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Operation Botak

Hi everyone! The sultriness after the 30-Hour Famine is getting cold. If the campers paid attention to my opening speech, I mentioned about the other project "Operation Botak" which organized by World Vision Malaysia. I would like to thank all my friends and family members who have supported me in this Operation Botak.
THANK YOU!

Thanks for your generous support of purchasing the Mobile Resource Centre for the children in Kota Belud and Tuaran, in Sabah! The Mobile Resource Centre is a project handled by Pusat Kebajikan Good Shepherd and they're one of the local NGOs World Vision helps to support.

Here is the adaption from progress report of the project:

THE PROJECT RATIONALE
More than 55% of Sabah’s population is located in rural areas. The villages are scattered and
sparse due to Sabah’s vast land and undulating terrains. This means children have to walk
for hours to reach schools, some as far as 10km away.
Access to learning resources is scarce for most of these children who live far away from
their schools. The State Library had initiated 13 mobile libraries and 55 village libraries in a
move to cultivate the reading habit in young rural children. This, however, is insufficient and
there is still a great need in this area if more children are to be reached.

OBJECTIVES

• To improve access to learning through educational activities and reading materials for primary school children, particularly those who live in the deep interiors of Sabah

• To inculcate the passion for learning and the quest for knowledge in the young children

• To encourage self improvement through reading and participation in various activities

• To promote positive habits such as reading and critical thinking

• To cultivate a strong sense of community-living and sharing

• To encourage participation and ownership from the community in the development of their children
  

ACHIEVEMENTS SO FAR
The Mobile Resource Centre (MRC) commenced operations in September 2009 with activities conducted in Kampung Lokub. The target group are children from pre-school and primary school.
From its base at Kota Belud within the District of Tuaran, the MRC has expanded its coverage to the following five rural villages:

• Kampung Bangkahak
• Kampung Lapai, Tenghilan
  
• Kampung Mantaranau, Kiulu
• Kampung Lokub, Kiulu
• Kampung Pukak, Kiulu

NEXT STEPS
The MRC is still at its infancy with work initiated in two villages in June 2010 and another
two villages in August 2010. At each session, data is collected on the participants, that is, name, age, village where they come from, and name of school.
We hope to expand the data collection to include medical records of the children, and information on their parents and siblings (name, age, occupation). It is envisioned that the MRC will eventually be a community development project where PKGS can extend its programmes to the youths and mothers in the villages through empowerment programmes and annual medical services.
The initial staff strength of the MRC is four persons. After a year of operations, another team of four persons will be formed. Two persons from the original team will lead each of the teams respectively. We hope to replicate this model of staffing as the MRC grows in its outreach to the rural villages.


Adapted from World Vision Malaysia Website, Compiled by Chee Hoe

After the famine...

(From left: Grace Tan, Wai Yee and Chee Hoe)

Though I was only there for about 2 hours and did not witness or take part in the other heartening activities, but I really felt that the passion, spirits and commitment demonstrated by the organizers and participants were simply astonishing.

The thing which thrilled me the most was the moving life stories documented in the videos. Materially, heaven and hell are so brutally apparent among us, the humans, on this Mother Earth. Yet, these people tormenting in poverty still manage to bravely brace up the challenges in life, to live on and to keep surviving ….

On my journey home in the taxi, I could not help but keep reflecting on these - how absurdly ironical it is that –

some people are so hearty to sacrifice in order to give and light up others’ lives yet some people are so heartless and mean;

some people are trying so hard to eat, yet some others try so hard not to eat to please others or keep slim;

some people are struggling to live on yet some others are so easily (or thinking of) ending their own lives.

Thanks people …. for opening my eyes, ears and mind. I will learn to do more to help others and appreciate myself and my life .... more.

Contributed by Grace Tan

Think of them...the urban poor

I'm the very last minute registered camper, before this camp I had participated two times in the year 2004 and 2005. At that time, the camp was in big crowd, it was not DIY camp. This year was the first time I participated in DIY camp. What I wanted to say here is, you guys really awesome!!! This DIY camp was really successful!!! I enjoyed very much in this camp. Before participating this camp, I knew about the poverty issue, in fact, I have seen the video of those children staying beside the water heater. It is still fresh in my mind on how the children live there.

When I was exposed to the first challenge, I was thinking, it was so hard for us to earn money, what about in real life? They are worse than what we experienced in the challenge. We still have paper box to make our shoes, but what about them? They have no shoes to wear!!! We are far more lucky than them, and yet we still can complaint on some little things. What about them??? what do they have??? NOTHING!!!

The hunger that we felt in the camp was not as much as what they feel everyday. We did not eat, but we did not need to use much energy during the 30 hours, but for them, no food at all the time, but still they have to use their energy to work for the daily life. At least we still have Ovalitine and milk from time to time, but for them??? what do they have???

At night when we was sleeping in the canteen, yes, we can feel how people sleeping in the street. The canteen still have roof, but they really have to sleep at roadside. I did not have a good sleep that night, keep awaking for the whole night, because of mosquitoes and also mattress. In the morning, when I woke up, I felt so bad, because only once in a while I have to sleep in this condition, what about them? They have to face this kind of situation everyday!!! What can we complain further??? They don't even have the chance to complain either, but they still live their live so toughly, facing each and everyday with courage.

