2019 YSEALI Fellows Cohort

Sochea Khouet
Cambodia

My name is Khoeut, Sochea and I am from Siem Reap, Cambodia. There are two main projects that I will implement- "Sharing Section," which is about the impact on personal and professional growth and “Dream Come True” project. Sharing Section project, I will share my experience with PEPY Empowering Youth scholarship students, Journey Within Our Community (JWOC) scholarship students, high school students at my hometown. The goal is to inspire them to work hard, make them believe that they play a very important role in their community development, dream big and never give up on their dreams. I want to let them know that there are many opportunities out there waiting for them. “Dream Come True” project is at my Secondary School. This project aims to raise awareness of the importance of education. The area faces high drop-out rates due to lack of understanding the effect education can have on their lives. Most of the young people immigrate to Thailand to work as construction workers while they should be in school. I will share all of my experiences with them as we come from the same situation. Moreover, I will bring successful people to share their stories to allow the youth to see the impact of education and hopefully, they become their role models. My goal is to see everyone in my community love education as I do.

Rima Widyasari
Indonesia

Rima is a bachelor of Social Science major in International Relations from Indonesia. Besides having a good academic background, she was a former President of English Society in her Faculty. She was active in student activities on and off the campus. Since 2015, she has incorporated in a grassroots organization called Seruni. Seruni is an ex- migrant labor organization. Seruni works to empower the ex-migrant labors to be economically independent. In Seruni, the team teaches them how to manage their money and build social entrepreneurship. Occasionally, Seruni has been conducting paralegal activity for the migrant labor families. Rima loves to work in multicultural places. That is why, in July 2018, she participated in voluntary work for the 18th Asian Games Jakarta Palembang. In December 2018, Rima joined International Global Network as an Event Management Associate. International Global Network is an NGO that organizes educational events such as green school, model United Nations conference, student summit, and excursion.

Sou Pisen
Cambodia

Pisen’s ambition is to advocate and encourage individuals with disabilities to stand up and take more roles in society to create a more inclusive and diverse society in his homeland. Being born with a disability and trained in media management, he sees storytelling and blogging as a powerful tool for change. Partaking in the YSEALI Spring 2019 (Civic Engagement) is his privilege to learn personally and professionally and apply his knowledge and experience into his blog project.

Phatchariya Pansing
Thailand

Phatchariya Pansing is a fellow of Teach for Thailand Foundation. She is an English teacher at Phrabang Wittaya School, Thailand. She always believes that students can achieve more if they have a chance to receive proper training and development. Because of this, she is planning to establish her own learning center in Chiang Mai that addresses youth empowerment. At present, she is spearheading a project called "Youth Development Practitioner Thailand" that aims to enhance the skills of teachers to give proper counseling to the students and to create a safe space for the children to fully expand their potential. She also has a Facebook page called “Good Learners” which she uses to reach out to every youth which aims to strengthen Thai education. Her mission is to empower Thai youth to become an active citizen and to live a quality life.

Mai Le Phuong Pham
Vietnam

My name is Pham Le Phuong Mai, and I am from Vietnam. I believe that the youth are initiators of innovative ideas and agents of positive change in society. However, growing up in a small town in the North of Vietnam, I acknowledge the lack of opportunities for the youth there to voice their opinions and solutions to regional and international key issues. Schools in small towns also pay little attention to build leadership skills for students. To address the problem, my project simulating conferences of ASEAN leaders aims to engage the youth in advocating for change in policy and provide an avenue for leadership development to participants. Before conference days, workshops about regional issues, leadership, diplomacy, and other skills of an active citizen will be hosted. I also endeavor to organize these projects in different provinces of Vietnam

Neas Wanimbo
Indonesia

Neas Wanimbo has lived in Papua-Indonesia for 18 years. He has had many experiences during his studies in an elementary school in the village of Tangma Papua. There, they only had one teacher, who was a volunteer, to teach six classes. He did not graduate because there were no teachers who could teach us in school. So he sacrificed his studies to teach other students when he was 6 years old, he was helping the teacher to teach his classmates the alphabet and numbers because the teacher was too busy with other students. Because of the experiences that he has, he decided to get a better education and come back to develop his community. When he was 12 years old, he left his family and friends in the village and went to Jayapura city to get a better education. He graduated from Tanri Abeng University in 2017. He got a full scholarship from a university in a computer science major. He was the founder and head of CYD TAU (Christian Youth Development of Tanri Abeng University). Neas has attended various national and international conferences. Now Neas founder of "Hano Wene," a community wanting to help people in the village of Tangma Papua by providing a library. Why is the library important? In Neas' village, reading interest is still low. Apart from not having book facilities for reading, people are also uneducated. The hope is to build up a reading intention. Because he wants to change and dedicate himself to helping his people become literate so in the future his people have a better life and education.

