I want to support something in Malaysia, my hands always start itching after a few days of idling. I don’t want to dive into the psychological complexities underlying my passion to help where help is needed, and I leave that to the “Nachwelt”, the judging generations after we have all perished. So where to look? We have our friends here, and they know of an event called “Green Drinks” we decide to attend. It is a meeting for professionals working in ecology and environment related organisations that takes place in a restaurant in the Petronas twin towers. We arrive early enough to chat with the organizer who is setting up a video screen to show a movie called “what rainforest” about the large-scale logging in Sarawak and how local commnities protest in vain.
We are encouraged to be “American” and approach people with a big smile and a stack of business cards. I walk around a little and shake hands with a German man who was just explaining the world cup to his Malaysian friends. I have to introduce our concept in two minutes but he seems to get it and like it. I decide to give his contacts to my brother.
Meanwhile, Yeon is talking to Noah, an American ecologist/anthropolist and the man behind “Forest Voices”, a project documenting the local knowledge of the people in the rainforest. We have an interesting conversation and decide to support them.
After the green people, we meet a friend of a volunteer we know from Cambodia (follow me) who is working here with Myanmar refugees. We promise to look into it – who knows it becomes a cause too.