1,2,3...

Hello everyone. My name is Dima and i did my stint for K.I.D.S back in April. I believe it was the 28th & 29th. It was my first time there and I had no idea what to expect.

I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. Partly nervous, and partly because I was afraid I wouldn't be up in time for the 6.30am flight. Mazuin assured me I didn't need to prepare or bring anything specific for the trip. And so began the 3-hour journey from LCCT to Tawau airport.

Arwanto met us at the airport and drove us to Semporna. It was a pretty long drive, about an hour and a half. I noticed there weren't any street lights...I remember thinking it would be pretty scary driving through there at night. Anyways. We got to our chalet, dropped off our stuff, freshened up and headed to Kampung Bangau Bangau. Immediately, Mazuin called over some of the children there to get hold of Em.Gasuling, one of the committee members of the Kampung. The children brought over the K.I.D.S' teaching aids which were stored in En. Gasuling's house, and we began arranging the tables and chairs at the balai raya.

Apparently, Mazuin begin setting the classroom by sanitizing the tables with Dettol & Febreeze.
At this point I still didn;t know what we will be teaching and what my role will be. Then Mazuin began taking attendance as the students arrived at our first class. Mazuin started each session with hand sanitizer. We then  revised the alphabets A-L; first by asking them to write in their books, then by pointing out the correct flashcards, then by writing on the blackboard, and lastly by asking the children to form the letters with their friends by lying on the ground.

Its amazing how many children wanted to be in the class. I think we had 3 session that day, and some of the children tried to come in for a second round of class! Then even once we closed the doors and began class, people would be standing around and looking in from the surau next door....presumably trying to learn something. As mentioned earlier by others who've been to Kampung Bangau Bangau, not all the children were able to be signed up for our class. There's just too many of them!

When we finished that day, I was exhausted. I'm not used to dealing with so many children! Needless to say, I have newfound respect for kindergarten and primary school teachers. Mazuin and i had a nice seafood dinner, watched some tv and went to bed.

The next morning we checked out. Today we don't have Arwanto to help out so its just the 2 of us...or so we thought. Then we met Jojo. He was from the community, spoke the dialects and eager to volunteer! Apparently he's been wanting to do this a long time, but just hasn't quite found a proper channel.

The classes conducted today were pretty much the same except for the final session for the day. Mazuin tells me that this group of children are the 'Intermediate' group because they have mastered A-Z. And so, Mazuin decided to so a spelling test of just a few simple words. Those who passed were separated into a different group : Advanced....and i was to be their teacher. So for the final session, there were 2 separate classes : one with Mazuin teaching basic everyday words and the other with me & Jojo, teaching basic math. They were surprisingly good with their additions(+)! We did a few exercises, then proceeded with subtractions. And with that, we concluded the day....

We took a taxi to the airport, and later boarded our flight home. we arrived past midnight, I think. I was tired, that's for sure...I don't know how Mazuin was gonna find the energy to go to work the next morning. Hats off!

Shark @ Semporna

Malam sebelumnya..

Shark yang asalnya sangat teruja nak jumpa dengan kanak-kanak KIDS kat Kg Bangau-Bangau Sabah; tak bersedia sampaila sehari sebelum berangkat. Malam sebelum berangkat, Shark melilau dengan kawan mencari hand sanitizer and chalk. Actually Shark ingat ‘touch screen generation’ ni dah tak pakai kapur kat sekolah, rupanya Shark salah. Masih ada; Shark excited kot! ^_^. Dah lama tak conteng-conteng kat papan hitam.

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Hari pertama yang istimewa

‘…aku anak kampung, tiada perlajaran, kuli-kuli sahaja, memang tidak sepadan…’ –Jimmy Palikat

Lagu terkenal yang sangat synonym dengan Sabah.

Macam team K.I.D.S yang lain, Shark turun ke Sabah bersama-sama dengan Mazuin; tunjang K.I.D.S Malaysia. Perjalanan yang mengambil masa lebih lama dari sangkaan Shark ni berjalan dengan lancar dan selamat.

Di saat kami tiba di Lapangan Terbang Tawau, Arwanto dah pun menunggu dan dengan segera, kami bertolak ke Semporna. Perjalanan lebih kurang 2 jam untuk ke Semporna ini merentasi ladang-ladang kelapa sawit dan Arwanto sempat berkongsi kisah cerita sejarah nama Semporna kat kami. (Duta kecil Semporna ^_^).

