session 5 and subsequent sessions at Budriah

we will have session 5 this sat (jun 27) with the training session on thu (jun 25) at 4 om in room C21.

the coming sessions are on july 4 (6th), july 25 (7th), aug 1 (8th) and aug 8 (9th & last)

session 4 - only in june!

next session (4th) will only be on june 27, almost a two-month gap. group in charge of session 4 is mr james' sweet & sensible (aww...)

My Reflection

This post is kind of overdue, and I got lazy, but was motivated to write something because of you, DHEVIA! Well, having the 6 'cupcakes' over was a blessing too. Toiletries, nah, it wasn't bothersome, it gave me a feel of what it would be like raising teens (counting down 12 more years for Jay Vann).

It is not true that teachers teach all the time. I am sure any teacher would agree with me that, we learn a lot from our students and yes, I learnt from all of you tremendously.

I was always complaining of how much I have to handle, how much I have to do but little did I realize that this bunch of teenagers whom I was working with, had even more to handle and not forgetting expectations to meet. Yet, each and every task assigned to you was tackled at your best. I salute the strength and effort all the Budriah volunteers have. You could have chosen to remain in your comfort zone like your peers. Why get involve in activities that will take so much of your time. Isn't it better to stay in Casa on Saturday, do some laundry, catch up on sleep, work on the unfinished assignments, but NO! You chose to be there at Budriah, and that has touched the lives of so many people.

The selflessness in the the volunteers is a lesson I, as a teacher, obtained.

Let's look forward to the sessions to come!

Cheers!

sharing your experiences

hi all, firstly, thank you for a job well done. the bonding that you all have managed to forge with your kiddies is invaluable; you have made a difference.

any thoughts/experience that you would like to share? this can serve as 'your journal' as well. please feel free to write and email it to me, i will then post it up for you.

for those of you with a story to tell, with name of child, gin kye would like to hear from you. you can email me and say that it is for gin kye only.

have a good week ahead.

'my experience' from Dhevia Kalyana Sundram

The 25th of April marked our 3rd session at Tengku Budriah. It had been 3 weeks since we had last seen the kids. I couldn't help but miss the racket, laughter and smiles.

This is extremely delayed and was really meant for after the 4th. Nevertheless: A BIG THANK YOU TO our lovely MS. SHARON! Our second session wouldn't have been possible without your encouragement, support and baking expertise! The cupcakes were most definitely a success. I'm sure everyone would agree that it wouldn't have been easy putting up with 6 teenagers who conveniently forgot to bring along toiletries. 6 teenagers who had to be marched off to the showers and who had appetites of grown men. Thank you for having us over, we had the absolute best time!on behalf of the cupcakes, bucketfuls of LOVE to you mommy sharon! :D

Thumbs up to chaiwallah for a smooth-running session. Job well done guys. Pointers we can all most certainly learn from.

The children of Tengku Budriah have moved me in many ways. The lesson this week proved to be highly useful in allowing the children to open up to us even more; love conquers all. Whilst talking to one child in particular, i noticed that he had a mark on his wrist, what i assumed to be a souvenir from an accident. Unfortunately, my guess was wrong. Upon questioning him, he explained that it was because of abuse. Pain that he had endured because of his father. To be honest, i felt a certain hatred for the man. Who would do that to a child, their own flesh and blood? I could not bring myself to condone such an action, whatever the circumstances may have been.

Curiously, i asked him if he was angry with his father and whether the person who caused him such distress was forgiven. his answer, YES. i asked him if he loved his father. his genuine, heartfelt answer, "YA, SAYA MASIH SAYANG AYAH." I felt the tears welling up. Determined not to let him see me cry, i sent him off to return his journal.

While relating the incident to a fellow Cupcake, i started to sob. The little boy came back and i'm sure was horror stricken to see a kakak crying. I convinced him it was nothing but dust in my eyes. This child was selfless and forgiving. Half of which most of us fail to be. The lesson may have taught him well but the generosity he had, was innate. I secretly feel downright ashamed of myself. Reminiscing the endless occasions where i blamed everything on a bad day or mood.

Despite having gone through so much, not once had i seen him sulk or throw a tantrum. He is, by my standards one of the most cheerful, polite children i have met. his parting words to me were written in his journal for he still is somewhat shy. "Saya sangat gembira hari ini. Saya akan tunggu sehingga kakak balik lagi."

