Lifestyle

Former Methodist Boys School students donate face masks, hand sanitisers to Kajang Prison inmates


Yum and his group of friends have encouraged everyone to share a little kindness with those in need during the pandemic. — Picture courtesy of KC Yum
Yum and his group of friends have encouraged everyone to share a little kindness with those in need during the pandemic. — Picture courtesy of KC Yum

PETALING JAYA, Nov 13 — Prisoners have also been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic just like the rest of us.

However, unlike most of us, they are somewhat unprotected, as most prisons are not well-equipped to deal with a widespread virus of this nature.

Concerned about the welfare of prisoners at the Kajang Prison’s Drug Treatment and Rehabilitation (RPD) wing, former Methodist Boys School Kuala Lumpur (MBSKL) alumnus KC Yum decided to rally a group of his old school friends together to help keep the prisoners safe during the pandemic.

“For us, living on the outside, we’re able to go out buy face masks, hand sanitisers and anything else we need to defend ourselves,” said Yum in an interview with Malay Mail.

“But for the people in prisons — which are usually overcrowded — they have no choice but to just make do with what they have.”

Yum also said that the AnGuard hand sanitisers are perfect for everyone at the prison to use because they are non-alcoholic and non-flammable. — Picture courtesy of KC Yum
Yum also said that the AnGuard hand sanitisers are perfect for everyone at the prison to use because they are non-alcoholic and non-flammable. — Picture courtesy of KC Yum

Yum, along with a team of volunteers from non-profit organisation Malaysian CARE and his former MBSKL schoolmates, donated a total of 30,000 three-ply face masks and 148 litres of AnGuard hand sanitisers to the RPD wing at the end of last month.

Yum, 50, has been volunteering at the RPD wing in Kajang Prison for the past three years with Malaysian CARE and said that helping them out during the pandemic was the least he could do after getting to know them.

“I’ve been volunteering there for a while now conducting support sessions with a group of inmates from the RPD wing,” he said.

“Before the pandemic, I used to go in at least once a month to have sessions about 40 to 50 of them. But now we can’t do it anymore for safety and health reasons.

“Some of them don’t ever get any loved ones or family members visiting them. Now, they must feel like there really is no one out there who cares about them. That’s why we chose to help.”

Yum, who is the Palm Garden Golf Club marketing manager, added that everyone at the RPD wing was happy to receive the face masks and hand sanitisers.

“They reached out to us and we managed to provide them with the personal hygiene equipment that they needed in under a week.

“We got the face masks within days and the MBSKL old boys even managed to raise the 148 litres of AnGuard hand sanitiser in one night.

“They were just so happy to see that someone was thinking about them and concerned for their safety,” said Yum.

The 50-year-old, who has spent time volunteering in prisons in Taiwan previously, also said that he hopes that other NGOs and government bodies pay more attention to prisoner welfare and rehabilitation.

The Donate Mask team has been providing face masks and hand sanitisers to underprivileged communities since the start of the movement control order banc in March. — Picture courtesy of KC Yum
The Donate Mask team has been providing face masks and hand sanitisers to underprivileged communities since the start of the movement control order banc in March. — Picture courtesy of KC Yum

This isn’t the first initiative that Yum and his band of MBSKL old boys have carried out during the Covid-19 pandemic as they’ve actively sought to help out underprivileged communities through their “Donate Mask” initiative.

The initiative has seen Yum and his pals raise over 20,000 face masks and 900 litres of hand sanitiser to date for homeless shelters, children’s homes and old folks’ homes around Selangor.

The “Donate Mask” team even tries to donate daily provisions to like food, soap, shampoo and floor disinfectants to these shelters.

Recently, Yum and his friends even lent a helping hand to their old school MBSKL as they donated 760 litres and 240 litres of AnGuard hand sanitiser and shampoo to the school last month.

They even purchased and installed 60 wall-mounted hand sanitiser dispensers, two floor stand dispensers and five temperature scanners, as well as personally helping to disinfect the entire school building.



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