IT IS past 8am and the sun is slowly rising with a lazy drawl, waking up Malaysians from their slumber but walking under the heat with glee is a group of young children with shovels and a wagon eager to begin the day’s work.
The children are young refugees who once wreaked havoc in their community since they had no other activities to occupy their time.
In Malaysia, a large concentration of refugees live in the Klang Valley.
Leaving behind their home, friends and family, these refugees come to Malaysia, seeking asylum, a job and a life. However, most of the time they are shunned by society.
“Often in an area where locals, refugees and immigrants live together, it is easy to blame the foreigners,” said United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) external relations officer Yante Ismail.
Chipping in: A group of children carting away the rubbish they have collected.In Loke Yew, Kuala Lumpur, where a large number of refugees reside, littering was a common problem.
Residents then decided to discuss the issues they faced with the refugees, hoping to find a solution.
“The refugees care about Malaysia and wanted to be a part of the solution. They decided to have a gotong-royong to get rid of the mess,” said Yante.
They also set up night watch groups to help curb loitering, being mindful of the local population.
Enthused from the success of Loke Yew, the UNHCR decided to hold similar gotong-royong in other refugee areas in the Klang Valley and came up with the Jom Gotong Royong contest.
Yante said they decided to have a contest as an incentive for refugees.
Each group is given a small amount of seed money and so far they have succeeded in recruiting 23 community groups in three months.
Lending a hand: Kachin community cleaning up their neighbourhood. The winners will be decided by a panel of judges and the first prize winners will receive RM3,000, followed by RM2,000 and RM1,000 for the second and third place respectively.
“The money will be put back into the society for other projects they can undertake,” added Yante.
One of the groups involved is the Kachin Refugee committee which is based in Genting Klang.
They plan to meet three times a month for four hours with 40 volunteers for each session.
Another group is the Tedim Community Malaysia which has made Segambut their home.
They planned to meet once a week for a clean-up session.
Each session so far has 10 volunteers.
“They have noted that between each consecutive session there has been less rubbish compared with the previous week,” added Yante.
The third community, which has entered the contest, is the Zomi Innkuan Malaysia from the Hang Tuah area. They meet twice a week with about 20 refugee volunteers per session.
One of the more laudable communities is the Chin community in Taman Mewah, Koperasi Quepecs in Kajang.
The refugees have come under the Chin Diamond Learning Centre umbrella, where the children are studying under head teacher John.
“Our residents’ association had always engaged us in their discussions.
“The school is important because the children used to cause a lot of problems before,” said John who has been with the centre for two years.
Having solved the children’s issues, the residents’ association turned to John as a spokesman and mediator.
John said the community had already started their own clean-up session before the contest started.
“We feel like we are in our country so we feel responsible for it,” he said.
John has managed to recruit more than 40 people for each clean-up session that has been conducted regularly almost every week.
Taman Mewah Cheras Management Corporation treasurer Muhammad Basir said they took their hats off to the refugees.
Initially there used to be a lot of fights, drinking and trouble in the neighbourhood when the refugees get together in the evening.
“We could not blame them because they were frustrated and didn’t know what to do or where to work.
“However, after talking to John and engaging in this gotong-royong, things have changed,” he said.
He added that it was great to see so many of the refugees taking part in the clean-up.
“Even the children are eager to help their parents and we have not had many locals doing the same let alone the children.
“We respect them for this hard work they have put in,” added Basir.
Those interested in seeking information on ways to help the refugees can email infomalaysia@unhcr.org
Source : TheStar
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