Kuala Lampur, Aug. 28 -- In 2001, Kamariah Mat Yatim found herself at the lowest point of her life. Abandoned by her husband and left to care for eight children, she returned to her parents' home with little more than the children she described as her "only wealth".

For 17 days, the family lived in a small hut without electricity or running water. Food was scarce, and the cries of a child asking for milk became almost unbearable. At one particularly desperate moment, Kamariah contemplated ending her life and those of her children.

Her mother's voice stopped her and pulled her back from the brink.

That moment became a turning point. Kamariah decided that if she could not change what had happened to her, she would change what happened ne...