As the COVID-19 pandemic brings the fault lines in society’s strata into sharp focus, the good work of non-profit initiatives like EPIC Homes becomes all the more urgent.

EPIC (Extraordinary People Impacting Communities) Homes has been building houses for the indigenous Orang Asli community in Malaysia for almost a decade.

Since their first home went up in 2011, the organisation now has a headcount of over 5,000 volunteers who have built 163 homes (and counting) for Orang Asli settlements across Peninsular Malaysia.

Arguably, the Orang Asli are Malaysia’s most marginalised community, facing issues like land ownership disputes which have left them tenants on their traditional lands. They have also been largely neglected in terms of access to infrastructure, education, healthcare, electricity and piped water. According to a study, more than 12,000 Orang Asli live in unsafe housing conditions, 82 per cent of whom are in need of housing aid.

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