GEORGE TOWN, Dec 6 – In conjunction with the International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) sanctioned by the United Nations, Carnival Love, Care and Hope was organized on the 4th of December 2015 at Universiti Sains Malaysia as a part of Projek Komunikasi@USM-YOKUK.
Carnival Love, Care and Hope was organized with an aim to provide a platform for non-profit organizations (NGOs) to network and share knowledge and experiences, and offer the public an opportunity to learn about disabilities and understand the needs of those living with physical disabilities. The opening ceremony of the Carnival Love, Care and Hope was officiated by the Assistant Director of OKU Development Department (JPOKU), Social Welfare Department of Malaysia, En. Pathmanathan Nalasamy.
Among those who attended the ceremony were Datin Suliana Shamsuddin Alias, Chairperson of YOKUK, Datin Nik Ruziah Nik Salleh, representative of the YOKUK Board of Trustees, Associate Prof. Dr. Jamilah Hj. Ahmad, Dean of the School of Communication, USM, representatives of non-profit organizations, members of the press and the public.
Among the activities held during Carnival Love, Care and Hope were a forum called Enhancing Lives with Love, Care and Hope: Best Practices For Disabled Organization and a sharing session called To Inspire and Be Inspired at Panggung Pelenggam Cahaya, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Both activities were organized with an aim to provide a clearer understanding of the public towards people with disabilities and to provide the opportunity for disability foundations and other non-profit organizations to share expertise and experiences. The forum titled Enhancing Lives with Love, Care and Hope: Best Practices for Disabled Organizations was organized to empower non-profit organizations in terms of communication, branding and entrepreneurship.
The themes of the forum were “The Power of Communication and Branding” and “Making Use of the Entrepreneurial Opportunities to Generate Fund”. These themes were chosen to spark a discourse on communication tools and strategies, and how these tools can be used to help organizations achieve sustainability and overcome organizational challenges.
This is seen as valuable information for representative from health, disability, welfare and other charity foundations that have a need for sustainability in their organizations. In addition, the sharing session entitled To Inspire and To Be Inspired was organized on the 4th of December 2015 at Universiti Sains Malaysia as a platform for YOKUK, non-profit organizations and the public to network, learn and share.
This sharing session has focused on two (2) themes, which are “regardless of being disabled or not, the criteria for being seen as inspirational should remain the same for every people” and “to inform people about the norm of disability where disability is not the exception”, and speakers of sharing session include Ernest Teoh, Siti Aishah bt Yaacob, Mohd Sharizal Abdul Aziz dan Khu Li Fang.
These key individual who have triumph over the struggle of living with physical disabilities and achieved great success in their lives were invited to share their life story to all participants. With that said, the main purpose of this sharing session was to inspire and educate the public with the hope to spark more outreach efforts to improve the lives of the disabled through a better informed, caring society.