Mariel Annarose Nicole Lopez Alonzo
Philippines

Mariel Annarose Nicole L. Alonzo is a gender equality activist, poet, and student of Psychology attending the Ateneo de Davao University. They co-founded the Ateneo Libulan Circle, one of the pioneering recognized LGBT+ organizations in a sectarian university in the Philippines, and was also the director of Mindanao's first MoonLIT: LGBT+ Literature Festival. Currently, Libulan is working on a long-term umbrella project called "You'll Be Safe Here" which uses interdisciplinary, multisectoral, and interfaith approaches in enhancing safety and security in the different facets of the LGBT+ Life. Committing to reducing violence against LGBT+ peoples, improving job outlooks or employability, and sharing self-care, resilience, and positive coping strategies, as some of their primary targets. Ultimately, this is for the purpose of improving the well-being, quality of life, and welfare of Mindanao-based LGBT+ communities.

Manilath Nalongsack
Laos

Will you come back again? Can you come every month?” asked by a little girl during her school visit. The Books for Children team is one of the things making Ms. Manilath Nalongsack, a participant from Laos, passionate about working for children. Therefore, she has been part of various education programs for children and youth both inside and outside of Laos. Through her experience working for those programs, she realized that Lao children, especially who come from low-income families still lack English education accessibility and interpersonal skill. It makes Lao children lack confidence in speaking English and when they work with foreigners. Thus, she is now seeking talented volunteers for implementing her own project called EduTra, which comes from her experience working as a volunteering teacher in Japan for the Guest Teacher. She learned that to lead children familiar with speaking English with a foreigner and raise their confidence speaking the language should have combated by providing them the opportunities interacting with people coming from different countries. Her project, EduTra, aims to improve English, interpersonal skills and confidence of Lao children and youths by bringing foreign travelers, who are interested in sharing their culture and teaching English, to primary school every month to widen the perspective of Lao children and youths toward global cultures and improve their English and interpersonal skills. Moreover, her highest goal is to continue to expand the area of this project outside of Laos by building a network with other ASEAN’s and American’s young leaders.

Laura Kar Mun Wong
Malaysia

Laura is passionate about empowering people to live to their fullest potential. Currently, she is empowering the lives of refugees through a social enterprise called "The Picha Project" – an innovative food business whereby all chefs are refugees in Malaysia. By providing a sustainable platform for refugees to sell their authentic, homecooked dishes, they are not just financially empowered, but they are also empowered in their skills, knowledge & passion. Laura has been utilizing digital marketing & social media strategies in expanding the platform, and her vision is to have every Malaysian supporting this empowering movement in the future. Apart from refugees, Laura has also been empowering individuals in different communities. Being a scoliosis patient, she has been encouraging girls with similar conditions through her testimonies. She has also empowered youths in Hungary to develop self-confidence by teaching English.

Kenneth Rufino Dizon
Philippines

Ken is currently a faculty member at the Department of Speech-Language Pathology, University of Santo Tomas. He is a consultant for different disability-driven initiatives and non-profit organizations for the deaf and hearing-impaired individuals across the lifespan. More than conducting community-based research, Ken celebrates the success, failures, and stories of resilience - of the teachers, families, and communities that champion the rights of the deaf.

Hwee Peng Tan Tan
Singapore

Hwee Peng was the Programmes Director for the second iteration of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Global Citizen Conference 2018. NGCC is an annual week-long international undergraduate conference aimed at sparking and sustaining important conversations, ideas, and work on issues that are transnational in their origins or impacts. Her team crafted five topics under the theme of Global Progression: Public Health, Mental Wellness, Environment, Economic Inequalities, and Cybersphere. The conference invited various partners like academics, activists, NGOs, social enterprises and other changemakers in Singapore and beyond to share their stories and experiences and guide the participants in their own projects and creations. Beyond this project, Hwee Peng is also interested in the arts, education and research, youths, and the intersections between gender, sexuality, and mental health.

Hein Min Kyaw
Myanmar

I am Hein Min Kyaw from Burma and am a 21-year-old training student from the Sagaing University of Education. What I expect from YSEALI program are some specific skills that are needed to advocate for educators to integrate the civic education into the curriculum. As of now, our people do not take much interest in the governance process because they do not have reliable access to civic education. My ultimate destination is that all the people are monitoring the government carefully and engaging actively in implementing the policies and principles. I believe that social change cannot be obtained without a teacher’s participation. That's why I'm trying to make improve the teachers' civic knowledge, skills and attitude by organizing and conducting training in my university and around the country as well.

