“My dad passed away 2 years ago during my 3rd year in university. He has always been the biggest motivator in my studies and provided me with a lot of mental support and encouragement…”

“As a Johorean, dad used to fetch me back and fro to the bus station whenever I make the trip back to my university in KL. Soon after dad left us, I have got to learn to drive all the way from Johor to KL by myself on our family’s Kancil.

My life turned upside down after dad left us. For the remaining time in university, I was barely myself. I pretended to be happy and cheerful when deep down, I knew I was not. I almost gave up in my studies. But I persisted.

Looking for a job in my hometown was not easy either. It took me 7 interviews before I got a job offer as an accounting assistant in Senai. In fact, every time I was rejected from a job interview I felt like giving up. 

Instead, I decided to improve upon each rejection by rebuilding my CV and practicing prior to each interview. In between the interviews, my friend asked me to come back to KL for more opportunities. But as the eldest of 5 siblings in the family, I have to stay close to my grandma that is nearly 80 years old as well as my siblings that are still schooling. 

As an Economics graduate, people around me felt that I am not qualified for the job in accounting as I am not familiar with the accounting field. At times, I got scolded while trying to pick up the skills and techniques in this field. But I take this as a great opportunity to build my network and gain knowledge in this field. 

I find it fulfilling when I am able to help people in one way or another. Lately, I have been volunteering in an initiative by a friend in my hometown to provide support to the unemployed individuals and those who are from challenging family background.

For now, I have yet to know what I really want in life, but I aim to learn as much as I can from my job. One thing for sure, by 30, I will do the things that I truly enjoy doing in life.

In a few weeks time, I will be officially graduating from University of Malaya (UM), and I dedicate my jubah (graduation robe) to dad that will be watching me from the other side. I am sure dad will be proud of me.

– Humans of Kuala Lumpur

Photostory by Chin Yi Xuan
Edited by Mushamir Mustafa

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on October 25th 2018)

“Humans baffle me. We are the only species that goes to war and kill each other. It goes against the survival of a species…”

“Animals almost never kill their own species. Humans however, are so caught up with their social, geographical and political differences, that they fail to unite under a single species cause.

I am an ecologist, and I have always been interested in nature from a young age. Growing up in Sarawak, of Iban-Malay parentage, I was surrounded by beautiful tropical rainforest. My father and I used to trek in the jungle to find earthworms for fishing, but sadly, these rainforests are no longer there. 

To date, about 90{eb97150a49149dc6c9e8165e90f1c9129bb6172e02a598b4264a1fc329d7d5bc} of the Sarawak rainforests have been destroyed by logging for timber activities. We only have a few, still intact, virgin jungles.

I have been living in the deep Borneo jungles for the past seven months, conducting research on the sounds that frogs make.

I have been studying about frogs since 2012 when I did my Masters in Animal Ecology. I have never looked back since. 

I was offered a placement in Imperial College London to do my PhD in Ecology and Conservation, but I wasn’t able to secure funding. It was really frustrating when that happened, but now I’m working with Imperial College as a Research Assistant. 

Sometimes, I feel like our work in trying to save the jungles are pointless. We can try our very best to save the jungles, but if we are the only ones doing it, it won’t go very far. 

Humans and nature should coexist in an intimate way. Somehow, humans have managed to overpower nature and exploit it. At the end of the day, others will only care about making money and pursuing their own self interest. 

That’s the sad truth of human nature.”

Photostory by Amalina Davis
Edited by Mushamir Mustafa

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on October 12th 2018)

Hey all! This is Mushamir speaking. This is it, my team and I have put our best efforts in getting all these amazing speakers on board

This is our last weekend and I want to end it with a bang! It’s been a long, 1 month unique Photostory exhibition at Carcosa Seri Negara where Crazy Rich Asians the movie was shot) and it would mean a lot if you guys can make it and share this post on your profiles. I’m proud to see my baby Humans of Kuala Lumpur grow big and huge, since its first days when I was doing this solo when I was in university – just a lonely boy who wanted to meet new people and capture their interesting stories.

