Learning haven for disadvantaged kids

There are close to 30,000 refugee children in Malaysia. They each have the right to realise their full potential and key to this is access to a proper education. StarEducate visits three centres in the Klang Valley which cater to their learning needs.

Fugee School

THEY have travelled great distances, gone through great lengths and even faced torture and trafficking just to live another day.

After all this, one would think that a bright and happy future will be the last thing on their minds. "They can't even think about tomorrow, what more 10 years ahead," says Fugee School founder Deborah Henry.

"Here in Fugee School, our mission is to get these refugee children motivated to have a vision, a future and ambition.

"You need to give them something to live for, a purpose in life," the former Miss Universe Malaysia adds in an interview.

One way the centre accomplishes this is the implementation of a student-teacher programme where teenage students with teaching potential take charge of their younger peers.

The learning centre, which hosts mostly Somali refugees, conducts the programme mainly to erase the "victim mentality" from their students.

Currently, there are five student-teachers who teach in the mornings before continuing their own studies in the afternoon.

"Through the programme, the buddies learn the value of working, money and time. At the same time, they're teaching the kids and giving back to the community," Henry says, adding that it also keeps them off the streets and out of trouble.

"We find that building up their self-confidence transforms people so much that they do well academically.

"A very important lesson they learn is to not just be a receiver, and a victim of circumstances.

"Refugees are definitely victims but they can't keep going on as victims. Neither can we keep treating them like victims," Henry stresses.

This brings Henry to her next point – parents have to pay a "commitment fee" for their children to study at Fugee School.

"We've found that in any kind of social development work, when one is just handed something, one just learns to be a taker," she says.

She adds that such a system is unsustainable nor does it build character and independence.

Naturally, there are exceptions - those who cannot afford to pay are given a discount or exempted from the fees.

"We're still dealing with a disadvantaged community," she says, adding that all fees are channelled towards maintaining the school and buying books and materials.

The fees are barely enough to cover costs, and donations are still a necessity for the six-year-old learning centre.

But it's been the effort, thanks to Henry and the centre's co-founder, Shikeen Halibullah, who have strived to improve the lives of the children. She happily tells of children who have resettled in other countries and adapted easily with the local education system.

"A lot of them say it's because of what they have learnt here," Henry says.

"When they first started lessons, some couldn't even write, and they included 10-year-olds. Some couldn't hold the pencil properly, let alone speak English!" she reveals.

To deal with the initial language barrier, other Somalis in the class help with the translating until the students get comfortable with the language.

It doesn't take long for them to learn English and when parents see the improvement, Henry says word about the centre "spread like wildfire."

Fugee School now runs two packed schooling sessions to cater to the numbers.

"We've even had parents ask if they can join math and science classes but we don't have the capacity," adds Henry.

United Learning Centre

Their squeals of delight and high-pitched voices seem like an average end of a school day for any child.

Some tuck into a plate of plain rice, small piece of chicken and a slice of watermelon.

You may be thinking by now that it's "nothing out of the ordinary" here.

Yet, among these children, there are some who see visions of screaming babies drowning in the sea as human traffickers try in vain to silence their cries.

Others picture corpses carelessly thrown into rivers or fed to wild animals in an attempt to hide the fact that they exist.

A couple more can tell you tales of their parents selling their homes, paying human traffickers then spending 10 days trekking through thick jungle with no food and having only giant leaves as shelter as they made their way to the border.

These grisly stories were part of the past of these Myanmar refugee children who came to Malaysia in hopes of finding a better life.

Although things are certainly better here than back in Myanmar, it still isn't a bed of roses.

Besides the threat of being nabbed under anti-illegal immigrant crackdowns, their "school" - United Learning Centre (ULC) - can be "lost" any time, should the landlord choose to evict them.

ULC first started operations in 2008 under principal Pastor Jonathan Tan, catering to Myanmar refugees.

Classes used to be held in a cramped shoplot with claustrophobic rooms and filthy toilets until 2011, when it moved into a bungalow not too far away.

Surrounded by run-down flats and potholed roads, ULC is strangely considered "the Hilton" among the refugee learning centres, says Mink Ong, a volunteer there.

"It is considered luxurious and well-equipped compared with the others, with land for the children to play," she says.

ULC is one of the lucky ones with several computers available for students and a steady, if not small, stream of funds generously donated by Ong's contacts and the public.

Although the centre is grateful for the monetary donations pouring in, Ong hopes for more to come forward and contribute their time as well.

Though considered well-equipped, ULC is constantly plagued by a serious teaching force shortage.

"Our teachers are volunteers and mostly expatriate wives," says Tan.

This poses a problem as the law does not allow these women to work, so they volunteer. Even then, they're only allowed to teach for two hours a week.

Hence, the centre is constantly appealing to the public to volunteer to teach the centre's 100 children.

Volunteers do not only come in the form of teachers though.

A friend of Ong's, Dr Stephen Appaduray, provides free treatment and medicine for these children.

There was even a little boy, Ong says, who wrote in his essay that he dreams of "becoming a doctor one day just like Dr Appaduray and giving free medicine to other children just like me."

"You can inspire people without even knowing it," she adds, hoping that more volunteers will step forward to help.

Muslim Aid Knowledge Centre (Pima)

Not all the children here had to leave their home countries to come to Malaysia - many were born here.

"The conflict in Myanmar started in the 80s and many families who fled here back then are still waiting to be resettled," says Muslim Aid Malaysia chairperson Habsah Marjuni.

Muslim Aid Malaysia runs Pima, which teaches primary education to Rohingya and Myanmar Muslim children from the surrounding neighbourhoods in a Selangor suburb.

Having been here for so long, these children have naturally assimilated into the local environment and the learning centre has helped with the process.

To start with, Pima uses the local primary school syllabus with Bahasa Malaysia as the medium of instruction.

This, Habsah says, is because the children already know the language, thanks to their neighbours and playmates.

"It's also better for us to use the local syllabus as its easier to obtain reading and study materials," she adds.

They not only follow the same syllabus as their Malaysian counterparts, these Myanmar children also celebrate the major local festivals here.

Habsah says that Hari Raya, Chinese New Year and Deepavali are celebrated within the grounds.

Christmas, she says, is excluded because it falls during the end of the year school holidays.

"During these events, the Myanmar Muslims and Rohingyas come forward and will help us get the canopy, chairs and tables," she adds.

"Recently, we celebrated Chinese New Year with lion dances, ang pows and volunteers having fun with the children."

These volunteers were excited to teach calligraphy, simple arts and crafts projects to the children, as well as sing and dance with them.

"In fact, we incorporate many things that have to do with a particular festival, like (making) ketupat for Hari Raya," Habsah continues.

Something unique about Pima is that the children also celebrate Merdeka.

"We get them to sing Negaraku, Jalur Gemilang and other patriotic songs because, let's face it, they're probably going to be here for a long time," she points out.

The volunteers do more than just help out during festivals. On Fridays, Habsah says schooling hours are shorter for volunteers to come and have some fun with the children.

"We do other stuff such as music, play sports, and even had someone teach Zumba," she says, adding that children are also taken to the nearby field for football, a favourite among the boys.

Pima does its best to expose the children to Malaysian culture and also takes them to Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka to watch children's plays.

"The children understand Bahasa Malaysia so it's not problem to them," she adds.

*The location of the centres cannot be disclosed for security reasons.

Related story:

Need for laws to protect refugees

http://www.information.myanmaronlinecentre.com/learning-haven-for-disadvantaged-kids/