Stories of Resilience among KL’s Urban Poor

Shinichi Kee Soon
3 min readAug 27, 2020

There is a hugely important poverty reduction process in the heart of Kuala Lumpur through education, health care and welfare. Behind the facade of skyscrapers and luxurious shopping centres, the neighbourhood of Sentul in the capital city is still riddled with the underprivileged. Their livelihoods are in stark contrast to many others in the city, especially those working and living in the sky-high buildings.

The progress made and successes by these urban poor groups in what they do and in how they negotiate a change in their daily life are also seldom documented and is rarely noticed by the public. Some of these successes have proved to be catalysts for change that produced broader impacts. HOPE worldwide Malaysia, a non-profit, non-religious, charity organisation, have undertaken initiatives to highlight their stories as ways to encourage members of the public to act and pool together their resources.

Through a series of short films, HOPE worldwide Malaysia documents the city’s poor and their struggle to improve their lives. Set amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the documentary Finding HOPE trails the story of several ordinary folks in the city — such as single moms, hawkers and jobless people — who chose not to give in to the helplessness of poverty.

The documentary will premiere as HOPE worldwide Malaysia’s very first charity documentary screening at 3 pm (+8 GMT) on 30 August 2020. Livestream will be available on both Facebook and YouTube.

HOPE worldwide Malaysia started with a free clinic Sentul back in the year 2000, providing free medication and consultation to the underprivileged to this day. In 2005, Hope worldwide Malaysia opened a free paediatric clinic in Penang and 2007, they established a mobile clinic to serve the rural areas in the northern states. With its robust and engaged volunteer base, HOPE worldwide Malaysia has gone beyond successful local initiatives to impact corporate social initiatives of multinational corporations (MNCs) such as Adidas, B Braun, Dow Chemical, KFC and Starbucks.

HOPE worldwide Malaysia also impacted policymaking at the national level. It is working with the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN) to conduct the Good Enough Parenting (GEP) workshop. GEP empowers participants on how to meet children’s core emotional needs.

For more information or to volunteer your services with HOPE Worldwide Malaysia, visit www.hopeww.org.my or call Caesar Teh at (60) 16 281 0225.

--

--