Shark, Mazuin & Arwanto sampai tempat penginapan kami yang tak jauh daripada Kg Bangau-Bangau. Shark sempat solat & berdoa agar perjalanan pergi-balik kami berjalan dengan lancar dan dirahmati pencipta yang Maha Agung. Lepas makan, kami terus ke Kg Bangau-Bangau.

Macamana terujanya kanak-kanak mendapat gula-gula, macam tu jugalah terujanya Shark pabila kami sampai di Kg Bangau-Bangau. Kg Bangau-Bangau merupakan kampung atas air, maka, laluan jalan juga di atas air. –Pengalaman pertama buat Shark; EXCITED!!

Aktiviti dimulakan dengan sesi pendaftaran. Oleh kerana Mazuin dan Arwanto lebih berpengalaman dengan keadaan disini, Shark memainkan peranan mengambil gambar. Shark yang memang sukakan kanak-kanak sangat gembira melihat kanak-kanak Kg Bangau-Bangau yang kelihatan gembira dan tak sabar untuk memulakan kelas. Macam-macam gelagat yang Shark dapat lihat dan Shark sempat merakamnya dengan lensa kamera.

Selesai sesi pendaftaran dan susunan kumpulan, kelas dimulakan dengan ‘recall’ memori kanak-kanak ini dengan sesi perlajaran yang lepas, dari A-ke I. Kemudian, kelas diteruskan dengan mempelajari huruf baru; J,K,L.

Shark rasa kanak-kanak yang menghadiri kelas termasuk yang menumpang dengar di luar Balai Raya Kg Bangau-Bangau ni semuanya berseronok dengan kelas, sama seperti Shark.

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Pertemuan tidak disangka!

Selepas selesai kesemua kelas di hari pertama, Shark, Mazuin & Arwanto pulang ke tempat penginapan kami untuk mandi, berehat sebentar dan kemudiannya makan malam. Kami kemudiannya singgah di pasaraya disini mencari buku cerita khas untuk kanak-kanak K.I.D.S Malaysia. Rancangan kami adalah untuk mengasingkan kelas bagi kanak-kanak yang didapati telahpun sedia mahir dengan A-Z dan boleh membaca.

Pulang ke tempat penginapan,kami sedikit pelik melihat tempat letak kenderaan disekitar, penuh dengan kenderaan FWD. Kami membuat pelbagai andaian sehinggalah Arwanto kemudiannya memberitahu sesuatu yang membuat Shark & Mazuin ‘excited’. Jadi, untuk mengesahkan andaian yang dibuat, kami pun terus ke lobi untuk bertanya dengan staff tempat penginapanà semestinya sedikit lakonan terpaksa dibuat untuk menyembunyikan tujuan sebenar. Guess what…?? Its true! Wahhhh…. Menteri Luar Bandar & Wilayah merangkap ADUN Semporna dan rombongan sedang makan malam di restorant di tempat penginapan kami!!!!

‘Pucuk dicita, ulam mendatang’..’bagai mengantuk disorongkan bantal’…;sememangnya kami menunggu peluang untuk berjumpa Datuk Seri Mohd Shapie Apdal untuk berkongsi cerita impian K.I.D.S Malaysia dan semestinya kami mengharapkan sokongan beliau kepada K.I.D.S Malaysia.

Kami mengambil keputusan untuk menunggu dan ‘terjah’ selepas selesai makan malam beliau dengan rombongan. Dan………hehehehe…Berjaya! We able to get his PR phone no!!!! Alhamdulillah, dan semestinya selepas tu kami sangat gembira dan tidur dengan nyenyak; harapan kami agar Datuk Seri akan dapat membantu kami dalam usaha membantu kanak-kanak di Kg Bangau-Bangau ini. Kami percaya bahawa sokongan beliau sebagai ADUN Semporna & juga Menteri Luar Bandar & Wilayah akan membantu K.I.D.S untuk lebih pergi jauh. Shark harap segala urusan yang bakal dilakukan antara K.I.D.S dengan wakil Datuk Seri akan berjalan dengan baik dengan hasil yang positif. Ameen..

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Hari kedua – Selamat tinggal Kg Bangau-Bangau, Selamat tinggal murid-murid tersayang..<3 <3 <3

Dihari kedua yang indah di Semporna, kami meneruskan sesi yang sama dengan ahli kumpulan yang berbeza. Mempelajari abjad baru J,K & L serta mengulangi perlajaran yang lepas. Sesi disebelah petang sedikit berbeza disebabkan kami khaskan sesi tersebut untuk kanak-kanak yang didapati telahpun boleh membaca; sebahagiannya diajar oleh ibu bapa mereka sendiri.

