HER smile, serene and honest, lights up the room. It's the first thing I notice about Aziza Aznizan, the moment I clap eyes on her. Clad in a rather fetching white overall worn over an apple-green top, she's been waiting patiently for me at our pre-arranged venue in a cosy Scandinavian café located in leafy Mont Kiara, Kuala Lumpur.
This Sarawak youth icon and co-founder of Paint the World, an initiative started by Aziza and her best friend, Lika Torikashvili, to bring colour to the lives of people in need, will be travelling to Costa Rica to pursue her Masters in International Law and Diplomacy later that night.
The 25-year-old, a proud daughter of Miri, is headed to a United Nations university, University for Peace or Universidad para la Paz. An intergovernmental organisation with university status, it was established by treaty at the UN General Assembly in 1980. Costa Rica is the location of its main campus.
"They specifically teach people who've already had some kind of engagements with the UN before, which I have, during my time in the United States. My friends and I were quite active with the UN when we were in the US," elaborates Aziza, smiling broadly.
As anyone who knows Aziza will tell you, this driven cili padi, who enjoyed a stint in Parliament as a mentee to Sarawak's PBB Youth Chief, YB Datuk Fadillah Yusof last year, is passionate about the issue of unity. In fact, it's a subject that has enthralled her from a young age.
"In Sarawak, we're a very mixed society. Even my parents are mixed. For example, my mum has Melanau, Malay, Javanese and Indian blood. My dad, meanwhile, is from Kelantan but lives in Sarawak," she reels off happily.
Growing up, she attended a Chinese school, SMK Chung Hua, in Miri. Chuckling, Aziza, who's led a nomadic life from young, recalls: "It was a conscious decision by my parents to send me there as they believed in the quality of the education offered at the school."
Her friends, she remembers, were Chinese and spoke Mandarin.
"I didn't really fit in my Chinese classes or my Agama classes, where I met all the Malay and Iban Muslims. I spoke English when I was younger, so imagine trying to speak Mandarin in my regular classes and then change to Bahasa for my Agama classes. In Sarawak, there aren't many Indians but on my mum's side, we do have Indians. So, every time I met them, I had to switch again."
The affable Sarawakian recalls being terribly annoyed that she wasn't able to mix all the different cultures into one.
"I just felt like a sandwich!" she exclaims good-naturedly, adding: "When I was with the Chinese, they'd say these things about the Malays, and vice versa. And I'd be listening and wondering why we couldn't all just be friends."
This was what drove her to contemplate what she could do to bring all the races together.
"I was 17, turning 18, and had just got accepted to study at United World College of the Atlantic (United World College) in Wales. I remember taking a bunch of my friends who hailed from different social groups to an autism centre in my car. Everyone was silent on the journey there. It was so awkward," recounts Aziza, wryly.
When the group finally arrived at the centre, they were met by excited, screaming autistic kids who literally hurled themselves at the visitors.
Shares Aziza, the youngest of three siblings, whose brother runs a chain of restaurants specialising in Sarawak cuisine and sister is a chef: "We were so startled. We eventually ended up breaking into groups so that we could control everyone. We needed to get the autistic kids and adults to participate in the various games. Cut a long story short, I remember on the way back, the car was no longer silent. Everybody was talking animatedly to each other."
To this day, the group of friends, hailing from different races, including Aziza's own family members, relatives and friends, are involved in Paint the World Sarawak, whose aim is to unite youths regardless of race, religion and socio-economic standings in order to create a peaceful and sustainable future generation.
UNITING THE WORLD
Tracing her early " manoeuvrings" to get to where she is today, Aziza shares that after her education at SMK Chung Hua, her parents sent her to Singapore to study at an IB (International Baccalaureate) school.
But the stubborn Taurean was adamant about getting into United World College (UWC) in Wales.
"I did a lot of things behind my parents' back for this," she whispers conspiratorially before breaking into giggles.
She was only 17 and had no clue how to prepare a CV (curriculum vitae), something that was required by the college.
Says Aziza, whose father is in oil and gas, and a mother, a boutique owner: "But I eventually got it all together! I really wanted to go to UWC because of their mission — to unite the people of the world. It had 89 nationalities and only 200 students. Each bedroom had to have at least four people of different nationalities, for example, from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. I just loved that whole concept."
When her application was approved, the triumphant youngster finally informed her parents. Chuckling, she recalls: "I told them, 'By the way, it's been six months that I've been in Singapore but my dream school has just accepted my application!'"
Her eyes dance as she shares that the campus was in the middle of Wales and reminded her a lot of Hogwarts, the fictional boarding school of magic featured in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. Aziza, who has a diploma in piano and plays the guitar and ukulele, enthuses: "It was really fun. Being there really opened my mind. I got to meet other young people who were obsessed with the issues of unity and diversity — just like me!"
