Women rise to the occasion to help others

KUALA LUMPUR: For women, it’s natural to care for their families and in many instances, this is extended to the community at large too.

With the country now facing challenges posed by the Movement Control Order (MCO) due to the Covid-19 pandemic, women from various fields are rising to the occasion by using their skills and expertise to channel aid to frontline workers and most vulnerable groups in society.

Janell Tan, general manager of Ministry of Burn, a boutique fitness studio with branches in Bangsar South and Damansara Heights, said it was crucial for everyone to do their part during this trying time.

She and her team decided to hold a fundraiser for SESO (Save Environment, Save Ourselves), a non-profit organisation involved in providing food to the homeless, orphanages and elderly in care homes.

“Food is such a basic need and many people are going without food during this difficult time,” said Tan.

To kickstart their fundraiser, the Ministry of Burn held back-to-back Instagram live fitness classes, which were open to the public on March 28 and 29.

The classes focused on fitness routines which they offer in their studio. During each virtual class, the instructors encouraged those participating to donate to the fundraiser and an online platform was set up to collect the funds.

They held 10 classes, five on each day and set a target of collecting RM5,000. However, they managed to raise more than RM7,000 for SESO.

Fazrena Aziz, the talented founder of the popular hijab brand TudungPeople, is another woman on a mission.

She and her team are working with MedTweetMy through the group’s “Projek Tudung”, which aimed to provide headgear for female Muslim frontline workers.

Fazrena, through her brand, had donated 200 pieces of instant hijab, which was easy to put on and remove as they did not require pins, making things easier for frontline workers bogged down by cumbersome protective gear on a daily basis.

“From what I understand, some frontliners who are treating Covid-19 patients prefer to dispose of their tudung after their shift while others are washing and sanitising their headgear for reuse,” she said.

She and her team also organised a three-day sale last month with 10 per cent of the revenue set aside for donation.

They managed to raise around RM17,000. The money was channelled by MedTweetMy to government health clinics involved in screening activities.

For Yan Lim, the chief executive officer of IOLI Communications Sdn Bhd, the welfare of women and girls has always been close to her heart.

She is the co-founder of FEMXTALK Malaysia with her friend, Dr Jezamine Lim, and was also formerly secretary-general of the Women Entrepreneur Network Association Malaysia.

When a few women entrepreneurs contacted her to find ways to help their needy peers in People’s Housing Scheme (PPR) flats who were mostly daily wage earners and housewives whose husbands’ income had been severely affected by the MCO, she immediately jumped into action.

She formed a small team and they quickly came up with a module to help these women, many of whom had never been involved in entrepreneurship, to start a small business from their home.

They even found sponsors who were willing to foot the capital for these businesses. Ten women have benefited from this project.

Via food deliveries, they sell nasi lemak, mee goreng or mee hoon from their homes.

Yan and her team even taught them how to do costing, take orders and market their businesses through WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram.

“Now that it’s up and running, they will have something to sustain them and their families even after the MCO. This method is successful and can be duplicated in other places too,” she said.

Yan is also involved in a project to supply essential food to underprivileged families whose children attend Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih in the capital here.

Source: NST