MATHEMATICAL genius Anand Kumar is an educator, best known for his Super 30 programme, which coaches underprivileged students in his hometown, Patna, Bihar, India.
His contribution to helping poor students by providing free coaching is well-known. He is what one would call a celebrated local hero. He has been featured in the Discovery Channel in 2009, an Al-Jazeera documentary, BBC programmes and CNN news.
There is now a movie about him, Super 30, on satellite television. The world needs local heroes like Anand, ordinary people who do heroic deeds in the course of day-to-day events.
Someone who cares and feels for the downtrodden and does something about it. It is not about gaining accolades, but about making a difference.
Success stories are not all about gleaming cars and fancy houses — they can be quotidian in trappings, but extraordinary in achievements.
Take the CNN trailblazers of 2018 — a doctor fighting to break the cycle of violence, a woman helping the injured to walk again and a teacher using her power of writing to lift up and heal the hopeless — each has found a way to use his or her knowledge for the greater good.
These are stories of heroes we should be celebrating. People who clean up rivers, build homes for the disabled, help the terminally-ill lead a full life, provide free medical care to thousands of homeless — cliched as it may sound, these people are the unsung heroes, much like fathers, whose contribution to the family are often overshadowed by mothers.
We, Malaysians, too, have our fair share of local heroes. This newspaper has highlighted quite a few. One, the English teacher at SK Runchang, an Orang Asli school in Pekan, Samuel Isaiah, 32, who is well-loved by his pupils. Isaiah travelled 200km daily to school and introduced fun-filled learning techniques, including sekolah pokok (tree school), where he would go to the Runchang Orang Asli settlement twice a week after school hours to conduct English lessons under trees.
His pupils recently bade him farewell as he was furthering his studies in the United States. Two, the principal of Sekolah Bimbingan Jalinan Kasih in Chow Kit, Zulkernai Fauzi, who is described by many as “a man on a mission”.
During the day, he is an educator, at night he roams the streets of Chow Kit to look for the homeless and provide them with an education. His focus is on street children without identification documents, orphans and those with social problems.
Malaysia, however, needs more of such heroes. Heroes who are an inspiration and who are defined by their labour of love.
The importance of the average citizen cannot be overlooked when it comes to building communities. He has ideas and innovative strategies to make a difference in a community.
It may involve fixing a simple problem like providing free food to flood evacuees, or keeping old folks company — each case has a certain victory that is an accomplishment.
A nation should be fortunate enough to have such heroes. Let’s celebrate our local heroes, their feats and achievements.
Local authorities, schools, political parties and the media — identify our heroes, seek them out and glorify them. Make movies of them.
They help make Malaysia a better country.