SINGAPORE – On a regular Sunday morning, Muzdalifah Anuar travels from her home in Punggol to Chestnut Nature Park, where she meets up with her exercise buddies for a hike.
Across the island, other women like her are hiking, running, dragon boating and playing netball – all thanks to Muzdalifah.
The 44-year-old is the founder of Gems Empowering Me Series (Gems) running club, which organises sports activities for people from all walks of life.
After leaving the army in 2015, Muzdalifah missed her active lifestyle and started Gems to get more Malay-Muslim women to do sport.
The former army captain said: “For me exercising is a norm, so I wanted to find out why is it not a norm for my community. You know, once you become a mother, all your time is spent on your family or your kids and everything, you have no time for yourself, to exercise or do things that you love.”
“I learnt valuable life lessons in the army and I want to share that with others. So we wanted to start a movement, with just a few of us and we are mostly mothers, to advocate active living.
“It’s not about running fast, as long as you run, do anything. We open up avenues and opportunities for women… We do kayaking, running, hiking, cycling and more.”
What began as an outfit with three volunteers has now grown into nearly 3,000 members across 10 groups. Over the years, she has trained leaders in different zones in Singapore and they now lead their own hikes and plan activities with their members.
The friendships go beyond sport as Muzdalifah said that members share their woes and experiences – even recipes – during these activities, which she finds satisfying.
Recently, the mother of three has been working as a freelance coach and volunteers at the Singapore Prison Service, where she helps ex-offenders reintegrate into society.
Muzdalifah added: “We wanted to do more for the vulnerable community, providing programmes for the girls in shelters and female ex-offenders because for other organisations, everything they do is only among ex-offenders.
“They don’t mix with the normal community, there’s no interaction, no chance for re-integration. So once they are released, they will still have that mindset that ‘I’m an ex-offender, nobody wants to talk to me’. We want them to break away from that mental block and that stigma.”
Her three children were proud of her when she was an army officer, she added, and now that they are adults, Muzdalifah hopes that by doing her part for society, they will remain proud of her.
“I want to show them that you don’t need status, just earn people’s respect and trust – small achievements are things that you can still be proud of.”
