Raising awareness of their causes has always been a challenge, said both Ho and Quah. Traditional formats such as roadshows or attending parliament meetings have limited benefits, which is why they've ramped up their social media marketing and innovated ways to interact with the less-informed public.

"We've taken to social media and telling stories on the ground," said Quah. "Just before Malaysia went under lockdown, we did a human library concept in a shopping mall, where people can come by and have a conversation with the refugee community. Raising awareness in this way and through social media is great because we're seeing the increasing importance of engaging the millennials, so that hopefully they will be able to help us influence their parents." 

See also: Time Auction Founder Fion Leung Is Reshaping The Idea Of Volunteering. Here's How

Working closely with marginalised communities such as sex workers and refugees means constantly having to deal with unjust situations and the frustration that comes with being unable to move mountains at times. This can take a toll on a humanitarian's own mental health, said both panellists, who have had to handle cases where their beneficiaries had been robbed, raped or unable to access basic healthcare. 

"I felt very burnt out about five, six years ago," said Ho, recalling a particularly stressful period in her career when she was working on a number of high-profile cases at work that drained her emotionally. "I lost 5kg over a period of a couple of months and I wasn't in a good place mentally."

To help herself cope, she sought out a mental health counsellor, who helped her to process her thoughts and emotions, and recalibrate her goals, objectives and motivations. "It was so powerful in helping me do all this, but there's still a stigma around seeking therapy [in Singapore]," she said. "But I think anybody who wants to engage in any humanitarian or volunteer work on any level should consider therapy as one of the ways to managing their own mental health. I do this for my volunteers—I make sure that either I or someone else from the team is there for our volunteers to speak to if they, say, witnessed something they were surprised by or uncomfortable with."

Quah also uses therapy to keep her own mental health in check. "I need to make sure I'm mentally healthy before I'm able to support the refugee communities I work with, because second-hand trauma is very real. And it's one of the best decisions I've ever made." 

Humanitarian workers don't only need to have a big heart; they also need to possess a level of stubbornness and self-awareness, say both panellists. "You need to be able to hold your ground and also have a deep-seated belief of what a human right is to be able to carry yourself through conversations," said Ho. "For example, I spent two hours in a police station last week arguing with a police officer that what had happened to one of the individuals we support was a crime. I had to call our lawyers on the spot, look up the law and insist that the police take on our case then and there."

"Having self-awareness is also just as important. It's dangerous when people try to find their own kind of healing through healing other people," said Ho. "This saviour complex can cause more harm than good for the people they are trying to help."

This can lead to people creating solutions that are misaligned with the actual issues that marginalised communities face, added Quah. "Our role is not to provide support to feel good about ourselves, but to empower the marginalised community and provide them with a safe space."

Cloud Talk is a virtual event series that takes place twice a month, alternating between Chinese- and English-language editions. Register for this session of Cloud Talk here. To learn about upcoming editions, visit our Events page.