All thess experiences have made me think deeply. Think of what we have in our life and provide me the courage to face the problem that we are having in the real world. Even until now, I still cant imagine if I am one of the children living in urban poverty. How i can help them??? What can i do for them??? I hope every camper will have the same feeling as I have, aware that urban poverty is a serious problem in our world!!! No point for us to starve for 30 hours but in the end we are still the one that are not aware of this issue.
I hope that people will start the ACTION!!! Do what we can to solve this problem.
I would like to thank our camp leader Chee Hoe, all the committees and also volunteers for making this camp so successful and awesome!!! BRAVO to all of you!!!

p/s: I would like to suggest to organise some events to help the urban poor, or any activity that could raise awareness throughout the year before the next camp. This would be more practical for us to help solving the poverty issue.


Jackie Ang
Group A

My first experience

This is my first time to join the 30-Hour Famine camp, so everything is my new experience. Persuaded by friends, I have braved myself to come from Pahang to join it.

So many things I have taken from the camp: Fun and touching. I enjoyed the camp fully with lots of help from the committees. When I played the game in the basketball field, my group members have given me 100% cooperation and try very hard to earn money for our team. Thanks to the game, all the members from my group mixed very well.

I was touched by all the videos shown by the committees, and the game that we played in stadium, which all of us created a miracle, made it rained in indoor. When all the participants from all around Malaysia cooperated and followed the instruction, it really rained heavily in the Stadium Bukit Jalil . I was so touched by that moment~!

Another game which teaches us how to make the bracelets also pretty amazing! When we heard from announcement that under the chair hidden the material to make the bracelets, everyone was shocked. This game really bring meaningful, and let me understand the important messages. Actually the world resources are enough for everyone in the world, but not in the equal distribution. Some parts in the world wasted the resources, but some parts in the world suffer from deprivation. We are lucky to have the ability to help them, so we really need to do our best to light up their lifes.

After so many things I have learned from the camp, I have shared my experiences with my family and friends. To raise the awareness within them, and let them understand they are the lucky ones in this world. I am still writing “my touching moments in 30-Hour Famine”, when after I finish it, I will post in my facebook to share my touching moments with my friends~!

As a camper, I have my point of view to give some comments regarding the SS2 DIY camp. Preparation for a DIY camp is not an easy work, I can imagine there are tonnes of hard work done by the committees. Thus, I would like to share my little opinion to help improve the camp in future. Registration of the camp is the important part and is the first image to the all campers. However, the registration was a little bit mess to me, I am sorry to say that. The dance was pretty fun and amazing for me, and everyone was much enjoyed!

After the puzzle game, I have noticed that I have been put into a children group, with all the children and include me two youngsters. I was quite upset in the first place, because all the campers have been distributed according to teenager or children group. However, I have no choice but to continue this arrangement. I have worked hard in taking care of the children. Luckily, the committees came and helped me to explain the rules of the game and guide the children. I was quite touched by them. I have my happy time with the children and in the end, we all mixed very well.

All the groups were waiting for the turn to take the ovaltine, from the alphabet A until L. Everytime it started from alphabet A until L. I suggest that it can also start from alphabet L until alphabet A. Exchange the alphabet so that the last group won't wait for so long. Or actually I am the one who didn’t listen to the instruction carefully.

Some praises I need to give to the committees, all the committees were so nice and helpful. The Blue Grass band was quite nice too, I think everyone was much enjoyed.

I had fun and laughed by the creativity of all the groups in the 才华横溢 game. I have gained new experience from this memorable camp. If next year I get the chance, I think I will join the 30-Hour Famine camp again.

p/s: Thank you very much of organize this camp, without this organization, we can’t join this meaningful camp~

Contributed by
Tan Chee Ting

Urban Poverty

The world "poverty" typically conjures up images of a mud hut, dry dusty earth and a great expanse of unfarmed land. In reality, a billion people are now living in urban poverty. Urban poverty is a multidimensional phenomenon. Almost 180,000 people are added to the urban population of the world each day.

By 2025 nearly three-quarters of the population of the Philippines will live in urban areas. Around two-thirds of Indonesia’s population – over 178 million people – will be urban citizens. India will have half a billion city-dwellers.

By the same year, the total urban population of Asia Pacific countries where World Vision has a presence will increase by over 700 million (UN Population Division, ‘World Urbanization Prospects: The 2007 Revision’). Urbanisation presents challenges for organisations like World Vision who have been working to reduce poverty and promote positive development for people in the developing world for decades.

The challenges of Urban Poverty
Urban poverty has many faces. While city migrants may earn a higher income, often, the amount is insufficient given the high cost of city living. Among the challenges are :
• Unstable income
• Lack and high cost of access to basic services, infrastructure or safety nets
• Violation of rights
• Weak political voice or influence

In urban areas, measuring poverty is more complex than simply using the traditional US$1 a day benchmark. The urban poor are likely to have a higher income, as they are often earning daily wages, and basic services and infrastructure are usually in place.

However, it is the higher cost of accessing these basic services that differentiates urban poverty from rural poverty (ESCAP ”Facing the Challenges of Urbanization and Urban Poverty in Asia and the Pacific” 2007). In most cities, US$1 per day would not be enough to pay rent, access clean water, transport, health care, education, and other essentials.

Shelter is the most visible issue of urban poverty. Difficulties in finding suitable and affordable housing mean that a large proportion of new arrivals to the city congregates in areas where land ownership is not enforced and build their own makeshift accommodation.

According to UN-HABITAT, out of the three billion people who are living in urban areas today, one billion live in slums and the slum population will likely double over the next 30 years. Slum dwellers will be living in “cities” that are bigger than any of the current cities (Oxfam 2006 “Urban poverty and Development in the 21st Century”). In many Asian cities, 30-40% of its population is already living in slums.

One of the United Nations’ targets under the Millennium Development Goals is to improve life significantly for at least 100 million slum dwellers globally by 2020.

Adapted from www.worldvision.com.my and other sources