Event: Rescue by Change Your World

I'll first admit that the reason I attended the event was just to support a friend, but in the end I got much more than I expected. Rescue was held at lecture theater 20 at Taylor's Lakeside Campus on Friday (8th November), from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.

Photo by Jun Yi @ Instagram. Xue Ren was surprised by the flash =P

I hadn't planned on blogging about the event, so I didn't take pictures. Hence, all the pictures in this post are by others. =P The official Facebook event page here.

Photo by Xue Ren. Mei Xuan, me, and Xue Ren with our glowsticks~

I met up with Xue Ren, Mei Xuan and Jun Yi just before the event and we sat together. We were later joined by Wei Hua, and we sort of huddles together sharing information about someone. =P We were handed some glow sticks, and camwhored while waiting for the event to start.


This event was to raise awareness about the human trafficking and modern-day slavery in Malaysia, as well as the abuse of domestic help locally. It was organized by Taylor's LEAD #6, and conducted by Change Your World.


The event started off with an awesome performance by Intan, whose voice was so beautiful and mesmerizing. Pandora then took the stage with beatboxing, but for me it was a bit too dragged out, and sorry to say I've seen better.


My favorite part was when Relent performed. The vocalist's voice was so familiar, yet so special. It's hard to describe, but I really liked his voice, as well as the few songs they performed - Use Somebody by Kings of Leon; as well as the two songs composed by themselves - Save Me & Looking for A Savior.


After all the awesome entertainment was the serious part of the event - Kelvin Lim, the co-founder of Change Your World, talked to us. He told us how many young people in Malaysia actually get abducted, and most of them are trafficked and sold as sex slaves.


Did you know that the sex trafficking industry is now bigger than the drug trafficking industry in Malaysia? According to a criminal who was arrested for sex trafficking, this is because when a bag of drugs is sold, it's gone. But a girl can be sold and used over and over and over before she goes crazy or dies.


It's a vicious cycle, which is why Change Your World exists. Kelvin also showed us a video about Sasa, a Cambodian girl who came to Malaysia, thinking she could earn money to send home. Instead, her employers tortured her - for nothing she was slapped repeatedly. She had sometimes no food to eat at all, and only slept for 3 hours everyday.


Every evening, Sasa would be called by her employer to "exercise". Her feet would be tied together, and she would be told to jump down from fourth step of the stairs. That "exercise" has now caused Sasa's legs to be permanently damaged - she cannot stand on her feet for too long, or do vigorous exercises.


This is why Indonesia and Cambodia has withdrawn all their domestic help - because many local employers know about a loophole in the law: foreign workers can only seek justice if they are not paid for their work, but not for being abused. Sadly, many local employers not only acknowledge this, but they also take advantage of this.


Sasa was one of the lucky ones who escaped. If you see anyone or anything that is suspicious, or you think that human trafficking and abuse is going on, you could call Tenaganita at 012-335 0512 or 012-339 5350 to help those people.

Banner taken from ChangeYourWorld.com.my

Tonight, Liber8 will be launching at Zouk Club, K.L to raise awareness on human trafficking. A campaign called I Am Not For Sale will also be held starting next week until December 24th at various locations, including Sunway Pyramid, Berjaya Times Square, IOI Mall, and Tropicana City Mall. Click on the link for more information.


I've already signed up to be a volunteer, but I'm now considering the option of being a live mannequin for the campaign. Finally, for once in my life, I'm doing something that isn't for myself only. =) Oh, yeah, and thanks Vincent for inviting me~


Check out Change Your World's website for more updates on how you can be a part of all this awesomeness, and keep up on their latest events!