Selesai keseluruhan sesi, kami bergegas terus ke Lapangan Terbang Tawau. Shark tidur sepanjang perjalanan dari Semporna ke Tawau; tiada lagi sesi perlajaran tentang sejarah Semporna ;).

Secara umumnya Shark sangat teruja dan bergembira sepanjang 2 hari di Semporna, terutamanya pabila diberi peluang untuk mengisi masa hujung minggu Shark dengan lebih bermanfaat seperti ini.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” 
― Albert Einstein

Shark rasakan hidup kanak-kanak di Kg Bangau-Bangau sangat istimewa. Shark sangat tak sangka untuk melihat bukan sahaja rumah-rumah penduduk Kg Bangau-Bangau di atas air, tetapi semua aktiviti juga dilakukan di atas air; kedai runcit, pasar, kedai kopi, ‘cyber café, dan lain-lain termasuk reban ayam! Shark ketawakan diri sendiri dan ‘tabik spring’ untuk kanak-kanak kecil dengan kaki kecil yang comel mampu berlari di atas jalan air yang berlubang-lubang ketika Shark terkapai-kapai dan menyebabkan laluan jalan menjadi jem sebab Shark bergerak lambat! Hahaha..

Shark percaya bahawa setiap kekurangan ada kelebihan dan setiap kelebihan ada kekurangan. Mereka hebat dengan hidup dan cara yang tersendiri. Kehadiran Team K.I.D.S di Kg Bangau-Bangau bukan sahaja untuk mendidik dan berkongsi ilmu, tapi, secara tak langsung, kami juga turut belajar sesuatu dari mereka.  Semoga K.I.D.S Malaysia akan terus maju kehadapan dengan momentum yang lebih baik, dengan lebih sokongan dan semangat dari semua warga Malaysia khususnya, demi kebaikan kita semua, rakyat Malaysia..dan generasi muda..PEACE.

-Shakira@Shark-

Sejuta Impian capsule - K.I.D.S Malaysia

The Journey of A Thousand Miles Start with a Single Step

The Journey of A Thousand Miles Start with a Single Step

BERTUAH.. Perkataan pertama sayadapat nyatakan sebab BERTUAH menjadi salah seorang tulang belakang PERTUBUHANini.. Bermula dari Program Sejuta Impian lagi, saya tertarik dengan ISU yangdibawa.. ‘STREET CHILDREN’.. Isu yang sangat asing bagi kita di sini.. Dalamhati terdetik ‘masih ada lagi ke kanak-kanak seperti ini di Malaysia?’

YA! Populasi paling ramai sekaliadalah di Sabah..

PELUANG.. Saya berPELUANG untukbertemu dan membuat program berbentuk pendidikan dengan kanak-kanak ini.. tidakmahu melepaskan peluang begitu sahaja, saya merancang sesi pembelajaran sebaikmungkin bersama rakan-rakan guru yang lain..

Hari pertama: saya memulakan sesipada hari itu.. sesi pertama je saya dah mula mengeluh kerana PENAT..hahaha..Mungkin kerana tidak cukup tidur dan berehat.. Tertanya-tanya bagaimana team yang lain menguruskan 15 sesi terusmenerus tanpa bantuan ramai Volunteers. Hahaha.. tp, bila saya lihat kepadakesungguhan dan semangat kanak-kanak tersebut untuk belajar, hati terusterdetik “Apa mereka akan jadi pada masa depan mereka jika keadaan iniberterusan?”

YES!!! THESE SCENARIO HAS BEEN THERE FOR 50 YEARS..SO, WE NEED MAKE ACHANGE!! NOW OR NEVER!!! –Mazuin dalam Sejuta Impian

Semangat terus membara untukmeneruskan sesi sehingga tepat pukul 6 petang. Pada pengamatan saya, ramai yangberbakat di situ. Oleh kerana saya diberi tugas untuk mengajar menari, sayamelihat ada beberapa org kanak-kanak yang memang boleh menari. Rasa macam naktarik je budak-budak tu kemudian ajar menari betul-betul sampai boleh buatshow..hahahahha… TUNGGULAHHH~ Inang, Zapin, Joget, Daling-daling semua akuajor…hahahha

Hari kedua: segalanya lebihteratur.. dan kelas berlangsung seperti biasa.. kanak-kanak tersebut ketawa,menjerit, menangis, berlari, menulis dan sebagainya membuatkan saya takhabis-habis tersenyum. Inilah LANGKAH PERMULAAN MEREKA SEBELUM MELANGKAHJAUHHHHHHH!!!!

