Even with the big charity drives, there was an oversupply of certain things and a lack of others.
“We tend to generalise aid,” the 33-year-old told FMT. “Everyone gets a bag of Milo, a bag of rice, a bag of milk powder, but some people who need help have specific contextual needs. The challenge is that a lot of the help that comes is generalised at a macro-level.
“People who need such help might not be comfortable posting their needs on a public platform like social media. Maybe a girl might have a female-oriented need that she doesn’t want others to read about.
“That’s where we come in. A detailed, contextual need that a specific family or individual has that can be solved by others. There’s always someone who can help.”
In seeking to fill this gap, Arun and Richard Easupatham co-founded the web application Waymaker, which can be accessed here.
Waymaker allows those in need to post requests to specific demographics based on the nature of their need, whether it is related to gender, language or faith.
The requester is then able to choose whom he or she wants to get in touch with. Those who want to help can do so by responding to the specific need.
People who respond to requests will not be immediately contactable by anyone on the platform. They can be contacted only by persons they respond to. Once a need is met, the request can be closed and thanks can be given.
If needy families or individuals do not have access to the platform, others can request for help on their behalf.
After a soft launch in October last year, Waymaker was officially started last February when the second movement control order (MCO) was already in force for a month.
The White Flag movement had not yet begun, but people were already in need of aid. Some had seen their sources of income affected for a whole month.
So far, more than 350 requests have been posted on the platform and 280 needs have been met through some 580 responses.
A few months ago, a single mother signed up on the platform after having lost her job. She needed groceries.
Through Waymaker, she secured monthly groceries for six months, found a job as a tuition teacher and was given a second-hand laptop to help her with her new occupation.
Now, she gives English tuition from home with the laptop.
“This is an example of a contextual need,” Arun said. “During the sign-up process, we ask for information like gender, ethnicity, language and all that, so that we can use this information as a matching algorithm.
“When people make a request, they can choose the category and the demographic according to the nature of their need. If it’s a gender-specific need, for example, only females on the platform will be able to see requests made by other females.”
After hiring some developers to build the platform at the start, Waymaker is now sustained by Arun, Easupatham and seven others, some of whom have their own families.
“It’s a non-profit, passion project,” Arun said. “After we first went live, people came to us saying they wanted to help. Everyone has a full-time job but we’re hooked to the cause.
“My co-founder and I are both married with children. We’re just blessed with very supportive spouses, parents and in-laws who have all helped along the way.”
While most of the platform’s users are from the Klang Valley, there have been some people signing up from Sarawak, Penang, Perak, Johor and Perlis.
“Sometimes we notice that people close certain requests and we find out that two different people who are very far away, who have no way of getting connected under normal circumstances, actually connect and transact help.
“That’s what we started out to achieve and it’s slowly happening. And all we did was build the platform. We don’t want to push our names out. We just want to push the platform.”
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