It was in the month of Ramadan in 1987 that he came into this world wrapped in a sarong and dumped in a garbage bin.
Growing up was hard and painful for Muhammad Khairul Hafiz Abdullah, and his life once revolved around dump sites and rubbish bins.
Today, he is a successful entrepreneur running his own recycling business.
Recalling his early years, Muhammad Khairul said he was told that someone picked him up from a mound of rubbish in a large bin in Mentakab and sent him to a welfare home in Kuantan.
He was raised at the home for four years until a childless couple adopted him. However, after his foster parents had their own baby boy, they turned against him.
Things got worse and 25 years on, Muhammad Khairul still remembers how he was scalded with hot water and hit with blunt objects.
“The trauma is still there and the injuries and scars remain,” said the once-abused child, who is now a social activist championing the rights of battered children.