Bangi, 3 May 2018 – Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) sets a new direction in history to keep the environment healthy through a new initiative called “Saving the Planet” in Eastern Malaysia and Indonesia.

According to Chairman, Board of Trustee of IRM, Prof. Dr Azni Idris, “We also need to sustain other living things in the Earth such as the forests and trees as they are considered sustainable sources for human-beings.”

He continues to explain that through this green initiative, it will be beneficial indirectly to all living things for a long period of time.

“Even we only support a tree, the impact is very huge and can last up to 30 to 40 years. This is what we call long-lasting sustainable reward.

“Through this project, it can also improve the ecosystem and biodiversity of animals,” he said in a presentation with delegates of Islamic Relief from the United Kingdom.

He added, the green project can make a change towards the climate across the world as our Earth is now experiencing irregular structures of climatic change as a result of the increasing emission of Carbon Dioxide each year.

Among the components of “Saving the Planet” discussed were to empower local communities to grow and plant trees, to provide sustainable income to local communities by providing jobs, value added local economies, and monitoring activities.

Apart from that, the project will focus on agroforestry-based projects and some groups of people such as indigenous people and asnaf.

Azni believes that IRM takes a great responsibility in safeguarding the well-being of environment and the public should work hand in hand alongside IRM to ensure the success of this project.

1^St of May is an official Labour Day. However, humanitarian work knows no time limit. Across the sea and across the nation, there are world issues that should be taken into account, especially for non-government bodies to act upon knowing the problem. As an international humanitarian organisation, Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) has always been on top of the others to mitigate poverty. In simple words, IRM is always committed to offer help in any form.

IRM believes in ‘Mujahadah’, a term implemented by the most respectable leader or Chief Executive Officer of IRM, Zairulshahfuddin Zainal Abidin in which everyone sacrifices their own time and skills as to help the people in need. At IRM, the word sacrifice alone shows the truest meaning of work habit to emphasise the strength everybody has in it. And most notably, this is shown by implementing a lot of projects and programmes as a way to be actively helping the people.

With over 40 offices in the world, Islamic Relief will continue to provide emergency aids, carrying out long-term development, and strive towards a better impact. In Malaysia for instance, Community Development is one of the projects run by the organisation in the which the objectives may carry several main sectors; Shelter, Sustainable Livelihood, and Education. To date, IRM has reached and gone out to every state in Malaysia in search of the needy to help them. Among the projects are Wakaf Mata Hati, Community Development Bukit Raja, Klang, and Community Development Orang Asli Village.

Being an international organisation, IRM also works on several projects outside the nation to show its care towards the world. We believe that help should be offered at all types of people regardless of the skin colour and backgrounds. Some of the projects managed by IRM are Water Supply for Malawi which aims to improve health and hygiene levels of vulnerable communities affected by floods. Besides, IRM is also striving on helping children through Saving Life of Malnourished Children in Serang City Banten Province, Indonesia who suffer acute malnourishment.

On another note, as an influental Islamic organisation, IRM has always prepared a number of seasonal programmes which include Ramadan Relief. In March, IRM has taken a major step to promote Ramadan Relief through a campaign namely #SalamRamadan Campaign 1439H to provide basic food aid to beneficiaries in the holy month. This year, IRM targets to distribute more than 20,000 food packs which will be impactful for 30,000 beneficiaries in more than 30 countries across the world.

Humanitarian work is never-ending, which is why non-government office like Islamic Relief will never stop becoming the middle point between the public and beneficiaries as in line with the prime vision of IRM, to envisage a caring world where communities are empowered, social obligations are fulfilled and people respond as one to the suffering of others.

KAJANG, 29 April 2018 – The Islamic Relief Humanitarian Programme 2018 participated by volunteers from Islamic Relief Canada (IR Canada) and Islamic Relief Netherland (IR Netherland) for the second phase has come to an end.

This programme which applied several interactive approaches showed a positive impact to the Rohingya students as they got to communicate with the volunteers.

“Previously, I have low confidence to communicate in English, but after joining activities with IR Canada and Netherland volunteers for more than 2 weeks, I feel more confident to speak and I want to improve my language to be better,” said Juwaidiyah Hanis, Rohingya Intellectual Skills & Excellence (RISE) student.

In addition, she hopes the delegation could stay with them for a longer period so that RISE students could gain more knowledge from them.

Meanwhile, Juwaidiyah who is also a part-time teacher at Rohingya Education Garden (REG) through the assistance of IRM said, she will use the learning methods implemented by volunteers while teaching children at REG in the near future.

REG is a programme under the Heritage of Knowledge project by Providing Education to Rohingya Refugee (HOPE) in Puchong, Selangor.

Feedbacks from the students who have been following the activities during the programme also shows passion and excitement to learn new things every day.

It is hoped that such educational programs will continue to benefit the Rohingya Community for their survival.

Tebedu, 7 Apr 2018 – 30 beneficiaries under Community Development Project run by Islamic Relief Malaysia (IRM) are given exposures on health concerns in a monthly meeting held at Surau Darul Ihsan Jaya.

According to a Medical Officer of Klinik Kesihatan Tebedu, Dr. Norshamira Mohd Radzi, the talk regarding Tuberculosis (TB) is held as a way to educate them on the significance of hygiene and cleanliness.

When asked about the impact of the talk, He stressed that it is a social responsibility that should be continuously implemented in the future.

“A lot of people have little knowledge about health concerns especially the elderlies. With such activity, I believe it’s certainly a good way to educate and spread awareness to them,” she said.

She also added, “There’s a significance between health clinics and hospitals. Clinics are in-charge to prevent diseases while hospital are more towards treating the patients.”

“Most people who seek for treatments at Klinik Kesihatan Tebedu only experience common diseases such as fever, cough, and cold. This indicates that their health condition is still fine,” she confirmed.

The monthly meeting conducted by IRM is also an approach to gather all beneficiaries in Tebedu coming from different neighbourhoods such as Kampung Insan Jaya, Kampung Darul Falah, and Kampung Darul Iman.

Apart from health awareness talk, the meeting is also filled with Islamic lectures managed by Ustaz Mahidi from Harakah Islamiah (HIKMAH) Sarawak. The slot is prepared to strengthen their understanding towards Islam while also grow their faith among the beneficiaries as most of them are new families of Islam through public speaking activities.

Community Development Project is an initiative by IRM to develop a community through a multitude of sectors namely sustainability, health, education and shelters, as well as to improve the socio-economic level in a community.