A simple gesture that put a smile on my face and reminded me of how the exhaustion i felt was more than worthwhile. I feel privileged to have met this child. I will always be proud of him. We speak of angels roaming the earth all the time. He may just be one of them.

Who says angels don't come in miniature, beautiful packages? My best wishes to that little boy. He will, without a doubt grow up to be an admirable man. GOD BLESS.

Signing off with more thank yous to everyone involved in madu. I couldn't be happier spending every other Saturday running around and doing the chicken dance :)

Dhevia Kalyana Sundram, 08J7.

Session 3 POSTPONED!

please note that tomorrow's session has been postponed to april 25th, as the kiddies have to go to school for replacement classes.
all arrangements for this session on april 25th will be as status quo.
you guys are all doing a great job, keep it up!
remember to write down your experiences and email them to me.

Many Thanks to You!

Here comes the long awaited and delayed word of thanks to all of you who put your heart and soul into making Session 2 a success, especially to Cupcakes and the Skit actors. This time round was more organized and the children were less rowdy, which was a job well done by all of you. From observation, there are a few things which need our attention.

1. ALL group leaders MUST attend training sessions. If a leader cannot make it, please send a team member.

2. Please READ lesson plan before training.

Well, that's all I guess. Anyway, good luck to Chaiwallah this week!

Training for Session 3 - April 11th

just a gentle reminder that there will be a training session this tuesday (tomorrow) at 3 pm in room C25.

Present should include:

1. chaiwallah team members
2. all group leaders (if you cannot attend the whole session, please send a rep, and do take notes!)
3. all actors

group leaders, please ensure that all name tags are ready for use, and remind your members that they need to bring their own tags.

Experience gained at Budriah's house(Ernie Haslinda)

March 21, 2009

Today we went to tengku budriah’s house. I thought it would be a boring visit. Surprisingly, it was not. I was in the “sweet and sensible” group. We were assigned to teach the kids how to write a journal. I got paired up with a boy named P. P is an obedient boy and he was easy to talk with. During the journal writing, he told a lot about her mother. I began with asking him whether he likes it there or not, he said he wanted to stay with her mother, but her mother was working. I didn’t dare to ask about his father, though because he kept on telling me about his mother. Then, he said he wanted to be a dentist because his mother encouraged him to. I could see that he loves his mother very much and he told me a very saddening story regarding a son turning his back on his mother. I saw bruises on his arms so I asked him what happened to his arms. He said it was the mosquitoes biting, but I doubt it was the mosquitoes.

P being bullied at school

I asked him whether he has ever been bullied before. He said at school, he was always being bullied by the older boys, primary 6 specifically, pinching him until his arms bleed. The older boys also teased about his father. He said he felt so upset and angry (“sakit hati” is what he said). He told me that repeatedly. I replied to him that the ones who are bullying people are the ones who feel weak inside and they bullied to seek power for their self survival. I advised him to stay away from the bullies and try to avoid from making any contacts with them. I said he has a loving mom, healthy physically and blessed with education; that he is lucky enough to have all these. Therefore, there is no reason to bully other people.

Session 2 - April 4th

tuesday
training for session 2 is on today at 3 pm in room c25. michael and andy will be conducting the training. cupcakes members, group leaders and actors need to attend.

saturday
bus will pick us up at the maingate of the college at 8.15 am (please do not be late) and will then proceed to casa subang. session will be shorter this time, so we should be back by 12.30 pm.

message from gin kye

gin kye has this message to share with all volunteers, as a gentle reminder.

"things to do for the learning & sharing session:

1. volunteers to journal and share their service experience or lesson learnt with group for mutual encouragement.
2. on a no-name basis, share with group any life sharing/inspirations on lesson topic by kids with volunteers or breakthroughs during session.
3. write down description of significant event/moment, observations and progress of kid with name of kid identified solely for yellow house to plan follow up intervention for specific kid if necessary-this document will be confidential and compiled for our keeping."

'my experience' from Azratul Farhan

Today was a very beautiful day for me. I was involved in a charity activity at Tengku Budriah Charity Home at Cheras (service-learning activity) and it was very fun and interactive. With lots of children of age from 11 to 12 years old around me, i felt like i was in the kindergarten back 10 years before. hehe...

first arriving there, we were greeted by the guardian and caregivers and it felt so welcoming!! =) We started the activity with a welcoming talk from Farah and Doon. They were so fun and the children keep gigling and laughing with their humour. We also did not forget to support them by joining the activity. They set up a rule for the children to obey along the activities were carried out. All the children seem to love them.

