volunteerism

Volunteerism refers to the group of all volunteer activities; be it in the form of part-time volunteering or full-time voluntary service - carried out either domestically or abroad for the common good, on the basis of a free and informed personal decision and commitment to volunteer philosophy, within the framework of private or public non-profit organisations, on the basis of a volunteer agreement for an unpaid and non-profit making activity, which does not replace paid labour force but adds value to the organisation.

As a student I did quite a bit of voluntary work, when I first started work I continued looking for causes that I wanted to fight for. Alas, our local NGOs are full of politics, which had really turned me off.

At one point I was really close with a group of children from broken families under an NGO. The called me Auntie Cinema. :op

Somehow UMNO sects managed to infiltrate the NGO and the whole thing got politicised. I dropped out 'cos tak tahan the pening. 6 months later, I went to visit the children, they hated me, they said I abandoned them, I betrayed them. Looking back, in a way they were right.

Anyways, I stumbled upon KanWork last year, it's an offshoot of a cancer education joint venture project between UPM and Cornell University. Most of the volunteers are either cancer survivors or are still fighting with cancer. At KanWork we offer outreach programmes and support group to cancer patients and care givers. In Malaysia, most of other NGOs concentrate on awareness programmes. Once a person is diagnosed with cancer, they are alone emotionally especially them in rural areas. That's where we come in.

Ada one case, the wife was diagnosed with breast cancer and her hubby didn't allow her to go on treatment. When asked why, he replied, "siapa nak masak kat rumah nanti." Wahhhhh ... rasa nak terjun bangunan!