Blazing New Trail......

Project MADE in her bid to assist more families who are  poor & underprivileged has added on new families. In 2012 - with the help of various enthusiastic & helpful Contact Persons - we have added The Ijok Feeding Program & The Bukit Rotan Baru (BRB) Feeding Program. These 2 programs served 2 different sets of families. In total we are now serving 35 families in these 2 areas.

On Wed, 22/ 2/ 2012 - Project MADE visited 10 families in Ijok. These families were spread far apart in the various kampungs in Ijok. We started from Damansara at 7:30 am and ended at 2:30 pm. All that driving into the estates & kampungs was quite challenging & tiring but seeing the the gratitude & smiles etched on the families' faces - it all seemed to be worth it!

Check out the pix below & the accompanying captions for the rest of the story and our adventures.

Above: Some of the families which Project MADE visited. They consisted of single mothers, disabled elderly folks and the very poor. Puan Marni & her Contributor Friend contributed RM100 to the families.

Above: "The Dragon" - Project MADE's Ride filled with bags of rice, boxes of milk powder & Grocery Bags. For the Ijok Feeding Prog - we provided each family with rice, wheat flour, meehoon, sugar, salt, sardine & tea.

Above: Marni chatting away with the families in Pasir Tuntong. From these little chats we are able to peek into their private lives. It is amazing to see such poverty in Malaysia. Even after meeting so many families in my line of work - I still find it heart rending to see Malaysians living in appalling conditions...

Above: Haji Baharom - the Village Head entering into one of the houses. This particular house had a very rickety staircase and plenty of holes. Reminds me of the house in "The 3 Little Pigs"......

 Above: Project MADE took a detour from the Feeding Program to visit her "Baby School" - SRK (Tamil) Bukit Rotan Baru. We delivered Japlo Growing Up Milk Powder to the Pre Schoolers & Std. One Kidz. On top of that we brought some stationery for the Pre Schooler Class. Pix: Puan Marni - a friend of Project MADE presenting the milk powder to the delighted BRB Kidz (Bukit Rotan Baru Kidz). Shealso presented the box ox of stationery consisting of pencils, colour pencils, erasers, sharpener, rulers, glue sticks, scissors to the Home Room Teacher. Looking on En. Shukor - the HM & Mdm. Kanni - the Senior Assistant. 

Above: The "bestest' part of Project MADE's Mission @ Ijok was a stopover at Warong Wak Din - the local coffee shack. we had a brief respite from the heat there. Warong Wak Din sells all sorts of yummy, mouth watering food from Nasi Lemak Bungkus and Lontong to White Rice with  Lauk Pauk Kampung style. We were spoiled for choice. After a much "mind-boggling" deliberation I chose Lontong topped with Sambal Sotong! That was the hardest decision I had to make on that day! I also made a new friend in a little girl at the Warong. Check out the the pix.

Above: Encik Rosli & Haji Baharom who is the Village Head of Ijok. Without these 2 men of hearts - Project MADE will not be able to blaze a new trail .... Thank You, gentlemen!

NB/ Being born & bred in the city - a throughbred city girl : I must say "shame-facefully" - that I have no understanding & inkling of the Malay Kampung Life. Before meeting Haji Baharom - I had in mind an elderly skull-capped & sarong clad 70ish old man. To my surprise - the Ketua Kampung whom I was introduced to was a suave, English-speaking, educated gentleman zipping around the kampung in a nice ride.  As for his dressing - he was smartly attired in a batik shirt & nice pair of black shoes!

Our gratitude to our Sponsors: Puan Siti Hajar & family, SNF, Sri KDU Secondary Sch. To our friends: Puan Marni, En. Hashim bin Abdullah, En. Rosli, Haji Baharom. They have made all these possible. Thank you for making a difference!

Making New Friends....

Project MADE has a mission to assist the poor & the underprivileged regardless of race, religion, culture OR politcal beliefs. Our stables of families consisted of Indians, Malays, Chinese & Orang Asli. It has always been our wishes to assist fellow Immigrants who are in this country seeking refuge. 

Today - Thurs, 16/ 2/ 2012 - to our delight our wishes came thorough. Together with our Sister NGO 1M 1C,  PM visited The HELP Community in Kepong. The Help Community Learning Centre is an informal school for the Burmese Refugee Immigrant Children.

These children came to Malaysia with their parents. Their parents are either political refugees OR economic refugees. They have no intention of settling in Malaysia but treat Malaysia as their transit point before being placed in first world countries - eg. Australia, United States of America, Holland, Denmark, Finland, Germany. 

Upon arrival in Malaysia - they register themselves with the United Nations High Commisioner for Refugees, in KL. They will then be  they issued with a UNHCR Card. However, this is where the problems begin, Malaysia do NOT recognize these Immigrants since most of them entered Malaysia illegally - ie. without proper legal documentation. Malaysia also do not recognize the UNHCR Card, hence these immigrants are labelled as "illegal immigrants". 

Illegal immigrants have no rights under the Malaysian Law. They are not able to work legally. Their children are not entittled to an education neither are they entittled to medical treatment at the Hospitals. In a layman's term they are "stateless" and in a limbo.  

The saddest part is that the children are dragged into these miseries as well. HELP Community is just one of the many schools for the Burmese Refugees Children to gain some basic English education, in the hope of preparing themselves for their transit to a first world country.

When we arrived at 10:30 am - some of the smaller children were having a break time. They were given a few biscuits each. Even though they were poor, the children were willing to share whatever little bit of cookies with us. 

Check out the photos captured at the Centre:  

 Above: Numerous sandals of various patterns, colours & sizes greeted us at the entrance of the Centre. The numbers of sandals indicate the numbers of Children in the Centre. The Centre has 130 children who are between 5 yrs old to 16 yrs old. Those older would usually be forced to go out to work  and  earn a living to support their families.

Above: The smaller children in class. Check out the smiles this boy flashed. Its amazing to see the resilience potrayed by these children. They all have a "hard" life.

Above: The older children at their lesson. I even sat in & attended one of the classes. This girl above is my "Partrner" she shared her book with me. Lesson are conducted in English.

 Above: The Teacher - another immigrant....

 Above: Homework & Excercises

Above: A small fraction of the Mommies & Babies Group. We brought with us 15 cartons x 6 tins of Japlo Growing Up Milk Powder, 3 boxes of Maggie Mee & 3 boxes of biscuits for the babies & children at Help Community Learning Centre.


Thank you for making a difference to our Sponsors & Donors.