MADU

Social work? I've always wanted to give it a try and to gain some experience out of it. But i've gotta admit it was partly cause of the recognition. You must be thinking, 'cheh, this girl join this club for the certificate only'. Well initially yes, but I realised it was more than that. And hey, I deserve some credits for honesty ok! :P

First off, MADU stands for Make A Difference United. There are basically a couple of different groups with different activities. I was only attracted to one; Teaching Mathematics to younger students. Others include reading (and journalling) programmes and anti-bullying. Lucky enough, I was chosen for the one i liked hehe.

And so the journey begins here. 12 sessions at Harvest Centre in Sentul. One of the biggest sacrifice was definitely my precious sleep on Saturday mornings!

This is how the place looks like. Each volunteer is assigned a few students. The students are mainly made up of refugees from Myanmar and Sri Lanka. This school is actually for these refugees who were not given a place in public schools, I THINK.
Meet my students. They're all from Myanmar.

That's Huai. She's the smartest of the group. I never told her that though. As a teacher, *coughs*, I'm not supposed to right?

Spotted: Bryan not paying attention to his student.

What can I say? Hmm, usual sight!

Mr.Lee, my Specialist Maths teacher in action! He once said teaching them the basics was harder than teaching us Spec maths.

Trish patiently teaching her student from Sri Lanka :)

After 12 sessions spread over 4-5 months, MADU was approaching an end. What a long journey we've come. Two things I've learnt. Patience is definitely one of them. Language was often a barrier and sometimes they just nod to everything I say . You think they get it, but actually they don't. Well, I know that cause that's what we do to our teachers too right!

MADU also taught me to be more appreciative. Many things we take for granted are those that they treasure most. There was once my student couldn't find her pen. I was thinking to myself 'ah, just a pen'. There she was, feeling panicky, seaching high and low for it.

Farewell Party

During one of the games. Good to see the laughter in their faces after 12 weeks of maths, maths and more maths!

Scarlet, Emily, Nang Lake and Huai!

Just some necessary camwhore pictures :)

Here's everyone from MADU @ Sentul

Without doubt a good experience and no regrets for joining. Thanks for the memories!