Hi guys,

We at Ilham apologize profusely for the lack of updates. Don’t worry - we are still alive and well.

The reason that we’ve been dormant for the past five months is because Ilham’s core team was made up of final-year degree students. As you can see, updates stopped last December - which was the point at which we began our final internships and then started the process of finding employment. Now, most of Ilham are employed (full-time!) and as a result, we’re still finding our sea legs when it comes to work-life balance.

Keep us bookmarked, because we’ll be back! Promise.

In December, Ilham visited the Kids’ Shelter Home one Sunday to hang out, kick back with a film, chat over snacks, and just have a good time. 

We put on Kung Fu Panda, which drew a lot of laughs from both kids and adults alike. After a while we broke for snacks, which gave us the opportunity to bond with the children.

The kids had a great time just hanging out, talking about their hopes for the future, their likes and dislikes, and asking us a lot of questions. We even played an age-guessing game, which led to a lot of hilarity on the part of some of our older members!

We were quite reluctant to leave but there was school the next day - but we’ll most certainly make a second visit as soon as we can!

Anyone wishing to provide aid to the Shelter Home can reach them at 03-77814885. 

For November, Ilham decided to ring in the new school year with a practical event. We purchased stationery for everyone at the Girl’s Shelter Home. Thanks to Robin Augustin for making the purchase and putting together the stationery set, which consisted of pens, mechanical pencils, pencil lead, erasers, and bright colorful Rapunzel notebooks. Thanks also to Suresh Ramasamy and Tashny Sukumaran for making the trip to Taman OUG to drop off the packages.

Anyone wishing to provide aid to the Shelter Home can reach them at 017-6760307. Ask for Anne.

In October, Ilham decided to hold another clothing drive for the flood victims in Kedah. This time around, the team is too big to mention - but we shall try. Thank you to everybody who donated clothes, from Shashi (@cloco) who drove all the way to Subang to drop off clothes, to Faizul (@faizool) who brought blankets all the way from Sungai Buloh. Thank you to Zul (@bumilangit) for handling the delivery to Kedah. Thank you @jud9e and @elviza for your generosity. Thank you to @meshloop and Jai for your help. Thank you to Alia Ali, Manpreet Kaur, Gerard Lye, Michelle Tam, Akil Yunus, Boon Ken, Nina Hidayat. Thank you to Iezu for driving all the way to Klang to collect boxes. Thank you Jonson (@jonsonchong) for sourcing boxes for Ilham. Thank you Robin Augustin, thank you Sean Augustin. Thank you to everyone who I may have missed who came together to help.

In the ten months that Ilham has been active, I have never seen an event such as this: where people came together from all walks of life, despite not knowing each other well (or, indeed, at all), united. Before I get ahead of myself and start waxing lyrical, let me post some photos because they say it better than we at Ilham ever could.

Drop offs:

The clothes:

Thanks to some very generous individuals, we had enough money to get some supplies to send off as well. We settled for Milo. Lots of Milo. Thank you Alia Ali for driving to Carrefour and helping transport the Milo.

Thanks also to Iezu for making a crazy spur-of-the-moment road trip to Klang to pick up boxes, and helping transfer mountains of clothes to his car.

After these things were done, it was time to pack the clothes to ready them for transportation. Thank you Nina Hidayat, Boon Ken, Akil Yunus and Iezu for helping in a darkened parking garage (the only space large enough to spread out our collection). Thank you, also, to @bumilangit for turning up in his ace Storm and handling the transportation of the clothes and Milo all the way to Kedah.

Job well done, guys. Stay inspired. 

For September, Ilham visited Sentosa Nursing Home for a second time. This month’s team was made up of Robin Augustin, Tashny Sukumaran, Elaine Neo, Wong Woei, Nicole Yeoh, Wong Wei Hong, Geoffrey Yeow, Syafiq Roslan, Julia George, Uncle Simon, Lee Wei Jiin, Dara Shaipudin.

Upon our arrival, we were greeted like old friends - Richard, especially, was pleased to see us. Because we had arrived after lunchtime, we couldn’t hang out with the residents and help feed them, so we decided to skip right to the fun stuff. We divided into two groups, one stayed inside to sing and dance and the other went outside to chat with the senior citizens who were sitting in the sunshine.

And of course, inside the boys were working their magic.

