Hello and hi everyone! My name’s Naqieb, and I’m turning 26 this year. I live in Kuala Lumpur and I have been “securing the bag” by working as a Climate Policy Analyst.
I stumbled upon Small Changes back in 2021. It was a normal day for me, as I scrolled endlessly through my social media until I came upon my friend’s post about Small Changes on their account. What intrigued me the most at the time was the beneficiaries involved in one of their programmes, which is, Project Beanstalk.
The indigenous community has always been an important part of our country’s history, ever since its inception. Though, they are often discriminated as they are unable to access the basic needs like proper housing, water, and education. I was, of course, riveted to learn more about this community and how to help them.
I just knew I had to sign up as a volunteer, or else I would regret it, to a certain extent. Well, one action leads to another, and somehow fate has decided to let me stay with Small Changes by letting me become their Media Editor for this year.
Project Beanstalk 2021 gave me fruitful lessons to learn, which I have held on till this day. It was definitely not easy at first to volunteer and to put myself out there, but with time and support from the rest of the team, I was able to enjoy the entire experience. In 2022, I joined Small Changes as a committee and worked on Project Beanstalk again, developing another set of modules, formulating activities and designing the handbook.
I also had a nice experience fundraising for Project Beanstalk 2021. Despite having sponsors to conduct the projects, volunteers are required to fundraise in order to get the full “volunteer package experience”. For my part, I was able to reconnect with something I used to love doing, but had lost touch with a long time ago – painting. At the end of the fundraiser, I was able to secure RM205 that has been used for the beneficiaries.

Oh look at the time! It’s “answer-question-o’clock”! Leaving my readers with some of the answers to the questions you have requested, I hope you find them useful.
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1. MissPatricia101: Did you have to work with children? What was the experience like?
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It was daunting at first, I’m not going to lie. I was never good with children, and there was an incident during Project Beanstalk when the beneficiary thought I was too scary. The first thing I did was assess the situation, and tried to be more approachable to the children. I’d put myself in their mindset and bring out the child in me, treating them like a friend. The strategy worked and the kids grew to love me as much as I love them.


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2. LukeIAmYourFather: What is your advice to those who are interested in volunteering, but are afraid to take the leap to do so?
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You only live one life, so think about the legacy you choose to leave behind. You can choose to be remembered as someone who has given their all, or someone who never bothered about anything. Try to put your personal gains aside because it’s a harsh world out there, and it’s even harsher to those in need. Be a part of the building block for the future generation by volunteering!
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3. NaqiebsBiggestFan: Name two things you’ve learned from volunteering with Small Changes?
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Firstly, my purpose in life.
I have always been searching for the reason why I am put in this world, the purpose of having this life inside of me. I am not 100% good, but I feel that the more you volunteer, the more you can give back to people and the society. There’s so much negativity in this life that we need more positivity by simply giving and helping out.
Secondly, what it meant to be human.
These two things I have learned are actually correlated to one another, – one is not able to exist without the other. With Small Changes I was able to understand what it meant to be human via the human connections that I have established with the committee members as well as the beneficiaries that I have met.

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4. WhyDidYouLeftMeOnRead: How do you manage your time between your full-time job and Small Changes?
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By being flexible and agile! It can be overwhelming at times, which is completely valid, but try to be flexible with your time. Find out your strengths and use it to your advantage. For example, I do not work well with structured plannings so I get my tasks done according to my own flexible timing.
By the way, sorry for leaving you on read, now not anymore 😉
Thank you for those interesting sets of questions, my dear readers. I’ll answer more in the next blogpost, if any.
To end this blogpost, I just want to voice out that, every single helping hand matters. The world is already terrible as it is right now with everything that is happening, and we as human beings can’t just leave it be as it is. It is crucial to put aside our selfish entity and try to make life easier for others as we really do not know what the other person is going through.
Being kind to others is as important as being kind to yourself.

Even though it’s not always that obvious, try to help those in need. Help out in whatever way, or whenever you can. It doesn’t have to come in the form of a huge donation, or an impactful programme, it can be the smallest form of help like holding the door out for the person behind you, which can create a domino effect on the world.
Be the building block to creating actual differences.
Your actions have an impact on people’s livelihood.
Remember, one small action can have a huge impact on the world.
Written by: Naqieb & Kartini
Designed by: Naqieb