Labour of love
Syafiq Mobin intends to positively impact others through his welfare work
MUHAMMAD SYAFIQ MOBIN is an assistant manager for marketing, communication, and corporate social responsibilities at a local bank.
When he is not at work, the 33year-old generously dedicates his time to volunteering.
He explained: “It started in 2010, right after graduating from university. My good friend’s mother was the one who opened the orphanage, known as Raudhatul Alfaeez, and I volunteered there as a welfare manager, and have maintained that role until today.
“The orphanage was initially located in Gombak, but we had to move due to a tragic incident where the building was burnt down, completely.
“So, we are now located at a temporary location in Keramat, while we are rebuilding the old place, which is on our own land. However, Covid-19 has halted the rebuilding process.
“When we first started, we had five to six boys, then it expanded into 30 boys, which is quite a big number. We don’t plan to grow bigger as we plan to focus on the kids, and we want to ensure that they each get enough attention.”
Syafiq’s initiative of providing aid to those in need was given recognition by the current United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo, through Twitter.
Syafiq said: “Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has been my passion for a long time, around 10 years ago. In 2018, I was chosen to join MYCorps, an initiative by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Malaysia, where twice each year, they select a youth leader to volunteer overseas.
“My team, consisting of six persons including myself, along with volunteers from other countries, went to Zanzibar, Tanzania [for] two months. We were involved in education-related volunteer work, where we built schools and provided school equipment such as chairs, desks, and books.
“Then, in 2019, I was chosen to be part of YSEALI (Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative), established by the United States government. They had two intakes and I was part of the Spring programme. I was sent to Hawaii for four weeks, and spent about one-and-ahalf weeks in Washington, DC. I learned about CSR, and how it is done there.”
Syafiq makes good use of his prior exposure towards various social work, both locally and internationally, and formed a charity organisation with his peers.
“With all the amazing experiences and knowledge that I’ve gained throughout my volunteering work, three friends of mine, who were on my team during the volunteer programme in Zanzibar, and myself, established our own nongovernmental organisation, called Cheka Movement, about two years ago.
“Cheka is a Swahili word, which we picked up while we were in Zanzibar, and it translates as ‘laugh.’ However, it is also a phrase used before taking a picture, like, ‘Smile!.’ We wanted to spread positivity, one smile at a time.
“Since the movement control order (MCO) took place in March, the four of us have been providing aid to those in need, especially to those from the B40 communities, while waiting for the government to provide financial aid.
“Those who didn’t get to work and had lost their main source of income [were] our main concern. We held fundraisers, and we [requested] for aid from the public.
“Our target was RM10,000, and within two weeks, we actually managed to accumulate around RM30,000. We distributed the funds to approximately 160 families around Malaysia, according to their needs.
“It has not stopped there. Since the public has been continuously supplying funds, we could afford to come up with many more alternatives to provide aid to even more people.”
Syafiq began getting involved in welfare work at a young age, and he hopes to see the younger generation put more effort in positively impacting society.
“If you look on social media, most teenagers are wasting time on less important things. I believe that the younger generation should gain more awareness, and learn to be more active in volunteer work, and that is what I try to influence my peers to do.”
Meanwhile, Syafiq recalls how his journey into charitable giving started.
“My mother indirectly instilled the interest in welfare work into me while I was growing up. Whenever we went out, and we saw people on the street asking for food or money, my mum set a great example by always donating. Then, when I gifted money to my mum for her birthday, she would ask me to donate it to the needy instead. So, that eventually became a habit for me.”
WE WANTED TO SPREAD POSITIVITY, ONE SMILE AT A TIME. – Syafiq Mobin