Their musical stylings were positively received:

It was great to meet old friends and make new ones.

Ilham had loads of fun getting to know the residents of Sentosa Nursing Home better. Those who remembered us seemed genuinely thrilled that we had come for a return visit, and made us promise to go back again. We don’t know when, but a third visit is certain to happen!

Anyone wishing to provide aid to Sentosa Nursing Home can reach them at 016-2607778 (Richard), or visit http://sentosanursinghome.com/.

For August, Ilham visited KL Krash Pad, a safe haven for kids to engage in enriching activities. There we screened 15Malaysia for the kids and hosted a discussion with one of the 15Malaysia directors, Lim Benji. 15Malaysia is a series of 15 short sociopolitical films produced by Pete Teo and directed by 15 different Malaysian filmmakers.

This month’s team was made up of Dara Shaipudin, Norman Shaipudin, Daren Davendran, Robin Augustin, Nina Hidayat, Tashny Sukumaran, Manpreet Kaur, Akil Yunus, Wong Boon Ken and Michelle Tam. We were also joined by Hui Wen and Tze Jia, all the way from Seremban.

We were welcomed by the efficient Petra Gimbad who showed us around KL Krash Pad. The library, computer room, music room, TV hall, and resting areas for the kids were very well cared for. Beautiful murals showcasing their creativity adorned the walls. 

After the tour, we went around and introduced ourselves to the kids. Some were friendly, while others were shy; but in no time at all many were happily chatting to the Ilham members.

Lim Benji arrived shortly after we did, and promptly said hi to all the kids as well.  His open, friendly manner put everyone at ease, and pretty soon we were all chilling like old friends. 

It took us a while to get things going due to some technical difficulties, but when it did, it was amazing to see the kids respond positively to most of the 15Malaysia short films.  Meter and Potong Saga tickled their funny bones, while others like One Future were met with more hesitance: it was here Robin Augustin and the rest stepped in to explain political concepts like ISA. Thought-provoking questions were asked with regards to freedom.

After the screening and the short discussions, we had a talk with Lim Benji who spoke on the divides present in Malaysian society and how we must all work together to close that gap and promote greater understanding. 

An informative debriefing with Petra after our activity also enlightened the Ilham members regarding the things we could do to help the children in our diverse communities.

It was an enriching time for all, and we left the centre inspired by the good work done by the KL Krash Pad management. We look forward to our next visit.

Anyone wishing to provide aid to the KL Krash Pad can reach them at 03-26970137.

Hello readers - sorry for the delay in posting up our latest updates! For the month of July, we visited the Shelter Home in PJ once again, only this time we did something a little bit different.

Ilham decided to hold a football workshop for the boys there - so we gathered together a team of football-mad boys and girls to facilitate this workshop. The team for this month consisted of Tashny Sukumaran, Akil Yunus, Suresh Ramasamy, Michelle Tam, Wong Boon Ken, Nina Hidayat, Gerard Lye, Manpreet Kaur, Wong Woei, Elaine Neo, Wan Zainuddin, Geoffrey Yeow, Julius Ko, Daren Yong, Dara Shaipudin, Wong Wei Hong, Syafiq Roslan, and Serene Gunn.

We picked up the boys and headed to Astaka Pitch, where we began with some basic drills (thank you Geoffrey, Daren and Julius for facilitating these bits!)

Of course, it very quickly became obvious that the boys were far better than most of us at footie. You know how they say girls can’t play football?

No comment.

Because the boys (who had dubbed themselves names like “Casillas”, “Lampard” and “Rooney” in honour of the event) were raring to go, we decided to move straight to a full-pitch game.

We took a short break for drinks/snacks…

And then it was back to the pitch!

We played until exhausted (a total of three and a bit hours out on the pitch!) but it was fantastic fun. Props to the participants who were fasting and soldiered through for love of the game! After more refreshing isotonic drinks and finishing off the snacks (cheese Twisties, jelly, and chocolate wafers) we took a group photo and went back to the home.

Upon return to the home the boys regaled us stories about their escapades and took us on a tour around the house. They also showed off some of their fantastic musical ability - self-taught, mind you! This is natural talent at its best.

This football workshop was a definite bonding experience, and Ilham looks forward to working with the Shelter Home again soon.

Anyone wishing to provide aid to the Shelter Home can reach them at 03-77814885 or 03-9552566. Ask for Nelson or Jojo.

