This post was written by Sarah Rees
Kathleen Leong may now live a jet-setting life as the District Sales Manager of Oman Air, hopping over to the Middle East a few times a year, but she found as her career began to take off (excuse the pun), that life at the top of the corporate ladder was not as satisfying as she had imagined.
“I was spending every day talking about sales, talking about money,” she explains, “and I was asking myself ‘what’s next’ all the time. People can be so competitive and money-driven in this industry, and I just felt I needed something more than that.”
Kathy is a firm believer in giving the less fortunate a chance to succeed, as her own upbringing was humble and far removed from the life she has now carved out for herself. “My family was poor,” she remembers, “and we grew up in the Titiwangsa area which, at that time, wasn’t that safe.” Her father worked in a shop selling newspapers while her mother was a tailor. Kathy had to support herself through her studies before working hard to better her situation and rise in what is a competitive, male-dominated industry.
It was once success had arrived, however, that Kathy began to sense a void: “I felt that life should be about more than just work.” Satisfaction arrived when her then employer organised for a group of local orphans to spend a day onboard an aircraft. “The children were just so excited,” she remembers, beaming. “Most of them had never even been to the airport before! It was a chance to give them a treat, and to show them that life could be different.”
When she made the move to Oman Air a few years ago she spearheaded the charity drive herself. Thanks to her efforts, three underprivileged children enjoyed an experience of a lifetime when they were flown, with their parents, to Oman. “This year I wanted to do something different though,” she explains, and talks me through her plans.
“Desa Amal Jireh (Jireh Chairty Village) is a home for children and for old people,” she says. “It has existed for more than 20 years and relies on the generosity of the community to survive.” Founded with a mission to provide a “home filled with love, care, compassion, and kindness”, this home is a lifeline for many children left with nothing after divorces or the death of parents. The home occupies a purpose-built centre thanks to the generosity of a local businessman, but supplies are still lacking.
“They said it was food they needed,” she explains. “Often they didn’t have enough rice to feed all the residents, so I decided to make a collection.”
Kathy drew on her network of contacts within the airline industry in her appeal for support and was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. “So many people wanted to help,” she says, “and I have been around to all their office to collect items personally so I can meet them and thank them.”
A collection of dried foods is gradually taking up space in her office, and she hopes to present everything – along with some monetary donations – to the home during August to coincide with the Ramadan festivities. “It’s always lovely to go and visit the children,” she says, smiling, “they are starting to recognise me now.”
And while Kathy’s efforts – somehow so sterling despite working 10-hour days– are clearly making a difference to the children she meets, they are equally making an impact on her. “There was a young man I met at a home a few years ago. He was very unhappy: his father, a drug addict, had recently committed suicide, his elder brother was getting into drugs, and his mum had placed him in a separate home away from his younger siblings. He looked up at me and asked ‘what is the meaning of my life?’”
Kathy encouraged him to try and take it as life experience and move forward. “I told him he could make his own life. I met him a few weeks ago, and now he has graduated and is a banker!”
Her face lights up as she thinks of his transformation. “That was a turning point in my life; I look at life differently now,” she admits. “Life isn’t about climbing the corporate stairs, it shouldn’t just be about material goods. We should all do something for those less fortunate, for what satisfaction is there in a life of constant work?”
Readers interested in learning more about Desa Amal Jireh should visit www.daj.org.my. Anyone interested in donating can drop items off at Kathy’s office; Suite 9-03, Level 9, Menara Hap Seng, Jalan P. Ramlee, 50250 KL.
Source: The Expat August 2012
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