Sabah student finalist of Global Youth Awards 2024

KOTA KINABALU (Nov 28): Hanisah Omar, a 19-year-old final-year Early Childhood Education student at Keningau Vocational College (KVC), was a finalist for the prestigious Global Youth Awards which recognize youth worldwide. The awards which are organized by The Legacy Project is headquartered in the United Kingdom.

The ceremony was held physically in London on November 2. It was also broadcast live on social media for those who were unable to attend it in person.

Hanisah was one of three finalists in the creative leadership category for her social enterprise, Mearpet.

The Mearpet project, launched by Hanisah in early 2023, creates puppets of Sabah folklore characters from preloved clothing and stuffed toys, hence, reducing fabric waste. It benefits the community by enlisting the paid service of special needs learners of dressmaking programme to help sew the puppets.

These puppets are used to educate and entertain children and they can also be sold as souvenirs. Since the puppet performances are based on local ethnic folktales, this project also helps to preserve the cultural heritage of the local communities.

Hanisah expressed her gratitude for the recognition which she sees as her source of motivation to continue expanding the project which can be beneficial to the people as well as the environment.

The college’s director, Nordin bin Akup, congratulated Hanisah for achieving yet another recognition for one of her initiatives at the college. According to Nordin, Hanisah is one of the most proactive students at the college since she has created several social impact projects which have earned her grants and accolades for her noble efforts.