Hi readers, sorry for the late update! Rest assured, Ilham is still up and running, and raring to go.

For the month of June, we lent PERTIWI (Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam) Soup Kitchen a hand on their rounds. Headed by the lovely Munirah, the soup kitchen provides regular meals to the homeless or those who go hungry. PERTIWI visit various locations around Kuala Lumpur on a regular basis, distributing food and drink to the needy.

Ilham heard about their selflessness and decided to see what PERTIWI was all about. We joined them on one of their rounds, which went from behind Tune Hotel at Medan Tuanku to Kota Raya. The team for this month consisted of Tashny Sukumaran, Melissa Loovi, Suresh Ramasamy, Brian Ritchie, and Edwin Nathan.

We gathered at Medan Tuanku and pretty soon, a crowd started gathering ready to fill their tummies with the lovingly-prepared food.

We set up an assembly line under the guidance of the PERTIWI members, and began passing out food/drink. Despite this being our first meeting, Ilham and PERTIWI worked together like a well-oiled machine.

Melissa and Tashny working on drinks.

Suresh and Edwin sorting out the food packets.

The food was efficiently distributed and so we made our way to the next delivery point, Kota Raya. The crowd here was even larger than that at Medan Tuanku.

However, the friendly PERTIWI team was experienced and the food was passed out with minimum congestion and fuss.

After the food was passed out, we offered refills of drinks and talked to the people, who were friendly and chatty.

Mission accomplished for this month, Ilham signed PERTIWI’s guest book and thanked our newfound friends for this opportunity. We’ll definitely be back though - and soon - with Ramadhan approaching, PERTIWI will be shortstaffed. Therefore, Ilham beg you to lend a hand if you’re free in the upcoming days.

Anyone wishing to provide aid to PERTIWI Soup Kitchen can reach Aunty Munirah at 012-2363639, or email pertiwisoupkitchen@gmail.com

Time to catch up on Ilham and our latest antics! May, we visited Rumah Juara, a nonprofit home which was set up to take care of children ranging from ages three to seventeen. Suggested by the lovely Andrea Wong, Ilham decided to take a trip to Rumah Juara and spend a day in the sunshine with the lovely children!

This month’s team: Robin Augustin, Tashny Sukumaran, Michelle Tam, Akil Yunus, Wong Boon Ken, Nicole Yeoh, and Manpreet Kaur; and a host of newcomers: Edwin Nathan, Irene Jessica Lewis, Andrea Wong, Serina Anthony, Leonard Leao, Najat Amer Nordin and the inspiring Dr Suresh Ramasamy.

We started out bright and early with a thorough agenda and to-do list - little did we know kids don’t conform to schedules all that easily! So scrapping our military-style enforced fun, we decided to go with the flow and follow their lead.

We began by splitting into teams to make everything more manageable, which Najat coordinated. Each team had to come up with a unique name and their own cheer.

Leonard’s team had by far and away the best cheer of the day.

The team leaders then organised games which were absolute fun and a perfect way to spend a bright sunny Sunday.

We had Duck Duck Goose:

That’s Tash getting owned - according to a couple of the boys, she needs to start hitting the gym!

We had cuddles and Superman swinging:

And we had fun photo sessions too!

The highlight of our outdoor games? Definitely the water balloon fight. Yup, we had one. Sadly, we’ve only got a ‘before’ picture - once the balloons came out, we were having way too much fun to bother with pictures! Every man for himself!

Next, Suresh organised a Tug-of-War battle: truly a Clash of the Titans!

Tired in a good way, we decided it was time to break out the snacks. Ilham had brought along a selection of goodies - ice-cold rose syrup, layer cakes, chocolate wafer biscuits, orange chews, Mamee Monster packets and - mmm - bowls of refreshing ice-cream, with all sorts of delicious toppings.

Better than you’d get in any ice-cream parlour! Thanks to the gorgeous Andrea and Irene for dishing up these sweet treats in record time.

Definitely a day worth remembering. We had a small chat with the kids to wind down, and Edwin formally presented Michael (who looks after the children at Rumah Juara) with some household goods - detergent, rice, and so on.

And of course, our group photo:

Anyone wishing to provide aid to Rumah Juara can reach them at 03-77831568 (Michael), or visit http://www.gtpj.com/blog/lcs/rumah-juara/.