Driven to help the less fortunate
4x4 buffs build homes, provide food
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Calling themselves 4x4 Relief Malaysia, the group of four-wheel drive enthusiasts built cabin homes using containers and helped out in any way to ease the burden of those in need.
One of the group’s stalwarts, Datin Natrah Abdullah, said 4x4 Relief Malaysia was a true reflection of the real Malaysia.
“If you want to know what 1Malaysia is about, you just have to look at our group,” she said when met at the site of the group’s latest project here recently.
The group’s founding member Thomas Foo said the poor were usually neglected and had no means to help themselves.
That was why, he said, they decided to help.
Foo recounted how the group started during the December 2014 floods in Kelantan.
“A fellow four-wheel drive enthusiast told us he had to go home to Gua Musang to help out as
his village and family home were
badly hit,” said Foo.
A group of about 50 friends, he said, decided to tag along and altogether they drove 20 trucks loaded with food and other essentials. What they saw there shocked them. “We found those living in or renting houses on land that did not belong to them became destitute after their homes were destroyed in the floods,” he said.
The group then began building cabin homes for flood victims with funds from sponsors.
Foo said they still visited areas devastated by floods in Kelantan, as some of the victims were still facing hardship.
“There was a family of 13 living in two plastic sheet tents. Last month, we built them a cabin home,” he said.
The 4x4 Relief Malaysia’s initial group of 50 has grown into 300 people. They also provide medical relief now.
Foo said 4x4 Relief Malaysia had become a platform for people to stand together to help fellow Malaysians during their hour of need.