Since 2010, AMSA (Asian Medical Students’ Association) International Medical University (IMU) has been actively involved in projects organised by EMPOWERED. Their projects involve cancer awareness carnival, talks, and most notably, colorectal cancer screening for the community. This year, EMPOWERED pioneered a new project: the Lung Cancer Awareness Carnival for the community of Seri Perak, Sentul. AMSA IMU sent more than 100 student volunteers, mostly medical students to help out in this event. Volunteers are involved in the planning phase, helping out in the carnival, and sparked the closing ceremony by having the pledge of “No to smoke, Yes to Life.” to the community. Student volunteers involved are grateful for this opportunity to work with a NGO and to serve the community. These are some of their feedbacks: 
“…it was a whole Sunday dedicated to the public in a hope to say “NO TO SMOKE & YES TO LIFE”.. it may NOT sound that COOL but let me tell you it’s way more cooler than those ppl out there who smoke not only their lives out but also the ppl around them like u AND me.. anyway, we may not look glam in our tired faces but we sure had fun in making a difference in society:)” —– Vinoshini Devi, student volunteer for LCAC 2014
“Say no to smoke, YES to life!” ——-Jayarubini Jeyapal, student volunteer for LCAC 2014
“…Thank you for the experience! :)” — Khoo Li Wei, student volunteer for LCAC 2014
It has been an enriching and exciting experience to work with EMPOWERED, one of the established NGOs working for the community tirelessly, to share the burden of combating cancer of the poorer community. I specially extend my gratitude to Dr Christina Ng for providing opportunity to IMU students to play a role in this meaningful event. These experiences serve as an eye-opener for all of us, medical students to have a peer on how hard cancer hits the under-privileged community, and for us to serve the community within our capabilities.
EMPOWERED MALAYSIA, the Cancer Advocacy Society of Malaysia has been actively involved in assisting the under-privileged community to combat cancer since 2009. 