Come meet and greet these fellow speakers (and cats) whom Humans of Kuala Lumpur has featured before! Listen to their amazing, inspiring stories, get to know them and ask them your questions! This is our last weekend at Carcosa Seri Negara at theHumans of KL ‘Stories from Malaysia’ Photostory Exhibition with DiverseCity‘s International Arts Festival! 

List of speakers: 

Fahmi Fadzil – Engineer-performer-activist turned politician (MP for Lembah Pantai)

Fluffy Empire The Cat – Rides Motorcycles, Watches Movies, And Goes Wherever Afiq Shawan Goes

Roshan Thiran – Founder & CEO of Leaderonomics, Leadership Expert

Hannah Lo – Woman’s Wellness Advocate

Mushamir Mustafa – Founder and Storyteller at Humans of KL – Storytelling Workshop

Staci KY Tan – Young Cancer Survivor

Low Ngai Yuen – President of Kakiseni, Tech & Arts Advocate and Women’s Rights Activist

Jon Tham Nam San – Freelance caricature artist

See you all there!

 

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

“When I was first announced as the winner of an international photography competition, I really thought someone was playing a prank on me.

I was an ordinary law student from Kota Bharu who loves photography. How could I have won one of the world’s most prestigious photography competition?

The announcement of the Hasselblad Masters Awards 2018 came to my email. So I looked at the name of the sender and quickly Google-d to check his identity, but I still had doubts. Only when my name and photographs was published on the Hasselblad website did I really believe that I had in fact won the under 21 category project! 

When I was in Form 2, I watched a documentary about Pete Souza, the official photographer for Barack Obama on National Geographic. There was a particular photo of President Obama in a black and white frame, and that spoke volume to me. I just sat there, on my family room sofa and kept staring at that frame. 

It was my father who then suggested that I try my hands on photography. A couple of days later, he bought me a small digital camera – which at the time was all we could afford; and he asked me to take pictures of our family, our friends and our home. That was my first venture with the lens and ‘that something’ that added fire to my passion for photography. 

A few years later, when I was in Form 4; I entered the very first photography competition of my life. It was organised by UNICEF and The Star, and the theme was ‘children’. So I sent a picture of my cousins playing by the sea side in Terengganu. 

To my surprise, I was picked as a finalist and my picture was published in The Star. Being picked as a finalist was the stimulus that pulled me deeper into photography and I realised that there is so much more I need to learn to excel in this field. 

Entering myself for the Hasselblad Masters Awards was just a lucky coincidence. I had just finished my SPM exams and had some free time on hand. Because I am quite an introvert, socialising is not big on my list and I turned to my camera. At that time, I had also sold my digital camera and bought a second hand DSLR camera. 

To play around with my ‘new’ camera and lens, I was hanging out with my friends at a taman (park) nearby. One day we came across an abandoned house. Feeling curious, we entered the house. 

On one wall there was a lot of graffiti. It gave out a mysterious hue bathed in the light that was streaming from a window. I had never played around with a natural light setting like this, so I asked my friend to be my model and pose. 

We tried to recreate a scene of a drug addict who was trying to escape from the world of substances and lust, but was pulled back into the vicious drug cycle again. That was my project which won me the Hasselblad Masters Awards.”

Photo and story by Nafisa Dahodwala
Edited by Christine Cheah
________________________________________

This story is written in collaboration with the Kuala Lumpur International Arts Festival 2018. Nabil Rosman is the official winner of the Hasselblad Masters Awards 2018 for photography project under age of 21. He will be flying to Germany at the end of the month to receive this honour. 

His work for KLIAF 2018 is entitled ‘Streets of KL’ and can be seen on digital billboards across the city.