Then, we were singing songs and playing games. It was so enjoyable, and all the children and the volunteers were taking part in it. Next, we also did a skit on bully.. it was a continuous skit, where we will continue the skit every time we get there. The children being so silent during the skit was being played in front of them.

One of the trainer told us that the silence situation show us that all the children were connected to it (I mean bully).. the children may have experienced the same situation as what was being played in the skit before.

So, next activity should be the most important part in this session. It was the lesson part, was conducted by me (Azra) and Aisyah. We was told to emphasize the meaning of bully to them. So, we started the lesson with asking them how was the skit.. They answered that it was fantastic. Then, we defined what is bully to them. Since, they were children and we thought maybe they may have some difficulties to understand us, we then showed them some bullying act and asked them whether it is a bully act or not. Then, we taught them the lessons for that day.. we hope that they really could understand very well and got the message that we want to tell them at the end of the day.

Journaling time comes next. Actually, it was the time for us to know them closely one by one. And, my group got the male bullies kids. We took the challenge to know them, and to open an oppurtunity for them to share their problems or experinced maybe. But, since it was our first session with them, we didn't expect it too much. The session worked out very well and i could say that most of the children do have a very good creativity and very artistic!!!they even a better artist than us, i could say..

Now, i come to the part where i want to share a story told by one of the children there. The children is a little girl named A. She is 12 years old and just entered the home 2 months ago. She said that her parents were not married and they were involved in pre-marital sex. She is the only child and she told me she felt so lonely staying in the home. Most of the girls there had been staying there for a quite long time compared to her. So, she was being left out and she was being bullied by them. A did share her story with me that she is waiting for any relatives to take her home. But, it seems that no one willing to take care of her. ( i felt so sad as i was thinking that she just like my lil sis, almost the same age). =(I gave her some advices to comfort her and make her feel better. And, i even give her ways on how to avoid the bullies. I felt so closed to her and in the end she did ask me when we will come back there. She said she will always wait for us~~

This was the best starter for me to carry one with this life-long journey of improving my self by helping others in need.I do love this activity so much and i hope the children will have the courage to share their problems with us.Then, maybe we can help them to overcome it..
Thank you..Azratul Farhan.

'my experience' from farah husna

March 21, 2009

We went to Tunku Budriah today. This was the culminating event after a few practices we had. The hardest part of all was to apply what we learnt.

As the person who was in charge of the welcoming session, Doon and I started the day with some simple activities; we taught them how to cheer and high five. They energetically did all the cheers and the reaction was very predictable; my little brother would have behaved the same way too.

So, we continued the session with playing a game of spelling out letters with butt. Things went quite hectic, but thanks to the other member of the team, all the children were in control. I learnt something very valuable today, we must get connected to the children, ALWAYS, so that they will trust us and slowly starts to remove all the barriers separating us from them. I’m amazed. They must have been through lots of incidents in their life.

Then, we sang songs together such as I Love You, Touch Your Nose and I Wanna Walk Wawa. We danced and the kids liked it too. Anyway, I really do need to improve on my stamina next time.

Next, we played ‘potato chips and sticky notes on forehead’ game. I noticed a little boy sitting on a chair at the back alone, so I approached him. He refused to talk or even look at me. When I tapped on his shoulder gently, he tried to avoid me. “This is tough”, I said to myself. So, I consistently persuade him to play games together, gently. Finally, with the little husky voice of his, he told me, he wanted to play racing car games in mobile phones. I convinced him that none of us have mobile phones. He still refused to mingle with others. So, I decided to company him and we started to talk about cars. His smile was very precious to me and I believed he was actually trying to seek for attention, as kids normally do. He did not play with others, but at least, through out the session, he played with me.

The skit was one of my favourites. Everyone was very funny, and the message was clear. The kids were entertained as I did. I sat with the racing-car-boy. He said the play was boring, but at the same time he laughed at Big Sista. So I just ignore his statement and laugh together with him.

During the lesson session, Azra and Aishah had no problem in presenting their points, the kids were very interactive and they can easily memorise all characters from the skit. the racing-car-boy did too. The lesson was:
1. Bully can happen to anyone.
2. Know people who are involve in bully.

