CYW_The Star Newspaper

Monday September 6, 2010

Inspiring positive change in youth

By ALLAN KOAY
startwo@thestar.com.my

Are today’s youth apathetic and uncaring? A couple in Kuala Lumpur does not think so and has founded a movement to inspire young people towards positive change.
IT IS inevitable. Each generation thinks the succeeding generation is doomed. It’s in our nature to regard the formative years of our lives as the best compared to any other generation’s. Our music, movies and arts were the best, people behaved better and were friendlier, young people were smarter and more responsible. But were they really?
Those who grew up in the digital age may seem to have it easy with everything literally at their fingertips – fingertips on a keyboard, that is. Ask anyone who grew up in the 1970s or 80s, and she or he will probably say the kids today are apathetic and materialistic.
But Kelvin Lim and his wife, Cathryn, refuse to believe that. They choose to pin their hopes on the young people of today, believing that the general consensus is wrong and that today’s youth can be inspired to act for the greater good. And they founded Change Your World, a non-profit movement that seeks to do exactly that.

Kind deed: Young people helping to paint a house in the Change Your World Ipoh venture.

Note that the name is not Change THE World, which means the founders believe that change begins with oneself from which will emanate a ripple effect of selflessness. The idea was born about two years ago, but before that, Cathryn admitted, they were just like everyone else who felt others’ problems were not their concern.
“All of us are born with selflessness,” said Cathryn, 44. “But the circle of people we would help is very small – our friends and family, friends’ friends. For me, whenever I saw what was happening in the world on the news, I felt sad. But like most people, I forgot about it the next day. A cut on my hand seems more real than those people I see suffering and dying.
“To be very honest, it was something that was awakened in us through our journey with our God. These are the things that He cares about. It was also very timely that we saw this video on human trafficking.”
It was then that she and her husband began to be bothered about what was going on around them. They read up extensively on what could be done and how to start a charitable movement. It took six months of heavy research into the lifestyles of the young before everything came into place.

The young participants of Change Your World Kluang bringing food to the underprivileged living along the railway tracks.

“We realised that the young people are all for change,” said Kelvin, 40, an investment consultant. “They are open-minded and daring, and willing to do something, compared to those who already have careers (those above 25). They are more radical and community-driven. That’s why Facebook and blogs are so popular.”
Thus, Change Your World was created, and its mission, as stated on its website, is to “mobilise the millennial generation (ages 15 to 25) of all races and religions to take City and Nation Ownership as well as to create World In Crisis Awareness”. It travels from city to city to create awareness about real issues and promote justice, mercy and faithfulness.
Faithfulness to city and country, and taking “ownership” of one’s city came about because of the couple’s observation that people were leaving the country for greener pastures. Kelvin and Cathryn want to inspire the young to stay and find solutions to whatever problems they see instead of turning their backs on the challenges and leaving.

The Change Your World I Love Kuching initiative saw the participants visiting the home of an elderly couple abandoned by their children.

“The goal for the whole of Change Your World is to help people realise that justice, mercy and faithfulness are important,” said Cathryn, who is a pastor. “It means we should care for what is wrong and make it right.
“Our method is to help them to love their city, to want to care about their city. Then they would care about what’s happening around them. They won’t be thinking ‘It’s not me who got robbed, why should I care?’ And from there, it can lead to loving Malaysia and to thinking about people in other parts of the world.”
Change Your World embarks on pre-event “quests” which are one-hour interactive sessions where the young participants are given questions to think about. Then the main event takes place which involves music and dance, and other media-related activities, all done with a Christian flavour. After that is the “venture” where solutions are put into practice via projects or trainings. Change Your World also works in partnership with World Vision, Tenaganita, Community At Heart and Rakan Cop.

Kelvin Lim and his wife Cathryn founded the Change Your World movement because they believe people are inherently good and willing to help others.

“In the quests, we want to let the young people know that we are not just taking them to an event, but on a journey,” said Cathryn. “We hope that in every town and every city, we will grow into a movement.”
So far, Change Your World has gone to Penang, Ipoh, Kuching, Kluang, Johor, and Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
“We felt that wherever we spoke, we attracted young people,” said Kelvin. “And in a small town such as Kluang, we managed to rally about 200 young people to do something. Although it has been a year since we went there, the young people are still consistent in bringing change to where they are. And that’s exciting.”
In Kluang, the youths took “ownership” of 60 poor families, and visited the families every week. Once a month, they gave the families rice, canned food and other necessities.

The Change Your World main events are energetic concerts featuring live bands, dances and other mediarelated activities.

“During Christmas RM19,500 was raised for school uniforms,” said Kelvin. “And from 60 families, it has now decreased to 31 families because the young people helped some of them to find jobs.”
In November last year, in Penang, youths helped to paint the houses of poor families and provided them food. They also went to the police station to thank and show their appreciation of the local law enforcement. In March, Ipoh youths served at the Chemor drug rehabilitation centre and gave food to the nearby poor community.
“In every location that we went to, the statements from the young people were always the same,” said Kelvin. “They all said ‘I thought my goal was just to study well because I’m so young. But now I can sense some purpose and I know I can do something.’”

For details on Change Your World and how to participate, go to www.changeyourworld.com.my.