Volunteers loving every moment of it
We learn about others and ourselves, says UM student
KUALA LUMPUR: Noor Fazliyana Mohamad Fadzil has been volunteering since September 2015 with Kedai Jalanan, the street store which provides free clothes and toiletries for the homeless and urban poor in the city.
The 23-year-old Universiti Malaya undergraduate took part in it because her friends were involved with the project.
However, she stayed on because she got to know the regulars and jatuh hati (fell in love) with them.
“We don’t just give. We receive. We learn about others and ourselves. I’ve gained in confidence and now find it easier to talk to
people,” she says.
And she has also fallen in love with volun
teering. She has since organised a project for the UM Student and Alumni Affairs’ High
Achiever Volunteer for Community (Havoc) programme.
She joined the Higher Education Ministry’s
global volunteer project and was selected from a large pool of university students,
applying from all over Malaysia, to go to Laos
in September.
This is what founder Dr Rusaslina “Lin”
Idrus was hoping would happen with Kedai
Jalanan, which won the Star Golden Hearts
Award and the Star-Gamuda Inspiration
Award last year.
Kedai Jalanan’s original goals were to provide a service for the homeless and to create civic consciousness among the students. It’s not a charity project, Lin stresses. “We are creating a space where people feel a sense of community, feel safe and treated equally with dignity and respect. There’s some empowerment there,” she says.
One of the regular customers is Yuli Suparman, a 30-year-old Indonesian.
“It’s difficult to get work. But with the
clothes I got here, I was
able to get part-time work washing dishes,”
he says. the With Star-Gamuda RM50,000 Inspi-from
ration Award and RM3,000 from the Star
Golden Hearts Award, Kedai Jalanan has been
able to expand its services.
About a quarter of the funds has been used so
far, reports Lin.
They bought racks, containers and boxes for the storeroom at UM. They also bought two tables and stools for a mobile clinic, as well as toothpaste, soap, shampoo and deodorant.
The awards provided Kedai Jalanan with legitimacy, adds Lin, and more groups are collaboratingLast year’s with winners them. have kept in contact through a WhatsApp group and help each other.
Social enterprise Viva Starfish, for example, set up a booth offering job placement servicesKedai Dapur Kedai Jalanan Jalanan, during Jalanan on thea Mayis volunteeralso second21. collaborating anniversarysoup kitchen, withof which started a literacy class for orang asli school SK Bukit Lanjan. Kedai Jalanan contributed RM1,000 and helped with additional fundraising for meals and other needs for the class. The largest part of the funds used so far – about half – has gone towards creating a database of services for the homeless in the Klang Valley. It was used for the salary of a research assistant and for online mapping. “We have collected the preliminary data on 46 groups providing different services,” says Lin. “We want to share this information with other groups, to check if it’s correct and to have a conversation about gaps and overlaps. “We will also share it with the relevant authorities if they find it useful.” The awards have also inspired and funded another award. The UM Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences will be starting its own award for excellence in volunteerism. It will be given to one student this year with a cash prize of RM300, to be announced at the end of this month.
We don’t just give. We
receive. I’ve gained in
confidence
and now find
it easier to
talk to
people.
Noor Fazliyana
Mohamad Fadzil