Suffice it to say, with their youngest being so far from home, her parents, recalls Aziza, became really overprotective. They told her to refrain from going gallivanting anywhere. But, of course, she paid no heed to that particular instruction! The money she received for food, she saved up for flight tickets.
"If my friends were going to Africa, I'd go with them. My parents never knew about it. And then suddenly, they'd see me in the newspapers," confides Aziza, her chuckles once again reverberating around the modest room.
It was simple, really. She just wanted to explore the world.
"I wanted to know why Lebanon was so dangerous. Was it true that there are bombings all the time? So, I went to see for myself. My friends took me around to show that it was nothing like what we see in the news," remembers Aziza, her delicate brows furrowing at the memory.
SPREAD THE LOVE
It was also at UWC that she met her best friend Lika Torikashvili, whom she'd later co-found Paint the World with.
"Lika had already started something small along the lines of Paint the World in Georgia, so we thought why don't we change the world together?"
This was back in 2014. Lika, elaborates Aziza, was Jewish. When they met, anti-Islamic sentiments were rife and Islamophobia was on the rise.
"Lika and I were obviously supposed to hate each other. I didn't know anything about Judaism. At 18, we were so young and confused. But in the end, we said, 'hey, let's paint the world with colours!' And that's where we got the idea for the name — because nothing is really black and white."
Aziza and Lika were determined to show the world that it was possible to co-exist peacefully.
"We had lots of Israeli and Palestinian roommates and classmates. We used to spend hours debating sensitive things that even people in Parliament wouldn't talk about. I loved it because in Malaysia, we never had the chance to talk about topics that are really hard to talk about," shares Aziza passionately.
Her time at UWC opened her eyes to a lot of things. At age 17, she and Lika, who was a year younger, were already thinking about how they could make people from different nations love each other.
Says Aziza: "So, we decided to start Paint the World and to have the HQ in Georgia and Malaysia, and later spread it around the world."
Continuing, she elaborates: "When I travel, say, to Lebanon, I'd get all my friends there to gather all their friends and families to join in. For example, in Lebanon, I have a friend who knows someone in the Ministry of Youth and Sports, so we'd set up a meeting there with the minister to get recognised and sponsors, and at the same time, set up Paint the World and do events."
Many lessons have been learnt through her globetrotting, confides Aziza. "I remember I was in the most dangerous part of the world called Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi, Kenya. The people were so poor that they didn't even have clothes. And yet, they were the happiest people I've ever been with. There's such a positive vibe."
Africa, she adds happily, has a special place in her heart. "When you come, they greet you like family. They're so happy they'd start dancing and singing. They don't need instruments. One person starts singing and then suddenly someone else in the room would join in. It's like a movie!"
Although she generally travels solo, there'll always be someone who's connected to UWC waiting for her at her destination or host country. And vice versa (for anyone from UWC who comes to Malaysia). "The UWC connection is so strong," says Aziza proudly.
HELPING THE REFUGEES
After setting up 14 Paint the World branches around the world with Lika and their international team, Aziza returned to Malaysia. The Sarawak chapter, she shares, has always been active but since last year, she'd been living in Kuala Lumpur due to her work in Parliament.
"From experience, I realise that Malaysia has a huge issue with refugees. It's a hot topic but a lot of people don't want to talk about it," says Aziza, adding: "We decided to tackle this issue, but not only limit it to refugees. We wanted to include the B40 group too. We've done so many projects but now we're aiming to go for more long-term missions whereby we do education through crash courses."
Happily, Aziza shares that everyone comes on board for this. For example, a doctor friend of hers from the UK is a volunteer and helps teach First Aid to the group. "We realise that having skills will help with employment," she points out, adding that they've also run courses in music, dancing and more.
Even modelling is offered, adds Aziza. Her partner and co-founder of Paint the World Malaysia chapter, Malaysian-born, Rohingyan refugee Rahman Iman Hussein (better known as Prince), together with Miss Universe Malaysia 2020 Francisca Luhong James, have been teaching the rudiments of modelling to those who want to be in the industry.
When they initially opened the courses, it was mainly targeted at the refugee community. But now these courses are accessible to a bigger group.
Proudly, Aziza shares: "We have more than 100 refugee graduates from our crash courses, hailing from various communities — Rohingya, Somali, Afghan, Syrian, etc."
The team has also set up an academy of sorts, located in Jalan Ipoh, Kuala Lumpur.
Elaborates Aziza: "We came up with the idea of having an academy after conducting trial runs with our crash courses. We wanted to see whether the refugees actually wanted to be educated. I was impressed when more than 100 refugees applied. After that, we kept launching crash courses and it became a constant feature."
