We can fix it: Volunteers from Kaki Repair repairing a refrigerator after the floods in Chaah in March this year.
A childhood passion leads to a movement to help people help themselves
JOHOR BARU: From a very young age, Johnson Lam had always enjoyed getting his hands dirty by making and fixing all kinds of things from whatever he could find.
Lam said he would even pick up things dumped by others before bringing it home to see if he could get it fixed.
“The interest has been in me from as long as I can remember.
“I come from a humble family where it is normal for me to get hand-me-downs from others,” he said.
Lam, 43, said he would take the items given to him and also pick up things found in dumpsters and try to fix them.
“If it could not be fixed, I would use it as spare parts for other things.
“I used to spend hours in the library reading up about electronics or any subject that could help me build and fix stuff,” said Lam, who is based in Kuala Lumpur.
Recalling his childhood days, Lam said the first thing he attempted to fix was an alarm clock when he was just seven years old.
One boy’s passion: Lam said as a child, he would fix anything he could get his hands on.
“The alarm clock would ring randomly. I decided to try and fix it so I could use it to wake up in the morning.
“Unfortunately, I ended up making things worse but along the way, I slowly learned to get it right,” said Lam, who grew up in Kampung Batu Kurau, Taiping.
He is the founder of a movement known as Kaki Repair, which aims to empower the public to learn and fix their own belongings.
Founded in 2017, the movement has grown from having 30 people participating in its first workshop to over 200,000 people at present.
“About 11 years ago, I started Kaki DIY (do-it-yourself) where I held workshops to teach people to build stuff, including 3D printers and drones.
“I later realised there were many people who would just throw away things that were broken instead of fixing them.
“That was when I decided to launch Kaki Repair, which is an initiative that is free for everyone to take part,” he said.
Lam said in the early days of the Kaki Repair movement, he would organise workshops where people could bring the items that they wanted to repair and learn how to fix it themselves.
“I also collaborated with universities, malls and companies to carry out these initiatives, which was done physically at the beginning,” he said.
“However, when the Covid-19 pandemic started, I could no longer conduct such sessions physically and had to depend on online platforms.
“It was a blessing in disguise as it ended up attracting more people.
“Part of the reason was many shops were closed at that time and people were unable to get their things fixed. The only way was to learn how to do it themselves,” he added.
The father of two, who has been working in the corporate sector for over two decades while running his passion projects, left his job for good last year.
“I have since dedicated my time to community work under the Kaki Repair platform,” he said.
During the pandemic, Lam had gathered those following his movement to make thousands of face shields that were later sent to hospitals all over the country.
Apart from that, the Kaki Repair movement had also been making its way to flood-hit areas to help repair electrical appliances and other items that were damaged by floodwaters.
This included the floods in Sri Muda, Kuala Langat, as well as the Chaah floods in Johor in March this year.
“I gathered some of my members and we went to Chaah to fix about 50 appliances belonging to the affected residents in the area every day,” he said, adding that they were there for two days.
Moving forward, Lam hoped to empower the community, especially those in rural areas, to keep the Kaki Repair movement going.
