Transcription
Oh. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] My name is Amy. I am 10 years old. That boy is Sund. He is my Treasurer. We are members of the squir club. Every month, he will come to my house and I will give him the money in my piggy bank.
This is my Amma. She always tells me to save money. Every time Sund comes to my house, my Amma will also give me some extra money so that my savings should become big very fast. [Applause] [Music]
This place is T thingy estate. I live here with my APPA and Ama. It is our home. My APPA told us that because he is working in the estate, so we have to stay here. All my friends' parents are also working in this estate. They all work in the Rubber and palm on Plantation and also in in the factory.
When I was young, I went to the kindergarten in the estate. Now I am studying in the primary school, year two. We have almost everything in the estate: playground, Child Care Center, temples, shops. So we do not go to the town a lot. [Music]
This place becomes very quiet when everybody is already in the fields or factory and the children are at school. This is the time my Amma will sweep the floor and do other housework. [Music]
I have known Sushila for a long time. We are both members of The Cooperative. Sushila is a good and reliable contributor. Her total savings is more than 3,000. But during the whole time when she was a member, she has taken small loans. The total is about 25,000. Imagine 3,000 savings and 25,000 loan. Actually, the loans I have taken is not only for myself or for my family, but for my friends who have financial burdens. Where else can poor people like us get a loan? And the rate is only 1% on a sliding basis.
Globally today, there is a concerted effort to reach out to about 100 million poor in the world. But we in the credit union started this micro finance project more than 20 years ago, where we began to organize the poor into the credit unions, where they are given opportunity to save and create a Community Fund. And through the Community Fund, they provide micro credit loans. And in Malaysia, we have organized the plantation workers, the scatter communities, and the indigenous people.
Plantation workers are one of the most marginalized groups in Malaysia today. They were brought to Malaysia during the British occupation to work in the Rubber and oil palm Estates. They work very hard, but they receive little pay. The management of the estate focuses on profit making only. Therefore, this results in low wage, lack of basic amenities, and bad treatment of the workers in the Estates. At the end of the month, when they can't meet the ends, they normally resort to jewel shops or go to the money lenders to borrow money at a high rate of interest. [Music]
The members of the credit Cooperative around Sui area have saved 122,000 $398.58 and they too have borrowed $5,58,59.55 for various needs. [Music] We use the loans to pay for house expenses, children's education, and also as a down payment to buy a house. The Cooperative also conducted various training programs such as leadership skills, decision making, and also solving community issues. The men, women, Youth, and children in the community should come forward to help each other. This is the true spirit of cooperation, and that is what we are trying to achieve in our society. [Music]
Due to culture and tradition, women, especially the wife, don't have a status in the family or in the society. Their opinions are not heard and not valued at all. This aspect of culture also reflected in the credit union meetings. The women do not speak much when the men are around due to shyness, fear, and inferiority complex. Most of the time, the men dominate the meetings. That's why we have to bring the women separately to train them before integrating them with the men. Uh, that's how we started to organize women groups, where women can come together to share their experiences and discover themselves and their talents.
When I first joined the women's meeting, I felt very shy. When it was my turn to speak, I was afraid. My voice trembled, and I even tried to hide. But the trainers were very good. They use a lot of games to help us to understand the issues better. Later on, my fears disappeared, and I felt more confident. In the women's group, we talk a lot about our own problems, and we realize that we can also help one another to solve these problems. My sense of fear and low self-esteem has disappeared. Now I can do things with confidence. I never thought I would be able to drive a van or a motorcycle, but now I can, and it's all because of the training. The trainers gave us a lot of skills training, and they brought out my talents. Because of this, I began to feel that I also can take up leadership. Now I am the secretary of the women's group and also a Committee Member of the Sui credit cooperative. [Music]
The trainings were not only for the women, but also the men. My husband attended these trainings. The trainers use drama, games, and storytelling methods to depict problems in the family, society, and workplace. This helped the men and women to understand the problems better. Before I attended the husband and wife relationship training, I did not bother to listen to my wife and treated her like a servant. After the training, only then I began to realize and begin to respect her and help her in housework. Now we make the family budget together, and my wife and me sit with the children to listen and solve the problems. Before, I did not take any responsibilities in the family. After returning home, I would watch TV, and when my wife approached me to talk about family matters, I don't pay her any attention. If there are any problems in the house or with the children, I will ask my wife to solve them. I leave all the responsibilities to my wife. But after I went through the training, I realized that when husband and wife work together, that's a family. The training has changed my life. Now I help my wife in everything she does, and we discuss and solve problems together. I now pay attention to my children's education. [Music] The training has helped me to be a good man, a good father, and a good husband. [Music]
Besides my daughter Amy, I also take care of three of my friends' children. This is quite a demanding task. The credit Cooperative also gave us training on proper child care and Early Child Hood education. I have learned that good child care starts from home, and that parents have a very important role to play in the development of a child. I too have also learned that a man's role is not only to see to the child's financial needs, but also to share in the other aspects of child care. [Music]
As parents, we should give our children the freedom to learn, to discover themselves, and to realize their full potential. I suppose what we are doing in our community is like making a Sand Hill. The more sand we pile up on the hill, the bigger and higher it will be, and perhaps one day it will turn into a mountain. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] You ding bell ding D bell are you?