Giving a Helping Hand
Sometimes we do tend to take for granted clean, drinkable water, electricity at the flip of a switch, modern plumbing and whatever little modern marvels that help to make life a lot easier for us. But just imagine if we didn’t have these things—it would be so much more difficult to carry out our simple daily routines. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and mankind has made history with their inventions and discoveries which led to how most of us live today. However, there are still many communities living without the comforts that we are used to having. It took one of our writers, a city boy through and through, to discover this when he went to the interiors of Sarawak to stay with one of the indigenous tribes in a longhouse. Electricity was scarce and he had to bathe in the dark come nighttime (God only knows what kind of creatures he was sharing the bathroom with.) But he was there for a story. The tale of a young engineer wanting to do what he can to better the lives of others; and one of the things he did was to invent a solar-powered water purification system to bring clean and safe drinking water to communities such as these—the best part is, it’s affordable and effective! Mineral water is a luxury they cannot afford as the villagers barely make ends meet and would have to travel two to three hours into town to buy mineral water bottles. Therefore they end up drinking dirty water, causing them to suffer from diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases. With data showing that diarrhoea is the second highest cause of child mortality, Ganesh Muren’s mission was clear: to give more people in the world access to clean drinking water. It may seem like a trivial thing but his water filter has brought great impact to those families and turned their lives around. I get inspired by people like Muren. Makes me wonder what am I doing with my life that’s worth something to others. I may not have big ambitions to help thousands but there are few ways we can help contribute to make a difference—whether by sponsoring projects or simply volunteering a helping hand when able to, as these projects are pretty labour-intensive. It’s simple really: people need a helping hand, and a little can go a long way. For instance, a friend of mine is baking cookies where 20 per cent of the sales goes to cancer research—a noble effort indeed—or it could be something as simple as helping a blind person cross the street. And guess what? Selfishly, it brings us happiness and joy when we help others too. We do what we can, and sometimes that’s enough.
— Elizabeth Soong Managing Editor