The journaling session was fun. A, my little partner, was sulking because he wanted to have more magic pen. It was difficult at first, but I tried my very best and searched for the magic pen he was talking about. Later, he was again motivated to the journaling because his interest had always been drawing. He complemented on my colourful journal, I was very pleased. Then, he went to take his personal journal and showed it to me. The journal was full of stickers and some pictures of him. He really does like stickers, perhaps I can bring some stickers to him next time, in case he would be sulking again.

He can’t spell very well. So I draw an image of people bullying in his journal. I was surprised to know that he was actively involved in physical fights at school. I tried to hide my feelings and listen to him; I realized that this was very important to both of us as we are in the process of opening our heart. His parents are divorced, and his father is imprisoned for abusing his siblings with melted rubber wire. That was the main reason for him to be aggressive. I explained softly to him on how he felt towards his father is the same as those who has been beaten by him. So, I asked him to cross out the picture of people bullying that I have drawn just now. Hopefully, he will learn that being rude to others is also a type of bully and need to be avoided.

Finally, after everyone had given their very best to run this program, it was the closing section. We did the chicken dance and they are very good at it. I am very happy to see their smiling faces, indicating that they are enjoying our programme. Thus, that wrapped up our session for today and I am looking forward for the next session. Hopefully, things will get better and I know I am working with an excellent group of people consisting of students and lecturers.

p/s : We forgot to do the marking system.

Session 1 - Fantastic!

firstly, i would like to thank all volunteers for a job well done and also a big thank you to the dumplings for setting such a high bar for the rest of us! you guys did a fantastic job on sat, well done!!

just an observation; when the skit started, i noticed the kiddies weren't paying much attention when it was just the first scene where the four friends were talking amongst themselves. but when macho and roti came in and macho started pushing and shoving ah teh, my word, silence descended amongst the kiddies and they were all suddenly glued to what was happening in front! i can only conclude that it was a scene that they could all relate to, and hence the attention!

anyway, a few announcements:

1. dates of all sessions are as follows (please note):
session date group-in-charge teachers accompanying
2 apr 4 cupcakes macrina, sharon
3 apr 11 chaiwallah cherilyn, james
4 jun ?? sweet & sensible cherilyn, james (this date is not confirmed)
5 jun 27 mcbuddies adeline, christine
6 jul 4 gen bus sekolah adeline, christine
7 jul 25 dumplings macrina, sharon
8 aug 1 cupcakes macrina, sharon
9 aug 8 all (celebration) all

2. lesson plans
we hope to get the lesson plan for each session earlier so that we know what's happening. training sessions will be held on the tuesday of the week of the session (ie. next training session for cupcakes, all actors, and all group leaders will be on mar 31, 3 pm)

3. sharing
for many of us, the session on sat was a real eye-opener and i am sure that we were all touched in one way or another by the kiddies that we met. i would like to invite each of you to share your experiences with others by writing your thoughts down and email them to me. i will them post them up on this blog. please do contribute, and this will also serve as s 'journal' of sorts for us and for you to look back on. my email is christinechin25@gmail.com (please see next posting for two 'articles' from two volunteers) i have omitted the name of the child.

4. in confidence
gin kye has requested that if any one of the kids shared a story with you about bullying, please write it down, identify the kid and email it to me, and i will email it to gin kye. this will NOT be shared with others but only myself and gin kye will know who the kid is. the purpose is so that at the end of the program, if he knows specifically how a particular kid was/is affected by bullying then he can develope a 'custom-made' program to help this child. for example, farah had a fantastic story to share, and the name of child will only be known to the two of us.

5. please do not mention the fact that munited lost the match!!

have a good week guys

UPDATES ON TRAINING SESSION 1

Good morning. Here’s a quick update on what happened at the training session yesterday and who is doing what:

PROGRAM FOR SAT STUDENT
1. Welcome/Ice-breaker Doon
2. Songs Mun Yi & Nadia
3. Games Shu Lyn
4. Skit The Gang (please refer below)
5. Lesson Aishah & Farah
6. Journalling All
7. Closing Doon


The gang for the skit comprises of,

1 Macho - Ronald
2 Ah Meng – Aisar
3 Roti – Lin Inn
4 Big Sista – Moo Sook Kuan
5 Canai – Aisyah
6 Capati – Erni
7 Puspa – Divya
8 Tarik – Isa
9 Teh – Ui Kee

Next rehearsal, under the guidance of Director James, will be this Thu at 4 pm. Venue to be confirmed later.

