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Home>Service> Awardees of Fervent Global Love of Lives Award> 9th Fervent Global Love of Lives Award 2006> Red Crescent Hero─Jeyathesan Kulasingam
Establish Red Crescent; save people who are in need.
      Jeyathesan Kulasingam is the founder of Malaysia Red Crescent (similar to Taiwan Red Cross) voluntary worker development project. This CARERIOY voluntary worker project has trained 100 thousand teenaged voluntary workers since 1997. This program develops series of juvenile charity activities for young people to participate in helping people and looking for the meaning and value of life. It intends to teach them to appreciate what they have right now and learn the concept of “I can do anything as long as my parents, teachers and elders like it”, “I can do anything as long as any disadvantaged minority likes it” instead of “I can do anything as long as I like it”. 

       Jeyathesan provides “halfway shelter or family” for needy children, orphans, drop-out students through all kinds of voluntary services together with welfare facility resources. He is the person who most frequently donates blood in Malaysia; he always brings volunteers for a relief mission after disasters at home or abroad. Jeyathesan is an affectionate person who loves to help people; the Malaysia Red Crescent volunteer organization he founded is a place to create Islam life value and motivate thousands of volunteers. He deserves to be called “Red Crescent Hero”.

      Born 1967 in Malaysia, Jeyathesan Kulasingam has been a charitable person since he was very young. At 9 when he was in 3rd grade in elementary school, he volunteered to help people for public interests. His extracurricular activity did not seem to interfere with his academic performance. In addition to winning awards in many competitions, he got into high school and National University of Malaysia with the most excellent scores. His volunteer work has never affected by his education, career or family life. He always says: “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help people. Helping people is my life.” The rescue mission he participated in includes flooding, earthquake, mudslides, hostage situation, skyscraper rescue and the most recent tsunami disaster in Indonesia Aceh Province. He is always on the front-line in saving people; thus he usually takes the lead to donate blood and becomes the most frequent blood donor in Malaysia.

       The process of donating blood can screen many diseases. He promotes vigorously the concept of donating blood and the prevention of AIDS, Dengue Fever, narcotics and cancer. He advocates organ donation and health care of aboriginals. As a person in chare of the Kuala Lumpur Blood Donation Program, he often reminds people about the healthy lifestyle and has frequent exhibition and seminars held for helping people conquer psychological and customary barriers and the fear of AIDS. When he first got in contact with the works of Chou Ta-Kuan, he thought Chou Ta-Kuan had left the most precious legacy to create a more beautiful world.

      “The predecessors’ cultivation the descendants’ shadow” is the life value Jeyathesan acknowledges. Malaysia is a diversified country in terms of race and religion. From his multinational experience, he learns to peacefully get along with people in diverse ethnic backgrounds. He has deep understanding that “there is no racial or national boundary for helping people”. He used to deliver babies, help patients and assist people in disaster; through relief missions, he understands life value can only be expressed by love and he feels blessed by helping those people who are in desperate need. During these dangerous tasks, it is unavoidable that he would get into trouble sometimes; but he can always successfully accomplish the assignment.

      From 1991 to 1997, Jeyathesan served as the Director of Malaysia Juvenile Discipline Center in a special program of Malaysia Ministry of Education and was in charge of the Malaysia juvenile counseling and research work. He thinks there are too many bad incentives in this society. It is difficult to identify the truthfulness of the information in the Internet world. Teenagers do not equip with the ability to differentiate the right and wrong; they are often affected by the internet chatting, pornography, drugs, fraud and suicide. However, peer pressure is the most influential tool for teenagers; in order to transform a teenager in rebellion, the best way is to have excellent young people and the drop-out students live, study, play and work together. They will have conversations of their lives; they will share personal experiences. The outcome is extraordinary. The program has applied to every corner in Malaysia for providing counseling to drop-out students.

      As tall as 190 cm, Jeyathesan used to be a Malaysia national basketball player. In 1992, he had to give up the sport because of back injury. For 2 1/2 years, he had to be on wheelchair and lost the ability to walk. He used to be depressed about his condition; nevertheless, after family and doctors’ care and encouragement, he had a quick recovery and he fully understood the importance of health and life meaning. He met quite a few sick children when he got rehabilitation treatment in hospital; and he was touched by their smile because the children with serious condition had to make great effort to smile. Every time he thinks of the poetry of Chou Ta-Kuan, “I Still Have One Leg”, his heart is full of energy and sunshine.