‘When I didn’t understand something, the nurses pinched me and slapped me,’ she said, tears forming in her eyes. Dildar was still recovering physically from the birth of her first child by C-section, but harder to hear was the way in which she had been treated at the hospital.
Her husband, weary from his night shift collecting rubbish halfway across the city, told us they were treated worse than animals. ‘Why do they hate us so much?’ he asked. Having arrived as a teenager here, Mohammed has worked hard for many years in a job locals do not want to do. He saved hard to afford the high hospital fees that foreigners face, even higher for the emergency C-section that Dildar had needed. It is hard for him to understand why she was treated with such contempt.
Amidst ever-growing xenophobia, Malaysia has become a hostile place for many Rohingya women giving birth. This heightened sense of fear is something we hear about from many expecting mothers, most of whom do not understand the local language and have little experience with hospitals. As we cooed over Dildar’s baby, we affirmed what a great job she was doing and how beautiful her baby was, a beautiful gift given from above for her to love and cherish.
Join us in prayer:
- Pray for God to protect pregnant women in Malaysia from harm and persecution.
- Pray for those seeking to serve pregnant women, especially the Rohingya women reaching out to their sisters.
- Pray that through the spiritual journey of becoming a parent, many would discover that God is their Abba.