehman Dakri then delivered a short speech expressing his thanks to all who had contributed and assisted us in running Rumah Aman, either in kind or cash for the past three years.

He said that work on Rumah Aman 2 will start in about a week from now and we will need continuous assistance from the public in making Rumah Aman 2 a reality. Presently Rumah Aman had collected about RM600,000.00 to build RumahAman 2.

Since the visit also fell on 12 Rabi’ul awal and to glorify the day of Maulid ur-Rasul, the boys recited some verses of the Quran, did Salawat Badriah, Asma Al-Husna and sang Ana Muslim.

Muhammad Redha Yaasin, 10, then recited the doa to end the function before everybody was served refreshments. By the time we finished, the rain had subsided and we went to visit the site.

Once we arrived at the site, the boys were excited seeing so much space around them and started to run around the site, moreover, the area is much bigger than the present Rumah Aman. We stayed there for about half an hour before we left for home.

Well Done Arif !

Muhammad Arif Fauzi who is colour blind, made us proud when two of his colourful drawings entitled Rocket Malaysia and Waterfall won 2nd and 3rd prize respectively in an art competition organised by Amway Malaysia last year.

The art competition was held in conjunction with the establishment of a new One By One Art Gallery at Amway's headquarters in Ada, Michigan, USA in celebration of Amway’s 50th Anniversary this year.

Muhammad Arif’s Waterfall made it to the final selection with two other drawings out of the six Malaysian entries sent to Ada. The other two drawings are Village Atmosphere in the Morning by Munir Darussalam from Rumah Nur Salam, Kuala Lumpur and Blueberry by Uthaya Soorian,12, from Rumah Hope, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.

In an article in its Amagram Magazine for March 2009, Amway Malaysia said that the three drawings will be displayed at the gallery along with 72 other artworks from other Amway affiliates worldwide.

It said that the gallery that will be open to Amway Distributors, staff and thousands of guest world wide for years to come, will consist of colourful, artistic drawings from children around the world who are part of Amway’s One By One Campaign for Children.

Amway Malaysia had organised a by-invitation only art competition to children homes that have participated in previous One By One – Happy Healthy Minds initiative. The competition was open to children between the ages of six to 12 years old registered at the homes.

A total of 38 colourful entries were received from Agathians Shelter, House of Joy, Precious Homes, Rumah Aman, Rumah Hope, Rumah Nur Salam and Rumah Tunas Harapan.

Ten year old Munir who won first prize in the competition received RM300.00 cash and made good use of his winnings by purchasing a sporty new pair of spectacles.

For his effort, Muhammad Arif, 9, won a monopoly set, a comprehensive art manual and art supplies.

Pictures from top : Muhammad Arif with Amway Senior Public Affairs Executive, Siti Kalsom Kamari (second from right), his gaurdians showing off his artworks and Amway Public Affairs Officer, Joanne Yap (left). Munir Darussalam's Village Atmosphere in the Morning, Muhammad Arif's Waterfall and Uthaya Soorias's Blueberry.

The three homes with the six shortlisted entries, Rumah Aman, Rumah Hope and Rumah Nur Salam were also awarded MPH book vouchers worth RM500.00 each.

Welcome Ikhwan, Ilyas, Ilyasaq

On 1st February 2009, we welcomed Muhammad Ilyas bin Mohd Azmi and his twin brother Ilyasaq both six years old.

Prior to joining Rumah Aman, the twins lived with their mother and an elder sister in their grandmother's house in Batu Kurau, Perak. They have another older sister who is now being cared for by their auntie in Pahang. Their mother dry areca nuts for a living while the grandmother taps rubber.

When we fetched the boys they were very quiet during the four hours drive to Shah Alam but they have now made friends with the other boys in Rumah Aman and adjusting well.

We also welcomed Mohammad Ikhwan Shauqi bin Azwani Syam, six years old. He joined Rumah Aman on 22nd January 2009. Muhammad Ikhwan is an orphaned child who was living with his mother and a younger sister at their grandmother's flat near Putrajaya.

The younger sister who is now five years old has been placed at another orphanage, Rumah Amal Cahaya Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah (RACTAR) in Subang Jaya, Selangor. Their mother is presently unemployed.

We took in Mohammad Ikhwan, Muhammad Ilyas and Ilyasaq to fill in the four vacancies we had since October 2008.

With the enrollment of Muhammad Ikhwan, Muhammad Ilyas and Ilyasaq, there are now 29 boys in Rumah Aman. We hope to find another deserving child soon and fill our quota of 30 boys, insya-Allah.

From top left : Muhammad Ilyas, Ilyasaq and Ikhwan.

Goodbye Amsyar

We bid farewell to Amirul Amsyar bin Kamarulzaman, 9 years old. He joined Rumah Aman in December 2005 when he was five years old. He left Rumah Aman on November, 2008 during the end year school holidays.

During his stay in Rumah Aman, Amirul Amsyar made good progress in his studies and had achieved very good results in his school examinations.

We are sad, but at the same time we are happy that his mother is now able to care for him, his brothers and sisters. We hope he will carry with him good memories of Rumah Aman and cherish the experience and exposure we had given him.

We are also very glad that Amirul Amsyar has been appointed as the class monitor at his new school. It is our hope that he will keep the discipline and values that we have inculcated in him and may he spread it among his brothers and sisters and also among his new friends in Hulu Langat, Selangor.

We hope he will visit us sometime when he is able and we pray that Allah will protect him and his family and may he be successful in all his endeavours.