By Zaharah Othman – November 4, 2018 @ 5:59am
LAST week, on a wet and cold afternoon, members of Mercy Malaysia UK (MMUK) with friends and supporters, enjoyed a warm and fun tea event in the comfort of Cholmondeley Room and Terrace at the House of Lords. It is not always that they find themselves in such a comfortable surrounding — but it was all in the name of charity and fundraising for the less fortunate.
Most of the time, with the kind generosity of those who enjoyed the warm scones and tea in the function room overlooking the Thames or had dinner on a cruise boat, the hardworking and tireless team of MMUK would find themselves in the refugee camps in Bekaa Valley of Lebanon, Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh or in any disaster-hit areas where victims of circumstances way beyond our control need their help.
MMUK is an infant compared to other charity organisations, but its little but determined footsteps are already making a difference in the lives touched by life’s adversities.
MMUK received its charity status in March 2014 and was launched in September of the same year. Since then, with TV journalist Haliza Hashim as one of four trustees and deservingly appointed as MMUK’s chairperson earlier this year, the only Malaysian-registered charity organisation in the UK has been making its presence and intentions known everywhere.
They are to be seen at fairs and carnivals setting up tables to create awareness of the need for medicines, medical aids, prosthetic limbs in Bekaa Valley, where there are about 1.5 million Syrian refugees since the crisis started, about the poor living conditions and deteriorating health of the Rohingya in Cox’s Bazar, about the need for hot food for victims of the Grenfell fire and even about laptops for Syrian refugee children in Nottingham.
Last week, in the presence of the ever supportive Lord Sheikh who was made life peer and Lady Sheikh, the Malaysian Charge d’Affaires Mohd Suhaimi Jaafar and Myanmar ambassador Kway Zar Minn, nurse Ranji Kent of MMUK spoke about the need to help a team of specialist surgeons and nurses from the UK who will be performing cleft/lip palate operations on children in their “Make Me Smile” campaign in Sitagu Hospital in Mandalay.
With the generous donations, they also hope to help a children’s ward at Evelina Children’s Hospital, London, to purchase medical aids for children suffering from life-threatening respiratory conditions, as well as fund the Archway Project, a new research on young people afflicted by attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and autism conditions.
It has indeed been a hectic few years since Haliza was made trustee in 2015 juggling work as a TV journalist, wife and mother of two. She had personally seen the crisis in Bekaa Valley and Cox’s Bazar.
“Personally, it has been both rewarding and challenging. Rewarding when you get dedicated and hardworking volunteer doctors to work at primary health clinics for MMUK or when you have companies or individuals who believe in you and give a lot of support to your causes.
“It is challenging because each member of the team has to juggle work, family, travel and Mercy. We are still learning; we attend charity workshops and get advice from our sister organisation, Mercy Malaysia. We have to be realistic about where, who, what help we can provide, how many people could benefit and if the project is sustainable,” said Haliza who never loses an opportunity to plug MMUK’s campaign of awareness.
With support from Dr Burhanuddin Busu, a trauma and orthopaedic doctor at King’s College London who is no stranger to charity work and Dr Zehan Rahim from Evelina Children’s Hospital who went to Cox’s Bazar with her to treat the sick and ailing, Haliza’s team is fast gaining recognition and with that, support.
There is never any shortage of volunteers and supporters — Dr Jason Neil Dwyer completed 100 miles at Cycle Live event while fundraising for the Make Me Smile Project. Dr Thomas Mckearney went as a volunteer doctor to the Rohingya refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, and Consultant Physician Dr Rafidah Abdullah did her London Marathon for MMUK.
Programmes to raise awareness are aplenty: There’s the World Refugee Day as daily we read about people being displaced by natural disasters, war and conflicts, the fun Superhero Run, the Ramadhan Appeal campaign and many more.
So far, the MMUK team had conducted four missions to Bekaa Valley and had provided four limb prostheses.
As wars and conflicts, as well as natural disasters know no boundaries, in charity work, there’s never a problem with language, culture and religion. A smile that spreads across the face of a child war victim who made his first faltering steps in his prosthetic limb, says everything.
“One 12-year-old boy, Marwan, played football with his artificial limb,” recalled Dr Burhanuddin, adding that the boy wrote a big colourful thank you note for the MMUK team.
I personally witnessed these gestures of appreciation during one of MMUK’s collaborations with Maybank in a Drum for Hope programme last year.
Twenty-five refugee children from Syria now living in Newark, Nottinghamshire, were taught by the Hands Percussion group to beat the drum and exorcise their past. It was great seeing them understand the meaning of joy and happiness again, and having fun as kids should.
Well done to the MMUK team and no doubt the first few toddler steps will lead to bigger leaps and bounds.
For source click here.