HELPLINE

SAWO HELPLINE: 088 280 200

SAWO Helpline is a free service which provides confidential support and information to women and families in distress or crisis. The Helpline is operated by a trained para-counsellor and social worker with the assistance of volunteers. 


SAWO Helpline is dedicated to serving our community through providing:

• Telephone and face-to-face support and advice including assistance with accessing resources and services. Face-to-face support can be provided at the SAWO centre or the homes of the client through home visits

• Assistance in obtaining legal and practical support for women in crisis, such as:               

*  Short-term crisis fund for single mothers and poor families
 * Assisting those in need to apply for low-cost government housing and government financial aid
 * Arranging a refuge or shelter for victims of domestic violence, rape, incest  and physical abuse

• Referrals to counsellors for ongoing support

• Referrals to connect individuals with the police, the Medical Social Department, Sabah Welfare Services Department and other agencies, including the Legal Aid Bureau and Syariah lawyers for Muslim women

If you give a woman a fish she can feed her family for a day, teach her to fish and she can feed her family for a year, but campaign with her for the rights to the river and her family will have fish for generations.
- African proverb

Legal Support

For women and families requiring legal support, our legal program provides legal information and can make referrals to appropriate support services and legal representation. Clients referred to us are often women who are marginalised with little means and resources, such as single mothers and foreign women, who have legal and other socio-economic problems and who cannot access existing services and assistance provided by government agencies and other NGOs.

A major role of our legal program in the past has been to hold a watching brief  on behalf of public interest groups in criminal trials involving violence committed against women and children. Any inadequacies of the trial process and judicial system observed by the counsel appointed by us to hold the watching brief are fed back to our NGO clients, which can then take appropriate action to press the authorities concerned for improvements or changes.

If you require legal support please call our Helpline.

Volunteering with the SAWO Helpline

The Helpline is always in need of more volunteers who are available to help with any of the following tasks:

• Visit schools and/or homes and/or hospitals
• Provide mentoring for women and children
• Provide emotional and practical support for families
• Assist the fostering or “angkat” of children and families
• Apply and follow-up on long term aid from schools, welfare department or other donors

To find out more about how to volunteer with us   click here.