The favourable response led to the decision to use education to create a mindshift among the refugee communities. With education comes a better chance to get out of poverty.
"We're targeting the 7-to-12 age groups," shares Aziza, adding: "This is the ideal age groups to start with as this is when they build their interests. We wanted to implement not just English, Bahasa and Maths but also skills."
The team's also looking to collaborate with actress, producer, and musical theatre producer Tiara Jacquelina's Enfiniti Academy of Musical Theatre and Performing Arts for more performing arts as an extra-curricular activity next year.
Smiling, Aziza tells me that they also recently launched a hair bank which covers grooming.
Noting my look of confusion, she beams before elucidating: "We discovered that grooming, hygiene and health normally feature pretty low on the list of priorities for these groups because it's just too expensive, especially when that money can be used to feed the family."
She adds: "The idea is if you don't look or feel good in general, you'll not feel confident or motivated. Especially the B40s. For example, we've been to a lot of the Indian villages around Jalan Ipoh and discovered that that's not their priority. But now, they're getting free haircuts. Prince's brother, a trained barber, does the haircutting. We call him the refugee barber!"
When asked how she deals with negative comments that are lobbed her way about being a "refugee lover", Aziza's smile is defiant.
"People say I'm a refugee lover just because I do a lot of work for the refugee cause. But I don't get affected. It just serves to motivate me further and strengthen my belief to want to do it more. I think as long as there are haters in the world, I'll be more motivated to continue what I'm doing."
PLAYING A ROLE
Although she's generally upbeat about things, if there's one thing she finds tough to grapple with is seeing young people, especially those around her age, not having the same passion as she does.
Wistfully, Aziza says: "Even if I force them to come to the ground to see what's going on, they're still not interested. But it's not their fault. I've learnt to accept that not everybody will see things through my eyes. Sometimes even the closest person to you may not be able to see. It's just life.
The problem with our youths today, adds Aziza, is that they're followers, not leaders. How she has been able to get to where she is today has been down to sheer fortitude.
"I challenge the system or opinions. It doesn't sit well. But you need to challenge in a proper way. Engage in healthy debates or talk about issues that are sensitive in the right manner."
She adds passionately: "I feel that young people are scared to do that because they feel it might be wrong. But there's always a way. And diplomacy is very important. That's why I'm going to study diplomacy. I feel that's the love language between everyone — between nations, people, everyone. It's key. Always question things in a diplomatic way."
Her greatest satisfaction is being able to integrate refugees and locals together. Whilst she's quietly happy about that accomplishment, Aziza concedes that she's had to face disparaging comments as to why she's not doing more for other groups in Malaysia.
A small sigh escapes when she muses: "Whatever you do, people will always say it's never enough. But I'd rather be doing something than nothing. When I was younger, those comments did slightly bother me. But I can't be doing everything. I can't save the world! It's everyone's responsibility to take on whatever they can."
Her smile returning, Aziza, who also loves singing, shares that she has a project in Sarawak called Help Borneo.
"People have no idea about what we do but every day of my life is a battle to end poverty for native communities in Sabah and Sarawak. With TCS or Technology College, Sarawak, a college opened by my father in Kuching, we've on a mission to end poverty through education."
Palpable pride lacing her tone, Aziza tells me that the team reaches out to students who can't afford education. Namely those living in the rural areas.
"Even as we speak, our team is on its way to remote Kapit, located on the south bank of the Rajang River. The fact is, we're risking our lives just to get there in our small boat and facing the risk of crocodile attacks! And what's more, we're going to see a bunch of kids who don't even know whether they want to study."
They need to convince the indigenous parents — as well as their children — that education is important, something they might not see because they're already so comfortable with life as they know it.
"We also have to pool together the funds for their hostels to make them stay and complete their degree," points out Aziza, adding: "If they get their degree, they'll be able to bring their families out from the rural villages. This would help Sarawak in the long term."
As the minutes tick and I realise that my time is almost up with this globe-trotting, bundle of energy, I ask Aziza what's her ultimate dream. And surprise, surprise, she doesn't even need to pause to reflect.
Passionately, she replies: "To be a platform for unity. I'd love to make a United World College concept in Malaysia. I've been thinking about this since I was young. But, of course, not enough funding, not enough experience. I just need to get all the knowledge that I can."
Happily, she concludes: "I want to make friends with all the diplomats. My classmates, who are all older than me, are going to be diplomats one day, so we can make the change. My goal is to one day open up something that'll have everyone all over the world come to Malaysia. So that people here would be open to the world too. I want to bring the world home!"