Author: Lin

We are excited at the opening  of more literacy centers  in 2011.  But what is more exciting for me at the moment is the last leg of our teacher  training.  All throughout the year we have had a series of trainings to equip our mothers in the community to teach their children. Last week we had the teacher  training for the Basic Literacy Program. Know what excited me?

Joining this batch of teacher candidates were the cream of the crop of our first batch of students  who joined when we started this program in  July 2008.  Look at their class picture.  I never doubted that these kids will make it.

The fourth boy in the front row is Ronnie. I wrote about him before.  He was the kid who was all soaked by the rain but still did not want to miss class. He used to work in a construction site so that he can help put food on the table for their family.

And this is Ronnie now.

He is one of our two official tour guides from his kampong.  The other one is Angelica, his classmate, second girl from the left.  I remember how they  rehearsed what to say,  how to answer  questions.  And how they were able to stand their ground  when the visitors came to their learning center.  By that I mean, being able to express themselves  in English and answer the guests’ questions in English.  That picture of Ronnie was taken when we had visitors from Singapore.

I looked at their batch picture again.  Four of them are joining the teacher training. Soon I will be writing  about how these young learners teach others to learn. Not bad. We teach others to read and write, and soon they teach others to read and write, too. Not bad at all.

Our new assistant teachers will continue with their own schooling under our tutorial program.

With the literacy classes on a break until January 2011,  livelihood class in Basic Sewing 1 opened this month.  The classes are divided between young teens and mothers who have been asking us to teach them this trade for quite some time now. Finally  our first batch,  is now learning after two sewing machines arrived at our center  courtesy of a wonderful couple who gave us a gift of us$223.00.

In this part of Sabah, textile is not expensive but  one has to pay us$11.00 or more to get a baju kurung sewn.  Simple curtains and pillow cases fetch a hefty sewing price too.  Imagine if you have 7 children you need to dress up for Hari Raya!  I can understand why the mothers have been literally begging us for this class.

A sewing class so they could dress up their own kids to minimize their expenses?  No sir!  They are into making it a possible source of income too!

So each day now, its putting those feet to pedal-  those fingers to guide and stitching back and forth.For now,  it’s as simple as making a tuition bag for the kids come January opening.

Soon, hopefully we could accept your orders for baju kurung!

What is a gold coated medal worth to you? It depends on the event where you earned it, others will say. The athletes who gave their time, talents and life to train to compete in the sport they excel in know the elation that a medal brings.

To others who compete in academic challenges, the feelings would be somehow the same.

To a kid who never once dreamed that she could really go to school and learn to read and write, earning a certificate as proof that she passed was truly awesome. But to top it all, getting a medal for belonging to the top 10 of around 200 kids is really something. After all for these kids in Sabah, their parents thought it was impossible for their kids to learn. Not that they did not want to, but because they are undocumented kids.

This boy is Badawi. Ten months ago, he cannot read nor write until the learning center opened at his kampong. For most of the boys his age, they would shy away from the center because they feel that they are too big already to learn. Not Badawi. He goes to work in the morning and attends the afternoon class. Last time when we had dentists friends visiting, he was a very much reliable dental assistant. We knew that time that another world aside from his kampong opened in his mind. That he could be someone other than the boy who gets paid lifting heavy things or washing pots and pans.

It was another milestone when his efforts paid off. He passed the Basic Literacy Program and was one of those on top of his class. His teacher was very proud, and of course his parents too. But I think no one was happier than Badawi that day. He knew this was just a beginning of another road ahead.