Harinder Malkit Singh
Malaysia

Harinder hails from the little island of Penang, north of Malaysia. He is a final-year law student at the Faculty of Law, Multimedia University Malaysia (MMU). On a professional level, he has been involved in several international and national law moot competitions such as the Foreign Direct Investment International Arbitration Moots (FDI) in Korea and Sweden. He is also a member of the Malaysian Bar Council Constitutional Law Committee and has been a part of the Urgent Arrest Team for the BERSIH 4.0, BERSIH 5.0 and #TangkapMO1 street protests in Malaysia. On the community level, he is an active Emergency Medical Ambulance Services volunteer and Disaster Responder with St. John’s Ambulance Malaysia, as well as with the Penang Hill Volunteer Fire Rescue Services. At present, he is working together with several NGOs in establishing a community-based ambulance service to assist in the Southwest district of Penang.

Linh Bao Nguyen
Vietnam

Bao Linh, a senior student of Tourism Management, is also the founder of Viet Youth on Sustainable Tourism (VYST). Bao Linh has a huge passion for learning about sustainability issues in the concept of Tourism and spreading the message of responsible traveling to everyone. The project is carried out with the aims of raising people’s awareness about the importance of responsible traveling and business making in the global trend of sustainable development and making real positive impacts on the environment and host communities by enhancing people knowledge, behaviors and actions on tourism-related activities. The project includes a number of educational and networking activities for tourism students, professors, and industry experts in order to raise awareness about the cause and stimulate knowledge sharing and collaborations. This year would be a milestone for Bao Linh, and VYST as the project is being expanded to the region with the program "ASEAN Youth on Sustainable Tourism" where 50 students from Southeast Asian countries will meet in Hanoi, Vietnam and learn about Social Innovation and Sustainable Development in Tourism Industry.

Andi Kahlil Gibran Basir
Indonesia

Andi Khalil Gibran Basir a.k.a Khalil Basir is an Indonesian youth, leader and a volunteer who wishes to bring positive changes to his country. His interest lies in leadership and issues regarding those with disabilities. He founded Komunitas Satu Atap in 2017 to tackle the discrimination issues against persons with disabilities. Since being founded in 2017, Komunitas Satu Atap has focused on collaborating with people with disabilities and those without disabilities, particularly in the elementary school environment. The project has been running in several schools in Makassar and comprises more than two hundred youth volunteers in Makassar, Indonesia.

Alleine Nicole Sto. Tomas Naumco
Philippines

Alleine Nicole Namuco is a civic-minded youth leader who has been actively involved both in private and government organizations in the Philippines, working on advocacies serving the Filipino children. Currently, she is working with the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) as a Media Planner. Having thorough and competent credentials and experience in the communication field, she uses her skills to be a liaison between the government and the citizens with the aim of maintaining an active engagement in between, to ensure that public service is delivered at its best. She also co-founded Ohana MNL, a startup organization reaching out to children in need, especially those in public hospitals. Young as 23, Nicole has established her vision of creating a new generation of Filipinos reliving the spirit of Bayanihan, a Filipino value of helping one another in times of need.

Khun Htun Yin
Myanmar

My name is Khun Htun Yin, from Myanmar. I am going to participate YSEALI Spring Fellowship Program 2019 under the theme of civic engagement. As a young leader, I've have been working with the Southeast Asia Service Leadership network (SEALNet)since 2017 by bringing positive changes with different social projects in different ASEAN countries together with youths. Being active, energetic for initiatives and connected with a different network are very important in order to create changes in both urban and rural areas, especially in developing community.

Auxiliadora Bakhita Faria Faculto De Jesus
Timor Leste

My name is Auxiliadora Bakhita Faria Faculto de Jesus ( Bakhita). I am 18 years old. My country called Timor-Leste, the newest country in the world. I was born on July 25th, 2000 and I’ve just graduated from high school in 2017 at Nusa Cendana International Plus School in Kupang, Indonesian. During my study in high school, I participated in many kinds of activities such as student council organization, choir and marching band. The most remarkable in my high school period was my first time ever winning National Chemistry Olympics in Kupang on September 24th, 2016. My life dream is to become pediatric because nowadays a lot of children/kids in my country they got many kinds of different diseases such as malaria and other kinds of diseases caused by malnutrition. In addition, even Timor-Leste as a new country but still lack of human resource in the health area to provide assistance and promoting healthy life behaviors. For that reason, I am dreaming to become social-worker to help my people especially in a remote area and helping them increase their awareness of certain kind of diseases as mention above.