HIGHLIGHTS
A culinary
transformation in
Detroit T3
FRIDAY JANUARY 8, 2016
Painting the world to
unite young people
BY GUINEVERE A. PAKAR
W
HO would’ve
thought that
something simple
like friendship
could spark and
touch so many lives all over the
world! By now, I’m sure the name
‘Paint the World’ is slowly becoming well-known in Sarawak.
The Paint the World (PTW)
movement started out in the
country of Georgia by Lika
Torikashvili with the idea unite the
young people in Georgia and help
those in need. The idea was then
passed on to Aziza Aznizan when
the two met in college.
PTW is not tied by borders, neither is it specifically for a certain
group of people. Aziza believes
that this movement can be taken
to a worldwide level, with a little
New Year miracle. Paint the World
has been spread to France, UK,
Netherlands, Belgium, Malaysia,
Georgia and now Oman.
“In every country, you can see
different types of society, different
culture and language altogether,
but one thing that is the same,
is the appreciation of peace and
love,” Aziza explained. “This time
last year, Jan 2015, I head out to
start Paint The World Malaysia
with 7 friends.”
Since Aziza was still a student, she trustfully handed over
the reigns to her friends as she
returned to UK for her studies.
Even without her, the movement
grew and spread across Malaysia.
Over a thousand volunteers
– who called themselves ‘painters’
– joined the movement.
Among the most recent activities done by this movement was
the spreading joy during the
Christmas season last December.
Fifteen painters went from
house-to-house to
perform Christmas
songs for the
neighbourhood of Miri
to promote
peace and
Christmas joy.
A Christmas
showcase
was also done
in Bintang
Megamall, Miri
which showcased
talented Mirians.
Only 4 days into the
new year, Aziza headed
ADAM Riyami with the children reading English storybooks.
AZIZA Aznizan (centre) with Yousuf AlSalmi (left) and Omar Alismaili, two Omani students from her college who helped
organise and started Paint The World Oman.
out with 4 friends to spread the
movement into the Middle East
by starting out Paint The World
(PTW) Oman. Oman, officially
the Sultanate of Oman, is an Arab
country in the south-eastern coast
of the Arabian Peninsula. Holding
a strategically important
position at the
mouth of the
Persian Gulf,
the nation
is bordered
by the
United Arab Emirates to the
north-west, Saudi Arabia to the
west, and Yemen to the southwest, and shares marine borders
with Iran and Pakistan. The coast
is formed by the Arabian Sea on
the south-east and the Gulf of
Oman on the north-east.
“Although no one speaks
English, just Arabic, it is not hard
to send the same message and
making these kids smile. The
feeling is still the same when you
know that someone is smiling
because of you,” Aziza shared her
experience in Oman.
Being a conservative country, Aziza also shared that it was
harder to bring about the movement in Oman compared to
Malaysia.
“The youths in
Oman are welltaken care of
and adults
seem to do
everything.
PTW is
different
in a sense
because it
encourages teens to do things
themselves and also think for
themselves,” she explained. Even
so, Aziza was not discouraged.
For Adam Riyami, the president
of PTW Oman, he was intrigued
by PTW because of the cause
behind this movement.
“PTW is a brilliant way of
spreading unity and encouraging
the youth to give back to the less
fortunate. It is a huge change for
me to participate in these type
of events given that in Oman, it’s
very hard to start anything without
the government (adults) agreeing
which is a huge process. But overall I’d like to continue giving back
to the world and spreading the
message and I feel like PTW gave
me that encouragement,” Adam
said.
He also added that despite the
cultural reservation, it will not be
that difficult to rope his friends
into this movement because each
of them understand the reason
and point of these events, so they
would always prefer to help out
and participate rather than
being complacent.
For their very first
event, PTW Oman visited
the children in Oman’s
Cancer Association.
With home-made
cupcakes and balloons in hand,
they spent their
day with the children. Despite
being of a different national-
AZIZA handing out cupcakes
to one of the children in
Oman’s Cancer Association.
ONE of the Omani
children playing
happily with the
balloons.
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ity, Aziza shared that kindness
has no borders and wherever we
are in the world, humans are still
humans, thus she felt that everyone is like family.
“I made many new Arab friends
and even a famous Omani icon,
Mayya Al-Said who is a blogger,
YouTuber, and Instagrammer who
will attend PTW Malaysia concert
2.0 on Aug 6 in Miri along with
painters from Oman. This is just
the beginning of Oman-Malaysian
fusion!”
Besides the concert in August,
Paint The World will have a festival this month on Jan 23 and
24 at CityOne Exhibition Centre
where local artists, YouTubers
such as Nanasheme, Viners such
as Aiman Afiff, DJ’s from famous
local radio stations along with
CQ Music singers will perform!
This event is organised by youth
of Kuching from Technology
College Sarawak, lead by Nazreen
Hussain.
For more information about
this movement, check out their
Facebook page at www.facebook.
com/painttheworldmalaysia.
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