Terima Kasih K.I.D.S Malaysia!!!

Learning more than A B C

Hi! My name isIryna and this is the story of my eye-opening experience to Sabah on the 18th & 19th of February 2012. A littleabout myself, I got involved with KIDS when Mazuin was preparing for herpresentation for Sejuta Impian, and it’s safe to say that once I opened thedoor to KIDS, I never looked back.

Let first startby saying that that the beginning of our trip was chaotic thanks to yours truly.

The day startedearly for me, I was so excited I was up at 4 am and was daydreaming about whatI will be doing there with the kids that I managed to be late to meet up withMazuin at her place (so much for commitment!). The first thing Mazuin commentedon was my huge bag but I also found out she didn’t sleep yet, with her jugglingwith work, studies and kids but the superwoman assured me that she’s fine and so our journey to Sabah begins.

When we reachedKLIA, my hope for smooth operations was dashed when the officer at the firstcheck point told me my bag was too big (my power of persuasion and innocentsmile didn’t work here). So, we rushed to the nearest store for a suitable bag,but that left another question, where can I leave my huge bag? Thankfully mysmile managed to get storekeeper to say ‘Yes’ to my request to keep my bagthere until I come back the next day. Did I mention that Mazuin laughed whenshe looks at the amount of things I have in the bag? The bag has so much emptyspace because I didn’t bring that much of stuff (I’ve been constantlytravelling and I didn’t have that much share of small bags, and unfortunatelythat was also the week that hubby choose to bring the one smaller bag , so thatdidn’t leave me with a lot of choice now, did it?)

As the clockticks, we rushed to the checkpoint for all the security checks and I prayedhard that everything from this point on goes smooth and there’s no need foranymore adrenaline rush for the day. Thankfully, my silent prayers were heardand we board the plane with no hassle at all. With so much excitement buildingin me, I let Mazuin have her much needed rest while I look out to see the skyburst out to life with different rays of colours and soon we were above theclouds. As we drift through the beautiful ‘cotton-candy-land’, I found myselffalling into slumber while looking forward to my first KIDS experience.

Ladyluck was really working her magic, we actually touched downat Tawau Airport earlier by 15 minutes, met Arwanto and we were off to ourhotel to check in at our hotel. We managed to have quite a lot of time on our hands that we were able to stop to buy the supplies that we needed as well as foran early lunch due to my condition (I’m expecting :p). Afterwards, we were off to KgBangau-Bangau and to be quite honest, nothing quite prepared me for what Iwaited for me here. I’ve seen photos from the earlier members of course, buttrust me when I say this; those photos didn’t do justice to the reality of theplace.

We were greetedby beautiful houses at first which quickly change into shop houses andafterwards houses get smaller and smaller as you walk on. Please bear inmind that all these houses are built on some wooden platform. The path that wewalk on to reach our destination was full of holes that leads you straight downto the water below, the more we walk on the bigger the holes and at one point duringthe walk, I had to walk on one small platform. I remembered just looking downto see where I was putting my feet that I almost accidently bumped into a girl.

However, all ofthese were forgotten once we reached our destination and all I could hear andsee were children shouts of joy and their smiling faces. I remembered gawkingfor a full five seconds because no words could describe my mix feelings becausethey made me happy and sad at the same time. And the best part was when I mentioned this to Mazuin, she told me Aswad and Sha experience was scarier than the rest of us because they both had to venture out to the very end of the wooden path which did not just get narrower, the path leading to their houses were on one small platform (YIKES!). But do not be alarmed, these people are called 'Bajau Laut' because their way of life once upon a time ago was to live out at the sea, and as according to one boy that I talked to, in the olden ways, once a baby was born, they would be thrown out to the sea and after some time the parents would fetch them back. Reason for this tradition is to get the baby to be acquainted with the sea which is their livelihood (Malaysian are so full of colours and traditions, I doubt one book can cover it all!)