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on October 21st 2018)

“We’re at the launch of the MagicalSouls book with the Youth and Sports Minister and Entrepreneurship Minister…”

“Compiling all the stories that Humans of Kuala Lumpur did with Malaysian Global Innovative and Creativity Center featuring inspiring Malaysian entrepreneurs! #HumansofMaGIC

We also wanted to thanks the CEO of MAGIC, and a close friend of mine, Ashran Ghazi, a happy birthday this very day! Thank you for this opportunity, and thank you to the MaGIC team as well! 

And most of all, big thanks to the team of storytellers and organizers for making this happen: Mushamir Mustafa, Amalina Davis, Yu Ping May, Samantha Siow, and Dao Hong in making this happen!

 

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

“My mother was a rubber tapper from Penang and she met my Singaporean father in Johor Bahru, but my father passed away when I was in primary school…”

“So, in my early teens; I learned what it means to be independent because my mother wasn’t healthy and she is sometimes ‘emotionally disturbed’. I took up odd jobs, from wearing mascots to a lot of promoter jobs, ensuring that the my younger brother and mother has food on the table.

I was an ‘extreme’ student when it comes to result. I scored highly in science subjects but I was bad in language and subjects like history. Memorizing was not my strength, and so is language. For instance, I have lived in Kuala Lumpur for the last ten years but I still can’t speak Cantonese well! In Johor Bahru, we speak Mandarin because we watch Singaporean television programmes. 

Because I got the best marks in Chemistry, I decided to study Chemistry for my degree. University Malaya was my first choice. I got in with 3As and 1B from my STPM, and you can guess the B I got was Pengajian Am (General Knowledge). Then I was lucky to continue with my phD because i received first class honours for my degree. 

Again during my phD studies, I was looking to earn extra pocket money, so I tutored A-level Chemistry students. It was during this time I learned that tutors have to pay a high commission to agencies to get students. 

I thought, why not connect teachers and students on a platform without going through a third party human? I watched one hour of YouTube video and created a wordpress site, serving as a website to link teachers and students without an agency. The demand grew, with a focus on education and different types of lesson. Then I hired freelance developers to kickstart the development of the platform you see today – AOne. 

MaGIC taught me how to be an entrepreneur after my studies. The MaGIC Accelerator Program was intense and well-rounded, helping me to set the right track in my business. Fast-forward today, we have about 3,000 lesson providers in the span of two years. 

This year we launched a software aimed to ease the management of learning centres known as AOne School. We hope to reduce the paperwork and processes learning centres go through in keeping track of their students. 

If I could change something back in time, maybe, just a minor thought, I could have studied business instead of chemistry. However, this is after I knew I would be going into entrepreneurship, but I wouldn’t change anything major in my life because what has happened made me who I am today!”

_____________________________

Humans of Kuala Lumpur is partnering withMalaysian Global Innovation and Creativity Centre(MaGIC) in featuring inspiring and impact-driven entrepreneurs, problem-solvers and startups in their mission to solve Malaysia’s problems!
#HumansofMaGIC

Photostory by Christine Cheah

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on September 21st 2018)

‘Who cares? Nobody cares. We are forgotten.’

“We were all kampong boy, for me, getting on the train from Butterworth to KL to play for the national team was itself a pleasure! Like my team-mate Mokhtar Dahari, Santokh Singh, R. Arumugan, we never looked forward to the money, it’s all about the national pride and the recognition from the spectators. 

Back then, we had to stitch our boots because we couldn’t afford to buy new boots all the time and when we go to the cobblers for stitching, they would even ask ‘apa ni?’. I remember we once asked for ankle guard, they told us ‘tak cukup duit’. We went through hell lah. Sometimes, you will think that we were some stupid fellas that play football for the country. Nowadays, even training the players get to stay in 5 stars hotel, my goodness! Those days, you know where did we stay? Merdeka Stadium, the dressing room and sleep in a canvas bed! 

