PETALING JAYA: Beauty and brains all rolled into one. That is 25-year-old Kavita Sanglish.
This Subang Jaya lass and her many achievements are sure to inspire others.
A Jeffrey Cheah scholar, she earned her BSc (Hons) in Psychology from Sunway-Lancaster University last year, as she has always been fascinated with the mind and human behaviour.
“Throughout my time in university, I volunteered and organised mental health talks and workshops for various NGOs.
“This year, my goal is to pursue a Masters in Clinical Psychology.
“I have always aspired to become a licensed clinical psychologist and contribute to the community’s betterment.
“I also aim to raise awareness about the importance of preventing mental health issues, especially since the Covid-19 pandemic period and its lockdowns had affected so many people in the country.”
Kavita credits her parents for her outreach programmes.
“My parents have been very active in social and community work and they inspired me to be the philanthropically driven person that I am today.”
But Kavita has a fun side too. She was among the top 10 at the Pencarian Puteri Malaysia national beauty pageant last year.
She said she took part in the contest because she had been passionate about pursuing pageantry from the age of 11.
“I guess I was inspired by renowned titleholders like Miss World Aishwarya Rai and Priyanka Chopra as well as Miss Universe Sushmita Sen, Pia Wurtzbach and Demi-Leigh.
“Their success inspired me to take part, especially since pageants provide an effective platform for young women to grow professionally in their respective careers.
“Pageants also offer vast opportunities to use our voices to advocate important social causes.
“They also provide opportunities to collaborate with international humanitarian organisations such as the UN, Unicef, Smile Train, Global Citizen, and established brands.”
On a more serious note, Kavita started a community organisation called Stand With Refugees in November 2022.
“We are a diverse group of young people who contribute to the welfare of refugee children and youths in Malaysia.
“As a psychology graduate, I aim to be an advocate for the mental health, education and nutritional wellbeing of refugee children and youths in the country.
“This aligns with the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals.”
Kavita said her organisation conducts various refugee empowerment workshops and activities for children and youths in refugee centres and schools.
The NGO serves refugees from Myanmar, Somalia and Afghanistan.
At the workshops, the children are taught to set goals and take care of their mental health by fearlessly overcoming challenges.
“We also instil confidence and teach them not to be afraid of failure because that is part of life.
“We will assist them to discover their ambitions, and inculcate the importance of embracing diversity.
“Apart from this, we also organise various cultural activities for the refugees, such as Malaysia Day.
“They are also thought Bahasa Malaysia through workshops.
“They learn conversational Malay so that they can be more interactive.”
Kavita said the refugees are also introduced to traditional Malaysian attire, food and games so that they would have an insight into our rich tapestry of cultures and traditions.
Her organisation also conducts live talks on social media platforms and collaborates with other NGOs on its Instagram page (@refugees.my) to raise awareness about them.
She added that through its initiatives, her primary focus is to contribute to the betterment of refugee children and youths.
“Through Stand With Refugees, I hope to inspire other young people to similarly work to improve the lot of underserved communities in the country,” Kavita said.
Kavita (third from right) with Stand With Refugees members and Myanmar refugees.
