The beginning

From devising a fundraising plan with Simpson in October without any real confidence I will receive funds, to finally hearing from a few sponsors they are willing to help get me to COP15, the entire journey has been pretty eventful.

My first sponsor is the US Embassy in Kuala Lumpur. In return for their grant, I have to send reports from Copenhagen to be published on the Embassy's website and conduct a few outreach activities for the Embassy upon my return. Am more than happy to fulfill these requirements as they would help to raise awareness about climate change and COP15 among Malaysian youth. =)

My second sponsor is the Selangor government / YB Elizabeth Wong. In return for the sponsorship, I've to work harder to help push the environment/climate change agenda in Selangor upon my return from Copenhagen.

The third and also my biggest sponsor is my university - Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR). They are sponsoring my flight to and fro Copenhagen. My dean Dr Carmen fought very hard for me during the funding meeting. I'm also grateful to my university's vice president Dr Yeoh for bringing this up to the management, else I wouldn't be able to receive any funding from the university at all.

My fourth source of funds come from t-shirt sales. Talented designer Shieko helped me to design a COP15 t-shirt and didn't mind me paying her only after I've received some funds for the trip. I've yet to pay her though. =P

I forked out my own money to order 120 t-shirts from a supplier a few weeks ago. Have sold 37 pieces to friends and acquaintances plus received 22 pending orders so far. Will be selling the t-shirts at Green Drinks on Tuesday, hopefully will be able to get a decent number of them out!

That's all about money / my COP15 funding.

I'm leaving for Copenhagen on 3 Dec (only less than two weeks from now!) and will be attending the Conference of Youth from 5-6 Dec. COP15 and the Peoples' Climate Summit Klimaforum09 will begin simultaneously on 7 Dec before concluding on 18 Dec. There are a couple of demonstrations planned during this period as well. ;)

Yes, Copenhagen will be flooded with negotiators, youth climate campaigners, and activists from all around the world this December!

I'll be writing for youth press agency G-1 billion and The Nut Graph about everything. So stay tune! =)