Encounter with the kids from SK Bangsar
Thoughts, observations and impressions on my Social project
Post #1
29th of March 2019
SOCIALLY ENGAGED (preamble)
Around this time last year, I have decided to go to
university. What’s so unusual about it, you may ask? I am older, I.mean.much.older…..heck,
from what I can tell (or rather see), I am older than majority of my lecturers!
I am also foreigner.
So in a way I got
socially involved, way out of my confort zone, with 19 year olds! (and it is
challenging) Why do I have to do it AGAIN??
 |
Us & them SOCIALLY ENGAGED- SK Bangsar
Social engagement is a compulsory class for first year
students at University of Malaya. Under the tutelage of pleasant and
friendly Dr. Nazean students are divided
into groups and assigned social projects.
By accident of mixing up some timing on my schedule, I missed the very first class of Social
engagement. Students were put into groups of 10 and in the second week I was
randomly assigned to one of the incomplete groups.
I don’t particularly like group work. I find that it is very
trendy, therefore "a must "nowadays. My children constantly have team works at school and
it goes ‘ So-So’. You don’t get to chose
the people you want to work with (not that I would know who to chose) but also
you are not in control of other people’s behaviour, they may be irresponsible,
hard-headed or constantly non-available. They might not be compatible with you
(or vice versa). I mean… you get the picture…I am rather individual type of
gal!
So we are 10 (10!!!! It is huge!), 2 girls and 8 boys, 7
Malaysians and 3 internationals. Our project is to go to SK Bangsar, local
public school, and spend 2 days with children there. During those 2 days we are
supposed to get to know the children through various fun activities, but also
introduce them to I learn Ace, online learning platform that is offered free of
charge for a limited number of months (courtesy of our sponsor).
SCHOOL
SK Bangsar is a public school and, as its name suggests, it
is in the borough of Bangsar. I was made
to understand that the students going there are mostly kids from rather low
income or underprivileged families. It is an elementary school and hosts
around 1600 students.
To me it did not look very different than most tropical country’s schools. It was 3
floors high, it had an open yard in the middle, lots of covered spaces (with no
external walls) and fan equipped
classrooms. On the front side of it, there
was an open air multisports pitch. The
equipment in the school was rather rudimentary and that is how it is
distinguishable from fancy, rich schools. Classrooms had old desks and chairs,
flooring was bare concrete and computer lab was equipped with outdated
computers. It was clean enough, the walls were brightly coloured and classrooms had projects and
pictures attached to its walls.
 KIDS
Children we were assigned (ha, our kids!), were 5 boys and 5
girls from the 6th grade. They were 12 years old, age when they are
not small any more but not yet teenage rebellious and moody, good age really!
Nine of the children were Malaysian and one boy was Indonesian. On the first
day all the boys had starched white shirts, girls wore floor long dresses and had covered heads.
I was not worried that I will not be able to establish good
contact with the children. They are under 2 years younger than my own children
and, I had years of training by now!! :
)
  
What I was afraid of, was, that the children would not speak
English and that I wouldn’t be able to communicate with them but with hand gestures and smiles. I was wrong
about that part, their English was better than at first glance.
At first shy, after the ice-breaking session children really
took it to my team mates and I. They would approach us after lunch or early in
the morning before we started our activities, they would ask questions, touch
our belongings or play on our phones.
And they were all so cute! Some outgoing and outspoken, some
shy and whispery, some naughtier then others and one of the little girls
had constantly a smile upon her face, I just loved it!
MY GIRL - Aisyah!
Initially I was assigned a boy but eventually managed to swap
with Fahad (thank you Fahad!). Being a female, I preferred a girl (not that it really
mattered but…).
Aisyah was a pretty girl with blue hijab. She appeared shy
and actually was shy except for the rare moments with her friends. She wasn’t super talkative but she would look
you in the eyes when she talked to you (it is something I always require of my
own children), she would ask questions when needed and politely answer if
asked. She did not seem to be difficult and we established a good contact straight
away. Aisyah listened but she also had
her own ideas. Her english was not perfect but was sufficient, she would
understand better than what she could speak. She was quick to catch up on the
computer skills and would perfectly remember the things she has already seen. She loved the games but did not mind quiet learning either. She seemed interested in studies. She wanted to be a teacher when she grew up.
Aisyah had 2 younger siblings.
I liked her from the beginning.
   OUR DAYSOur daily program was well defined. We started at 8 am and finished at 5pm. During this time we alternated between fun activities (outdoor or indoor games) and sessions of teaching I learn Ace. Mornings and afternoons were divided by lunch and prayer time.
On arrival we had a quick breakfast with the children
followed by the game session. Children being children, adored the games part! Games
were played in Bahasa and international students (me included) were only
helpers and observers. We’ve discussed the games previously so we knew what
they were about, but the language barrier was obviously a problem.
Still what a nice moment that was! Team games awoke kid’s
spirit and competitiveness, there was laughter and excitement!
For the most games my team chose kind of a team
building games. They were games that required
cooperation and interdependence on other members. They were adapted to kid’s
age and we could see straight from the start that the kids appreciated them and
had lots of fun.
  
The learning time was quieter, we were one-to-one with our
“adik “ (hmmm, not sure I can use this
word…I’ve just Googled it and it came out as “younger brother”….. let me check
reverse dictionary and little sister ….it says adik perempuan….. close enough I guess! : )
School’s internet was extremely slow so most of us used our
personal data and computers. I am not very strong on patience and usually kids
are even less so . Faster internet gave us more time and sessions that were not
slow and boring.
At noon time we ate lunch provided by our food committee.
The food was tasty and I ate as everybody else, with my hands! (first one for me , never eaten rice rice like
that before).
Afternoons mimicked mornings, games followed by study.
OVERALL
Though initially reluctant, I ended up feeling really good
about what we did. I did volunteer a bit
in my life (mostly in sport events) and I am a long term supporter and sponsor of an NGO (Médecins sans
Frontières) but I think that I needed a little push to do something here, in
Malaysia. In the days after our/my visit to SK Bangar, I often caught myself
thinking back to those kids and Aisyah. I was wondering if we touched their
lives, the way they touched mine. I am hoping that we brought them something
that will improve their lives however insignificant and small that something
is. Maybe we inspired them to study and go to university one day, maybe we
showed them what the respect is or that sometimes you can do things for
“strangers”. Maybe we thought them to be nice to younger kids or more tolerant
to foreigners. Maybe in some small way we
made them a better human beings! (while in the process, transparently, they did
exactly the same for us)
Together
I would like to thank you, Dr Nazean, to have made us find that
altruistic gene that we often neglect in our “busy” lives and for your positive
and heart warming initiative. Thank you!
|
Comments
Post a Comment