Living Here And Loving It

Photo caption: The Allwood family

hyma.pillay@leaderonomics.com

Shontelle Allwood and family arrived in Malaysia eight years ago. Settling in was relatively easy, as they had previously spent nine years in Manila where they became accustomed to the Asian culture, then Australia. In fact, Shontelle loves it here, and feels more Asian than Canadian at times.

Shontelle’s husband John is a partner at KBC Advanced Technologies Plc. KBC is a leading global independent oil and gas consulting and process simulation software company.

Giving back

Shontelle and family have given back to the community in different ways, including collecting and selling second-hand books for ‘Books for Benefit’ with all proceeds going to local charities, e.g. ‘Lighthouse’, a home for underprivileged youth in Kuala Lumpur. Shontelle also used to support ‘Rumah Sinar Silam’, a home in Chow Kit for underprivileged women and babies.

“There are so many opportunities here for people to give back,” she enthused.

More recently, Shontelle worked with her son to organise a football camp for 50 Myanmar youth refugees. It was a real eye-opener for her son; to realise that not everyone is privileged or has things come easy in life.

To support their favourite causes in Cambodia, Shontelle and husband collect goods and clothes which they bring there personally when making their annual trip.

Shontelle loves it here, and would like to call Malaysia home at least till both her sons complete school. If you would like to support her community activities, do email me at hyma.pillay@leaderonomics.com . Click here for more articles on case studies.