LETTER | Now in its 7th Mission, the Youth and Sports Ministry’s humanitarian youth programme, MYCorps, sets its eyes on Southeast Asia where 41 Malaysian youths ranging from 18-30 years will dedicate two months of humanitarian work to underprivileged areas throughout Southeast Asia.

The countries where the MYCorps volunteers will be deployed are the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Indonesia, Timor Leste and the Philippines.

Currently, with the help of Laos Youth Union (Laos’s National Youth Organisation), 10 Malaysians are in Laos on a mission to not only evaluate but also solve problems of basic necessities of the people, such as education, water assessment, etc.

The project in project Laos is to provide a water distribution system throughout key areas of a small village named Lath Ho, in the Xepon District of Savannakhet province, which is an uncleared UXO (Unexploded Ordnance) area near the border of Vietnam.

The main purpose is to distribute water to the key areas such as mini-clinic, a secondary school with dormitory, village office and many more as water is the most basic necessity for these villagers to thrive.

In addition, they are waiting to install a solar water pump to ensure water flows evenly throughout the village from the underground water source.

Across the northern parts of Laos, in Vang Vieng, sits another small village named Na Thong, where the MYCorps volunteers raising funds to build toilets for primary and pre-school students, in which they have more than 130 students, but only a single toilet with poor infrastructure that makes it unsafe for children to briskly go by themselves.

All the projects under MYCorps are not only funded by the Ministry of Youth and Sports but also by generous Malaysians who have donated us to create an impact for communities and people in need.

We are proud to say that MYCorps is among the very few initiatives by a Southeast Asian country to provide humanitarian aid on such a scale such as this in Laos.

For more information, please visit our official Facebook and Instagram account under the name MYCorps.

SHAHRIMAN SHAHRUL is a volunteer with MyCorps Mission 7, a youth programme of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, under which 41 Malaysian youths dedicate two months of their time to humanitarian aid work in four Asean countries - Indonesia, Timor Leste, the Philippines and Laos.

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