I coached the national team for 6 years, my team-mate R. Arumugan was allergic to dairy, halfway through the training, he vomited and feeling unwell. I told him to clean himself up and rest, but after 5 minutes, he came back to me and said ‘coach, I am ready’. It’s the dedication lah.

Today, we have a softer and beautiful pitch, we have the equipment and technology but still, the achievement is not there. If you compare the new generation’s contribution to the older fellers, it is lacking. Now, we offer them this and that, of course, the players say yes but where is the achievement? That’s why we feel a bit sore.

If you go to the hospital, you will see, injuries here and there on the veterans and they just sit there and wait. Sometimes when I go for my appointment, I feel very sorry for them. It is like ‘if you are known, you are given a special treatment, if you are not known, you sit there and wait for hours’. Most of us are treated like any other patients, we take the number and wait. Very often, they do not take breakfast because of the urine test, they fast, some of them are in their 60s and 70s, they were the gold medalists, national athletes, and what do they get after all these years? 

How many of them get to go for these treatments? How many of them can afford it? We didn’t even receive one 5 cents from the government, even one biscuit tin ‘pun tak ada’. I’m very lucky my children and grandchildren can take care of me. 

It is very frustrating that Malaysian veterans are lacked recognition. We are forgotten”.

– Humans of Kuala Lumpur

Datuk M. Kuppan is our former national footballer and coach for our national team. He talks about how the veterans are being forgotten and their contributions to our country are not being recognised.

Photostory by Samantha Siow
Edited by Mushamir Mustafa

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

 

(This post was first published on September 16th 2018)

“I once wanted to be an entrepreneur. Today I am working at an agency that, ironically, specializes in helping hopeful entrepreneurs with their own startups…”

“The future of that agency however, is uncertain.

I have found a new perspective that resonates throughout my life – a kind of empathy that has come from the constant interaction with my clients. Although my career is fulfilling, I still feel the longing in my heart for the career I once thought I would have. 

Sometimes I wonder about the importance of choices and the opportunity cost that comes with each one. Even more so, the idea that I’m missing out and being thankful for the present don’t have to be mutually exclusive; that they can exist, seemingly, in conundrum.

In the end, I don’t regret my choice in not starting my own business. I guess I’m just waiting for my calling. Until then, I’m happy to help others build theirs.”

Photostory by Chow ZhiHang. ZhiHang went to the Storytelling Workshop given by the founder of Humans of Kuala Lumpur Mushamir Mustafa, at the Humans of KL ‘Stories from Malaysia’ Photostory Exhibition and this is her first story from the workshop, congrats!

Do come visit our exhibition!

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

(This post was first published on September 12th 2018)

“For most of my life, I’ve been having major depression and my family do not know about it…”

“Twice I had dark thoughts of ‘taking the easy way out’ and lost my appetite to eat when I was 12. Being in a Malaysian Chinese family, it’s not always common or easy to talk about these things.

Finally after 7 years of battling depression, I decided I was done with it. My mum was having hot flashes, which she thought was heart problems. She was referred to a psychiatrist and that was when I decided to see him too and opened up. 

I’m in a good place right now as I’ve learned to live with depression. It never really goes away but it’s as if I’m able to take off the depression glasses now, which most people would not understand. 

For those of you who know anyone battling depression, the best thing you can do for them is to just be a good listener. You cannot offer a solution so please lend them a listening ear.” 

– Humans of Kuala Lumpur

Photostory by Samira Suffian. Samira went to the Storytelling Workshop given by the founder of Humans of Kuala Lumpur Mushamir Mustafa at theHumans of KL ‘Stories from Malaysia’ Photostory Exhibition and this is her first story at the workshop, congrats! 

Do come visit our exhibition! Event link: Humans of KL ‘Stories from Malaysia’ Photostory Exhibition

Do you have a story? Let us know here: https://forms.gle/ht4HsvbxgSgcKS5h8

(This post was first published on September 10th 2018)