Children Are Like Sprouts

Last week, Mrs Ee told me she had passed some long bean seeds to the teachers of Harap Learning Centre Bukit Baru to plant so that the children learn how the seeds grow into plants. Yesterday morning I was quite free. So I went to the centre to have a look.

The small pots were at a corner of the toy and book library. Some of the seeds were already germinating.

Ten out of twelve children were present. They were playing with puzzles or other toys.

Farhan happily approached me and posed while urging his personal photographer, "Teacher, ambil gambar saya (take my pictures)!"

Very soon, his buddy Cinu joined him to act cool in front of my camera. This boy's younger brother Casevan was also my model last January.

Lunch was going to be served soon. Recently, we have a helper Sis Christine who is a former nurse. She asked the children to line up,

poured liquid soap into their hands, asked them to massage their hands before they rinsed well with water.

The lunch menu was porridge. It was accompanied by plain water unless the children's parents had specially prepared packet drinks for them.

I had first noticed this boy Rony during the special programme early this month. Though he was not feeling well and had no appetite in the beginning,

with Sis Grace's spoon feeding, his bowl was the first to be emptied.

Other younger children also needed the teachers' help to finish their food.

This girl Shanty was one of the older children who were able to eat on their own. She looked very different from last time in her traditional costume.

After the meal, it was colouring time.

At the age of five, Rony's elder sister Fidah already knew how an avocado looks like. I had first heard about this fruit only when I was in the secondary school when the television advertised for a brand of facial cleanser with avocado.

The next activity was watching an educational programme on DVD. The children stayed in the room until their parents came to take them home.

In the afternoon, the pots were placed outside to be exposed under the sun. Each child had to take care of a pot by watering the soil every morning. Rony showed me the one he was in charge of.

I suddenly realised that these children were exactly like plants in the stage of germination. May we adults continue to help them grow with the love of God.

Harap Learning Centre June Special Programme

Yesterday afternoon, there was a special programme at Harap Learning Centre (HLC) Bukit Baru, Melaka from 3.30pm onwards. When I arrived at around 3 o'clock, the children, dressed in traditional or modern costumes, were already sitting there as a group.

Though recently I had not been there often, I immediately recognised most of these cute,

sweet,

adorable,

or funny faces.

Sis Grace's daughter was also invited to join the other children. She was beautifully dressed up like her mother.

As the HLC administrator, Mrs Ee was no doubt the busiest person in charge of the preparations of this event. Dr Peggy Wong from Living Hope and her friend had come all the way from Kuala Lumpur with their driver to bring packets of seaweed crackers to bless the needy, HLC staff as well as volunteers.
Sis Theresa had resigned to focus on her family. Besides Sis Grace, now we had another teacher Sis Khadijah and a new cook Sis Komathy.

The children were waiting patiently and quietly until the teachers gave them the instruction to stand up and sing songs in English together.

The audience was of course their supportive neighbours from Seri Siantan flat.

Next, it was the fashion show. Some looked gorgeous,

some were shy to walk in front of the crowd,

some made us think of a certain late artist,

and some learned very fast to pose for photographs.

During the following session, the children put on funny animal masks

and sang with actions. Their wonderful performances were rewarded by the clapping from the audience

and snacks.

Dr Wong, the coordinator of HLC Bukit Baru, turned up just on time for the cutting cake ceremony to celebrate the 4th anniversary of Living Hope.

Everybody who was present there either inside or outside the centre was given a share of the moist cake.

To dismiss the HLC children, gift packs

which contained groceries

were given away to their families first.

Ps Joanne from City Community Church had kindly sent volunteers to help with the registration so that other needy families received the packs according to their numbers. The three little cuties from the Sajar family had never missed to appear at any special events of HLC.

I believe that when they grow up, they will in return be blessings to other people in need.

Transforming Our City Together (TOCT) Conference 2011 VI

The highlight of 9th April at Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang was the TOCT exhibition.

More than 30 organizations from both non-profit and corporate sectors from all over the country were displaying their community and nation transformation work. Some of the projects are similar to Projek Harap which reaches out to underprivileged children.

Last year, our Melaka team was having the A CIKGU booth. Caroline and Philippe continued their effort to bring influences in the field of education under MAGPIE. This year, Joel had done a good job preparing the pictures and wordings, and setting up the booth to show the activities at Harap Learning Centre Bukit Baru.

Among visitors who dropped by at all the booths and chatted with exhibitors were the two buddies from Kuala Lumpur.

Andrew had got to know me last June after he had discovered my blog entries about EFC Leadership Summit 2010. I was glad to meet him in person ten months later.

Ray had also begun to be aware of my existence at the same period though we both had attended the two-day event in Penang in April 2010. Later through my blog updates, he read about the Harap Learning Centre in Melaka. As the Authentic Manhood (AM) national coordinator, he was surprised to learn that I had even joined the AM class once.

Last January, the reader finally took the initiative to get connected with the blogger.

I stayed at the Projek Harap booth in the afternoon. So I did not go to any of the mini seminars conducted by Marketplace Penang, Voice Your Choice, Real Love Ministry, Mary Kay Skin Care,and Marianna Pascal (the author of "English Fast & Easy") which many found very interesting. Sometimes, I walked around to visit other booths. The Tupperware booth stood out with the big space they were occupying in the middle of the exhibition hall and the activities they were organising.

I let one of the persons in charge paint my palm with different colours and pressed it on the white board.

Then I participated in a quiz, answered a question correctly and won a small plastic container.

That evening, I took the express bus with the Sajar family, Grace's family, Sis Grace and Joel to go back to Melaka together. These two days' experience were again an eye opener for me to see miracles as a result of the love of God.

Transforming Our City Together (TOCT) Conference 2011 V

On the second day of TOCT, a visit to the La Salle Learning Centre at 52-K, Penang Road

was specially arranged for the Projek Harap Melaka team.

Named after John Baptist de La Salle, the centre is focused on "facilitating and providing opportunities for children to grow skills for control over their learning and living an envoronment founded on a humanistic philosophy and a careful methodology."

That morning, the founder of the centre Bro John D'Cruz was not around. Receiving us was the assistant coordinator Mr Stephen Saw. He explained to us their two-pronged learning approach and showed us the different facilities and simple materials to impart the ten skills namely 1.talking, 2.listening, 3.remembering, 4.spelling, 5.reading, 6.writing, 7.understanding, 8.counting, calculating and problem solving, 9.drawing and 10.doing craft.

"During the first half of the daily two-hour session, the learner practises the assigned three basic skills and during the next hour keeps to enrichment activities. The facilitators keep regular track of each learner's progress through a careful diagnosis of his level of competences, intervention and facilitation, monitoring and evaluation at each stage."

By this alternative methodology of learning, children who are unable to cope with the formal school system can work on their own, at their own pace and level, and learn to be independent. Their learning insecurities are minimised and eventually eradicated. As a result, they return to their school work with increased enthusiasm and are able to cope with their school environment.

We were led into a room where the students have one of their favorite activities--doing craft.

With just a little bit of creativity, a fast food paper bag was turned into an owl and a cake holder became a clock.

These educationally and socio-economically deprived students also have access to computers

and musical instruments.

The La Salle Learning Centre has been blessing underprivileged children since 1984 and their long experience with learners with "different learning styles" is now the foundation for an equally important approach with adult learners. After this short but interesting guided visit, the Projek Harap team had a better idea to run various activities for the preschoolers.