The first thingthat we did was arranged the tables and chair and then sanitized the tableswhile Arwanto call out names for the first class. The instruction for the kidswere simple, once their name were called, enter and place their shoes at theside and then sit down while we get the class to be full. It didn’t take morethan five minutes for the whole place to be full and noisy (strangely, therewere more noise from the outside rather than inside). The class started byteaching them about cleanliness by teaching them the correct way to clean theirhands with a sanitizer (after some point, I wonder if the sanitizer were whatkeeps these kids in the classroom, they love it!). Then we got down to businessof recalling what they previously learned and proceed to see how they haveprogressed. Our mission this week was to segregate the kids based on theirprogressed. After identifying the kids who progressed faster as well as thosewho was already exposed to all of the alphabets, we then asked them to leavethe class and come the next day. Then we concentrate on the kids remaining inthe classroom to get them well acquainted with alphabets from A – F. After thehour was up, we reminded them again of cleanliness and when they should washtheir hands before we let them go off.

The cyclerepeated itself every hour until our last session at 6 p.m. When it was timefor us to go back, I could see Mazuin’s tired but satisfied face when the lastof the kids left and packed to go back to our hotel (our superwoman didn’t takea single break or sit down once at all!). That explains why she didn’t bothergoing for dinner and recuperate until the very next day.

As according toMazuin, the time in Sabah is different as compared to Peninsular Malaysia,apparently life here starts at 5 am. So I set my alarm at and got up at 5.30 amin the hopes to enjoy the morning in Sabah and already I was greeted with themorning sun. We checked out at 7.30 am and I experienced the most peculiarbreakfast menu served by a lodging – fried banana and tea! Arwanto explained thatSabah economy is different from the Peninsular, hence the menu.

The second dayis quite different, at least for me, it is different. I no longer tiptoe aroundthe pathway, but walk just like everyone else (I might not be able to walk blindfoldedlike the residents of Kg Bangau-Bangau but at least I walk without the dauntingfeeling of falling down like the day before) and I think that is something tobe proud of!

Today, insteadof helping Mazuin with the class, I helped Arwanto as we sort out and assigndifferent child to different class. We also extend our cleanliness preach byclipping long fingernails. The morning class for day two isn’t that muchdifferent with the previous session. The different started at the 2 o’clockclass where the advanced kids attended it. In this class, all have passed thetest of writing all o beof the alphabets. We separate them by identifying who canread and who can’t. Mazuin took the task to teach the half who hasn’t masteredthe ability to read while I was in charge for the writing class. I wanted toknow their knowledge of forming different words as well as their power to spellwords, so I gave them a series of four vowels words to test their power offorming the correct words then proceed to giving them word play. Lastly, I setthem into three teams of five and gave each team a task to form different wordsfrom one long word, to encourage them further, a prize was promised for theteam that wins. The funniest part of the little competition was that thewinning team gave the least amount of words as compared to the two other teamswho wrote quite a long list of words, but alas most of it was wrongly spelled.However, the fun of putting the heads together seems to be more fun thangetting the prize.

As we packed toleave Kg Bangau-Bangau, I realised that I didn’t just come here to teach thesekids, they taught me about modesty and simplicity. Among some of the thingsthat I will remember for life would be of one of our willing little helper whoasked me if he could follow me home because he saw a couple of notes in mypurse when I gave him money to buy drinks for us. The fact that he asked thisexplains to me that he didn’t mind to lead a different life, and in truth heshould lead a different life, a life that is being enjoyed by most Malaysianskids, a life that I myself lead, I was educated since the age of five. I didn’tthink of it as a privilege, not until I met these kids.

Regardless of theirparents or their condition, the deserved to be educated. These kids are so full of colours, they are honest and so different from the kids in Peninsular. Every once in a while you will hear a splash and it wasn't that someone fell down, in reality it was actually some kid diving into the water. Trust me when I say this, I felt very much like a fish out of water here but I still recommend anyone to come here and enjoy their way of life, it is indeed a breath of fresh air! I recalled some of the kidswho eagerly come to the class came without shoes, and when asked said that heor she don’t own any shoe. One incident that almost breaks my heart was of aboy, he was leaving the class carrying his shoes, I told him to wear his shoesonly to realise that the sole of the shoes was badly torn. Since we preachedfor cleanliness, I put on the shoes on him nevertheless and told him to getanother shoes the next time.

A mom-to-be myself, I don't believe I would want my own child to go thru what these kids have to go thru and hope that others share what I feel. All in all, Ihope that we would get more people to join in as our volunteer and help us inour mission to see these kids get what they deserved, a childhood filled withfun, education, and good health.