Social Change Makers Conference (SCMC) - Tuesday, 9th October, 2018 / Thursday, 11th October, 2018

    Changing the world isn't the work of one person. Changing the world is the responsibility of every human in the world. Everybody in the world has a big responsibility that lies on their shoulders. The world is filled with people who are being the change the wanted to see. On Tuesday, the 9th of October 2018, we had a small part of our Social Change Makers Conference (SCMC). Dr. Teh Kok Hoi, who is a pediatrician and works in the cancer ward in the KL Children's Hospital.

Dr. Teh speaking to us.

    In my opinion, I think Dr. Teh was very passionate about what he was doing. I think he sub-sub-specialized because he told us that he was a pediatric hematologist and oncologist. I think most of what he was doing was trying to get us to go to the hospital to go care for the patients. He talked to us about how the patients needed to believe that they could get cured, have hope, and have a family to support them. Unfortunately, I didn't really learn much from his talk because my dad is a pediatrician and I already know quite a lot about medical things (not to brag, but I know lots of medical terms and what they mean).

Meeting the refugees and Janine Williams

   
On Thursday, October 11th, we had more people come to talk to us - it was the official SCMC day, but Dr. Teh was occupied on Thursday, so he came to talk to us last Tuesday. We had Janine Williams come, who volunteered at the Chin Women's Organization (CWO). She brought a few refugees with her, and I thought that what they were doing was great. I felt bad for the refugees (well, I felt bad for them the whole time) because of what happened to them. Ester, who was 13 years old, but she didn't remember how she escaped from her country, because she was 7 at the time. Stephen was not so lucky. He was 17 years old and remembered the terrible story of how he escaped. He was crammed into a car with lots of other people and was secretly driven past the Malaysian border from Thailand. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, there are 161,140 refugees registered with UNHCR in Malaysia - as for the night of Wednesday, October 10th, 2018. There are 139,740 of the refugees registered with UNHCR are from Myanmar, 77,130 of them from Chin, which is a state in Myanmar. Unfortunately, refugees don't have many rights in Malaysia (more like no rights...), but our new prime minister is working to give them more rights. When I asked the refugees what they wanted to do with their lives, Stephen wants to be a musician, while Ester wants to be a singer.
    Other than that, we had Swan Tan come as a representative of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). She told us about what they were doing in Malaysia, which included exploring the natural habitats of Malayan tigers. WWF Malaysia was established in 1972. They held anti-poaching patrols, and if they found any clues, they would work with the government to find the poachers. She told us that WWF Malaysia was in charge of about 90 environmental protection and sustainability projects. They also put cameras in forests so they can see what the animals in the forests are doing. The Malayan Tigers are currently endangered (there are now only 250), and they are working to raise the population of the tigers.

Naima Ismail advocating the rights of refugees
 and how they don't have free healthcare.

    We also had Naima Ismail come, who helped the Health Equity Initiatives (HEI) as a translator, and founded the Somali Women's Association Malaysia (SWAM). If refugees had a UNHCR card/UN letter, they would have 50% discounts in public government hospitals, but that would still be a lot of money for them, because even if an operation was 30,000, they would still have to pay 15,000, and they probably would not be able to afford it. As a kid, Naima lived in Somalia (and is from Somalia) and underwent sexual abuse, as boys would always beat up her and her brother. Unfortunately, according to their tradition, girls that didn't stay in their house would bring shame to their family and community, and I am VERY AGAINST THAT. Currently, she is working to give refugees free healthcare and advocate refugee rights in Malaysia, because unfortunately, refugees don't have many rights in Malaysia. Fortunately, our new prime minister is working to give refugees more rights in Malaysia so they live a normal life.

Me (in the gray shirt) getting Siti Kasim's signature.
I seem happy, right?

   


But what I was really looking forward to, was to see Siti Kasim talk to us. She was a lawyer and activist, and everybody knew her. She fought for the indigenous people of Malaysia, the Orang Asli. Unfortunately, people are trying to take away land from the Orang Asli. One of the most recent cases involved of 10,000 acres of their land trying to be taken away and be made into a durian plantation. While I loved durian (yeah, I LOVE it), I am also VERY AGAINST THAT. She and some other lawyers are trying to educate the Orang Asli about their rights, and fortunately, they are setting up blockades so people cannot take their land to stand their ground. She does all this without getting any return, which I think is great because she is doing good things but not asking for anything back. The company actually offered Siti bribes, but she rejected them all (thank you for rejecting them!) - and I got her signature!

Munira's great slides

Munira Hamid introducing us to the
Pertiwi Soup Kitchen.

    We also had Munirah Hamid come, who was the founder of the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen. She provided food and medical services for the homeless & poor who didn't have any soup to eat. As a child, her mom always told her to do what she thought was right, and if she wanted to do something, she had to actually take action and do it instead of just wanting to do it. And when she saw lots of homeless & poor on the streets, she decided to give them some food to eat. The Pertiwi Soup Kitchen provides 4 meals a week to the homeless, and usually they are from 9-10pm. They also would provide medical services so they all wouldn't have wounds or scars on their body.

Ana and Amy Popovich speaking to us about Trash Heroes

    Ana Popovich is a 7th grader in our school and does weekly cleanups with her mom, Amy Popovich, who is a math teacher (and she also teaches in our school). She told us about a recent case, they found 20 kilos of plastic in a whale, which was why it died. When on holiday, they found out about Trash Heroes and they emailed the Trash Heroes organization, and they started a chapter in KL. There are 6 Trash Hero chapters in Malaysia. So far, their chapter has collected 3458kg of trash, which is NOT GOOD. They also make audits, and they send the information to various organizations. They also introduced us to Eco-Bricks, which are ways of using trash that cannot be recycled to build things. Something I found surprising was the fact that there is a school built of Eco-Bricks. I think this is actually a great idea, because they probably bend better instead of bricks, and if they were to fall, they wouldn't hurt as much as normal bricks falling on you. So far, they have 512 volunteers and have organized 48 cleanups so far.
    All these people are doing things to make a difference in the world. They are not looking to be popular, but are looking to make a difference in the world. They all are from different organizations, but have something related in their blood. They all know that if they want something to change in the world, they have to make that action and "be the change you want to see in the world", like Mahatma Gandhi previously said. In the end, we left them with RM500 to help them with their cause. These notable people left us with a valuable lesson, and that is to do what you think is right.