Please note that
1. you will have to be at the guardhouse by 8.30 am (latest) this sat, and we expect to be back at the college by 2 pm (latest).
2. you will be given some notes that you need to read up before sat.
3. ask your group leader for a copy of the Lesson Plan which will detail all the activities for this sat.

first session on march 21st

we are pleased and excited to confirm that the first session at budriah is on march 21st!

please see below for an excerpt from gin kye's recent email:

"Lesson 1 is an introduction the Bully-Free program but the focus for Session 1 is really to connect, bond and establish trust with the kids as the foundation for future sessions. Please note that the group in-charge will have to meet up first to discuss, plan and prepare before our actual facilitation on Mar 16 with the attached lesson plan and the relevant pages of the Bully-Free Text, otherwise there won't be much we can work with on March 16 itself. Your students will be leading and implementing the sessions and we will only be supporting them on implementation day at the orphanage.

Please select the actors/actresses amongst your students for the skit characters as suggested in the Lesson plan. The skit will be continuing for all the sessions with mostly with the same characters. The lead actors/actresses selected will have to be there for all sessions. And it will be good if the actors/actresses can be present at the beginning of each facilitation session to get the overall idea of thelanning but they do not need to stay for the session facilitation itself"

i do not yet know how to attach documents to this blog ;), so i am afraid that group 1 (leader is ong mun yi from G9) who is in charge of this session will have to get the lesson plan 1 off your advisor, ms macrina.
the leaders of the other groups please get one copy of this lesson plan from your respective teachers as soon as possible so that you can discuss amongst your members.

some groups still have not given their groups a name; group 1, 3 and 5. can you think of a nice and catchy name for your group and inform your teachers accordingly please? thanks

first training session for all members of group 1 and leaders from all groups, including now the actors and actresses will be on march 16th monday at 3 pm. venue to be confirmed later.

for any other details please see your teacher advisors.

budriah to begin next month

hi guys,

just to inform you that there is no session this sat (feb 28th) and we will likely start the first session only on march 21st. this date is still tentative, once we hear from gin kye, we will inform you.

groups

Session Group Name Name of Student Class Teacher-in-charge
1 *Ong Mun Yi - 012 9128782 (Leader) G9 Ms Macrina (016 2080043) Sze Hui Yeng
G9


Chia Shu Lyn
G9



Doon Yoke Ting
G9



Ong Ker Min
G9






2
Cupcakes
*Dhevia K.- 017 3831935
08J7
Ms Sharon
(016 6688687)


Fathin Nabila
08J7


Nurul Zahidah
08J7



Thye Zhi Xian
08J7



Siti Khadijah
08J7






3

*Mohammed Isa Bin Zainal - 071 3329792
08J6
Ms Cherilyn (016 3157275)



Dwee Lin Inn
08J6


Muhammad Aisar Bin Mohammad Yusop
08J6



Moo Sook Kuan
08J6



Neoh Yi Wen
08J6






4
Sweet & Sensible
*Nadhrah Atiqah - 017 3476232
S7
Mr James (?)


Ronald Tan Huai-Sheng
S7



Cheah Ui Kee
S7



Yvonne Lin Li En
S7



*Farah Husna Mohd Nazri - 017 4179954
08J1



Ernie Haslinda bt Ibrahim
08J1



Azratul Farhan Che Abd Ghani
08J1






5

*Nur Aisyah Md Ibrahim - 017 6528085
08J1
Ms Adeline (012 2907422)



Manissa binti Sufian
08J1


Nadhirah Abd Halim
08J1



Fauziah Roslan
08J1



Nur Amalina Dinee
08J1



Nadiah bt Jaffar
08J1






6
Geng Bus Sekolah
*Siti Aisyah - 071 3637201
08J11
Ms Christine (012 2080019)



Nurul Anyza
08J11


Syazwani bt Suhaimy
08J11



Nurul Hidayah Puteri
08J11



Nur Atiqah
08J11



Nurul Aqeelah
08J11



Nurulain Bt Melan
08J11



Siti Hajar Hamzah
08J11

Training session no.1

training this wed (feb 18th) at 3.30 pm in room C28. see you there!

ms christine