We are pleased to share the news that one of our students, Izyan Humairaa’ binti Mustafa Kamal, from the Advertising Design programme, was chosen by a local non-profit organisation to participate in an international humanitarian mission to the Jordanian-Syrian border during her internship.

Izyan, who worked as a part-time designer for the Karisma Humanitarian Outreach Mission (KHOM) throughout her studies, stated, “Before this, I had only the opportunity to design/edit photographs and videos for KHOM. My designs previously focused on fundraising posters and raising awareness about the humanitarian issues faced by the Syrian refugees, but now I can see them with my own eyes and feel their pain in my heart”.

“There are so many things that we must all be grateful for. Every little thing that we have now is actually an impossible dream for the refugees to achieve in life”.

“The children are barefooted, running without slippers or shoes. They have thick matted and dusty hair, just because water is only used for drinking, cooking and sanitation. The people have broken and dirty nails, besides dry and rough skin. Usually, 1 tent has 1 family and that’s the room, kitchen and living room…all in one. And the toilet made of rags is outside, shared with 40 other families…” Izyan shared her experience during the mission.

It was a dream come true for her to study at MMU when she realised she would be able to use her multimedia skills for humanitarian causes. Before attending MMU, she enrolled in a pre-university English programme called Karisma English Explorer (KEX) at the Pusat Tuisyen Akademi Karisma in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.

It was like a dream come true for her to study at MMU, realizing she will be able to apply her multimedia skills towards humanitarian causes. Everything started when she joined a pre-university English programme, Karisma English Explorer (KEX) at the Pusat Tuisyen Akademik Karisma located in Kota Bharu, Kelantan before entering MMU.

While waiting for her SPM results, she volunteered with KHOM as part of the KEX programme to help raise money for the ‘Eid for Syria 2019’ relief expedition. For the first time in 2019, she created a KHOM fundraiser poster. Not long after participating in the KEX programme, she made up her mind to further her education at MMU so that she could hone her design skills.

In April 2021, amid the COVID-19 epidemic, KHOM offered Izyan a part-time graphic design position while she was still in her first year of degree. The designing and videography skills that she acquired at MMU were put to use in the artwork that she created for KHOM.

“To attain the level of quality that is expected in professional design while working as a student designer is challenging. Thousands of designs which took time to create were rejected by KHOM, but I didn’t give up”.

A year later, when her designs were more polished, KHOM offered her to become an intern. Here she was given the chance to join their mission in Malaysia, and shortly after she was put in charge of social media and video documentation at the Jordanian and Syrian borders as the humanitarian mission’s junior multimedia officer.

She would like to express her gratitude and appreciation to MMU and all lecturers for their guidance and support.

For more information on the Karisma Humanitarian Outreach Mission, please visit https://khom.org.my