Giving Refugee Children a Chance
Helping the Underprivileged Community
Chin Student Organisation (CSO) is a series of learning centres in Klang Valley for refugee children from Chin State, Myanmar. CSO is comprised of four centres: Puchong, Cheras, Loke Yew, Imbi. The teachers, who live in the centres and are also Chin refugees, are dedicated to giving the children a chance at an education and a future. Sunway University currently sends student tutors two Saturdays per month to help the children with their English and maths. Providing support for this organization is a good cause for good people.
Overview of Issue / Background
Chin Student Organisation (CSO) is a series of learning centres in Klang Valley for refugee children from Chin State, Myanmar. CSO is comprised of four centres: Puchong, Cheras, Loke Yew, Imbi. The teachers, who live in the centres and are also Chin refugees, are dedicated to giving the children a chance at an education and a future. Sunway University currently sends student tutors two Saturdays per month to help the children with their English and maths. Providing support for this organization is a good cause for good people.
Project Objectives (Vision & Mission)
This project has four primary objectives:
1. To provide continuous tutoring/mentoring to children
2. To secure school/teaching supplies for the learning centres
3. To supply toiletries/hygienic goods for children and their families
4. To generate food cost augmentation for students and teachers
Project Details (Activities and Tasks)
Currently, a group of 12-15 university students from Sunway University visit the main CSO centre in Puchong two Saturdays per month to tutor the children (aged 4-15yrs).
CSO uses primary school English, Maths and Science school materials from the Singapore curriculum. These materials have been provided by the Australian Embassy. Students are issued texts ideally, however these resources in some cases are lacking. Further, school supplies such as games and backpacks for students’ commutes are vital. These deficiencies can be addressed via one-time donations.
Hygienic goods, i.e. toiletries, are essential for the sustainable health of the children and their families. Currently, Sunway University is considering methods of reaching out to hygienic supplies companies for provisions.
Additionally, the centres provide breakfast and lunch for the children, and the teachers at the centres live on site full-time. The money generated by student tuition spreads thinly to feed students and teachers. Sunway University can provide some funding for food costs via on-campus fundraising efforts to supplement. However, strategies for generating further money to augment the food budget must be considered as well.
Expected Project Result & Outcomes
Sunway University will continue to provide weekend tutoring to the children to enhance their learning and to provide positive role modeling. The members of Sunway Student Volunteers (SSV) are committed to sending enough tutors on a regular basis two Saturdays per month.
In addition, Head of Department and lecturers at Sunway University’s Centre for English Language Studies will serve to develop the tutoring/mentoring skills of the volunteers through periodic workshops to ensure fun, productive, confidence-building tutoring is being delivered at the centres.
Furthermore, Sunway volunteers can generate money to supplement food cost budgeting through oncampus fundraising events once in a while, as well as food donations during weekend tutoring visits.
Khind Starfish Foundation (KSF) can play a vital role in this effort as well. This cause meets two criteria for this project, as it is in the field of education, and of course it is also an effort to curb the cycle of extreme poverty.
In providing one-time financial support for lacking supplies, KSF can instantly make a massive and appreciated difference to the quality of learning and the quality of life for the hundreds of children at CSO centres.
KSF can also give credibility and visibility to this cause, further helping promote other local companies, notably toiletry companies (toothpaste, shampoo, soap, etc.) to provide sustainable support for these refugee families.
The Chin Student Organisation is a worthy institute to support. The children at these centres are polite, courteous, curious kids who deserve a chance at a happy, productive life. Without sufficient support from the community, however, unfortunately many of these children will no doubt succumb to the pressures and temptations of the streets. The aim of this project is simple-- to give these children a chance!
0% of RM1.00 Goal
Project Information
| University name | : | Sunway University |
| Project leader name | : | Locshiny Navaseelan |
Section I
SUMMARY
In 2017, the Sunway Student Volunteers embarked on a year-long community-service project at a local refugee learning centre named Chin Student Organisation (CSO). Two Saturdays per month, a group of 15-20 university students tutored the children of CSO on their school subjects, and in the process, they built relationships with the children with the simple goal: Giving refugee children a chance.
FUND-RAISING EFFORTS
In addition to the generous investment by KSF, the CSO centre itself has innovatively generated fund-raising money through a lucky draw lottery. This initiative was spearheaded by the Principal of the centre, and was carried out by the teachers of the centre as well as by the Sunway Student Volunteers on the university campus
DETAILS: HOW IT WORKED
Sunway University is a large private university whose resources include a collective body that governs student clubs and services. Among this body is Sunway Student Volunteers. The young men and women of SSV embraced this tutoring effort quite enthusiastically, and never encountered difficulties finding willing tutors for the Saturday morning visits.
However, the Chin Student Organisation actually is comprised of four centres. Due to the limits of locations and transportation, Sunway Student Volunteers only managed to provide tutoring for the largest CSO centre, in Puchong, Selangor. Naturally, when presented with the potential to obtain such a generous donation from KSF, the centres immediately came up with a wish list that was far too broad, and so the decision was made to curtail the funding for only critical school supplies.
The tutoring has been a success. As mentioned above, relationships have been built and the tutors and students have developed mutual care for each other. The language and cultural barriers, although ever present, became part of the mutual learning. Altogether, 40-50 CSO children have benefitted from the one-on-one tutoring sessions by Sunway University students, but moreover, about 150 children (all four centres combined) have received school supplies from the contributions from Khind Starfish Foundation!
In the long term, Sunway volunteers will continue to provide regularly-scheduled tutors indefinitely, and it will continue taking the lead from CSO in terms of future sustainability fund-raising initiatives. Now that one effort has been successful, Sunway University is eager and proud to assist the CSO refugee learning centre to continue helping itself.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO HAPPINESS & REFLECTIONS
Sunway University’s volunteer tutors have kept a simple theme in mind during the Saturday morning visits. The priority from the beginning has always been to instil happiness and selfworth in the children.
Although the Sunway University faculty liaisons, Ms Niranjana Dhawan and Mr Erik Blees from the Centre for English Language Studies, offered brief coaching regarding the finer points of academic tutoring, the primary aim has always been to be create an atmosphere of positivity, laughter and care in the tutoring in order to develop in the children a sense of affection for learning, for English, and for school, and most of all, to develop self-esteem in themselves. Sunway Student Volunteers hope this project for happiness, Giving Refugee Children a Chance, has contributed to the week-to-week positive well-being of these kids.
There is no substitute for community involvement with the culture of extreme poverty in terms of considering the effects not only on the recipient, but on the practitioner. Through this type of sustained, regular volunteer efforts and fund-raising is a natural and simple source of enrichment. The Sunway Student Volunteers hope this effort and others like it will continue to provide enriching cultural learning experiences for future students in coming years
FINAL THOUGHTS: PERSONAL STATEMENT
“We have learnt to interact and build strong relationships with these kids, who are of totally different backgrounds from us. We really enjoyed having tutoring sessions with these kids as well. We learned a lot about their culture by listening to folktales and watching them present their magic tricks during breaks in between classes. We felt motivated and the satisfaction of teaching the kids when they really engaged and took interest in learning from us throughout each lesson.”
- N. Locshiny
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