END HOMELESSNESS: VISIBLE THE INVISIBLE

GROUP PROJECT

“March To End Homelessness”

      Team Members:

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION

The purpose of this report is to explain about our group project which is “Marching to End Homelessness”. Our main goal is to let more people know more about the homeless problem that had been increasing lately. Our task is to organise a fun run event from the scratch.

This program was held at N28a, Faculty of Computing on 2 November 2018. The event started at 7.00 am. Our main targets are the students of UTM to join it as it is easier for us to handle the event since this is the first time we handle such a big event.

OBJECTIVES

The objectives of this program are, firstly, to increase the awareness among the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s student about the homelessness in our country, specifically in Johor. This objective had been achieved during our last session with the participants where we presented a video that explain the homeless. We also managed to do a ‘Question and Answer’ session with the participants regarding the homeless matters.

Secondly, our goal is to change the student perceptive towards the homeless people. This is because most people will think that the homeless ones are people who are poor, was abandoned by their family and all the negatives things. But, most of these people are actually looking for a job in Singapore but could not get one and this leads them to become homeless. Moreover, a few of the homeless people managed to get job in Singapore but they did not have any place to stay as they only have two to three hours to rest. After the video session, we also managed to explain more about the homeless people.

Lastly, we want to encourage the participants to have a healthy lifestyle while having fun by joining this event. This can help them to become fit and make them realize that being healthy is really important in our life. We know there are some students are having such a really low-awareness of their health, so we encourage them to join this event by making it as a free-registration marching event and give free t-shirt to each of the participants.

PROBLEM STATEMENT

A 2015 survey found that more than 70% of homeless persons in Kuala Lumpur had been rounded up multiple times. This shows a lack of efficiency and a waste of resources in carrying out such operations. It also shows a disregard for the well-being of those who have been released, as the local authorities do not provide transport to return them to where they were picked up.

Many homeless persons have established support networks with non-governmental organizations and fellow homeless people, as well as having jobs that they need to return to. This exacerbates the financial and social insecurity of homeless persons.

A coalition of NGOs, many of which have worked tirelessly to give homeless persons aid and opportunities, has been urging the repeal of the Destitute Persons Act. The enforcement of the DPA has been described by Michelle Yesudas, spokeswoman for Lawyers for Liberty, as a “criminalization of a person’s existence because they are poor,” as it enables various human-rights violations such as the denial of the right to due process, the right to personal liberty, the right to equal protection and the right to property.

NGOs such as Dapur Jalanan and others view food as not only for sustenance but also as a tool to gain the trust of homeless persons in order for them to share their stories. Many homeless people congregate at food-sharing programs to enjoy the company of other humans who treat them as equals.

Homeless persons and other needy individuals are complex individuals who have needs, hopes and stories of their own. Many soup kitchens go to great lengths to provide services beyond the provision of food, such as employment opportunities, medical aid, and counseling and face challenges that come with dealing with homeless persons in Kuala Lumpur and throughout Malaysia.

Such NGOs, not just in Malaysia but in other countries as well, have had the privilege of witnessing many people turn over a new leaf, getting decent jobs, acquiring permanent housing, making amends with their families and sometimes even getting married and having children. In the US, a homeless woman who graduated from Harvard University is an international inspiration.

This is an article from ASIA TIMES EST1995 : http://www.atimes.com/malaysia-needs-to-get-serious-on-tackling-homelessness/

So we decided to make a March to end Homelessness and we target the UTM’s students. Why do student choose to join March in Homelessness ? This is because the group of people who love to join the marathon or run is conquered by the students or we can say a group of teenagers. By doing this , we can make them realise at the early age and they can think further about their future. During our marching event, we showed the videos and photos as and evidence that homeless people do exist.

PROGRAM TENTATIVE

The tentative of the program is as follow:

This event started at 7.15am with the arrival of the participants involved in this run and their registration. During the registration, t-shirt and bip-number was given to the participants as a  souvenirs. They were also given a piece of paper that has a number for the lucky draw later on. The VIPs and the lecturers’ arrival were exactly after all the participants had finished registered.

After that, Dr Corrienna binti Abdul Majid, the head of this event had given a short speech as an officiating. Then, the participants will do aerobics that was lead by Tee Jun Joe and his members to warm up their bodies and preventing the muscle from having cramp. Next, the participants will start their running which was 4 kilometre around UTM. The track had three checkpoints where the runners need to get a rubber band from each one to be a winner. During that time, the checkpointee will update any news via WhatsApp to the committees that took care of the finisher line so they can get ready to encourage the runner to finish the run.

After all participants had finished running, they were given some refreshments which were a mineral water and bread. Then the participants need to gather to proceed to the next session which was lucky draw. It has 50 prizes and if any of the runners get called by their numbers, they will get the prize. Shortly after, the participants remains seated to watched a short video montage about homeless that was prepared by the video team. Lastly, the event ended with giving prizes to all of the winners.

ORGANIZER COMMITTEE

In this group, we have a total number of 13 members where each and everyone of them have their own task to do. Everyone plays an important role to make sure that this event will become a huge success. In this group we divide ourselves into a few small groups that handles different task.  The organizer committee is as follow:

EXPECTED BUDGETS

Total expected budgets: RM 3,432.00

CONCLUSION

In a nutshell, committing for this event is a big undertaking and ones that requires a huge amount of dedication to make sure that the event will work out perfectly fine without making any mistakes. Even though not many students participated in this event, we managed to do it well but not as good as the other organizers since most of the committees are new in this area.

REFLECTION

Conducting this type of event had been a big challenge for us to ensure that it is organised nicely and can attract a lot of people. We learnt a lot of things from doing this. For example, we now know how to organise a big event, how to ask and find sponsorship, and many more. Furthermore, the relationships between us become closer as we are working together as a group. It also helps us in improving our skills such as communicate, teamwork, and so on.