2010 MY Reading Program Nationwide - Kota Kinabalu, Sabah! Sponsored by CIMB

On the 23 October 2010, finally, we have our second big step in East Malaysia - Kota Kinabalu!

We brought this light to a school named SK Likas, a big school with estimate total of 1,000 students.

When we were there, the principal of the school brought us bad news, that she told us, the response among the students was not really encouraging towards our program, that very few of them actually signing up, then she was considering, to call off the Reading Program tomorrow!

Oh my goodness, that was truly SHOCK for all of us!

But, out spirit never tear down, even in such a very negative situation.

We keep our energy growing by showing the presentation slides to introduce HOPE worldwide Kuala Lumpur and our Reading Program to the fellow teachers in the computer lab of the school. Subsequently, our sincerity and energy had make the teachers convicted to contribute their favor in this good cause! That immediately, they make phone calls with by compiling a group of students into the name list, whom they think are in need to attend the Reading Program. Because, they see, the impact, and how importance is the each and every element inside the Reading Program, that they believe, its going to help the students in their progress to learn the language.

Finally, it was the second day we were in Kota Kinabalu, and also the day we going to start the Reading Program. All the preparation was in order, where we all worked hand in hand with the rest of the volunteers here (we actually got a venue sponsor for this program, is the Metro Church of Christ in Kota Kinabalu, the volunteers majority are Christian from this church, and they were awesome, been a great volunteer teacher for the program).

Finally, 24 students turned up for the Reading Program! That was truly amazing and incredible, within such a short period of time, the principal and the teachers managed to gather 24 students to attend this program, I was moved!

And things went on smoothly! Of course, the continuous fun and laughters filled up the entire 2 hours Reading Program! The kids were amazingly active and energetic, throughout the program. And the volunteers have had a great time with them.

And here, something I would like to share with all of you, is that, we met a very very very awesome photographer, named Locksley, he was just 17 years old, but the pictures that he captured were beautifully touching! By just looking at it, it draws a big wide smile on my face. Thanks for you great help, young man!

Now, here's some snaps to share, be prepared to grin...and eventually, laugh!!!!

Right before the program start, Katy took some time, chatting with the children, to ease their insecurities.

We have reporter that came to interview Katy!

Ahha! Let's have the Program roll on with some songs first!

And coming up, we have story telling session - SNOW WHITE and the SEVEN DWARFS!

Special thanks to our cast: Elana as Princess Snow White, Hannah as the Wicked Queen, and the rest of the volunteers to become SEVEN DWARFS, and last but not least, Prince Abel, one of the handsome boys in our Reading Program!

Then, Children! Its time for your introduction! We want to know you!

The Volunteer Teachers too, need to introduce themselves!

Here start the Reading time!

Game time~!

Kids with hesitation, seriously thinking for the answer...

Time for snacks! Right before, let's line up to the washroom, to wash your hands before you eat. Aways practice that be it in your house or school.

SOME SNAPS - JUST FOR FUN!!!

I would like to compliment this group of volunteers, who were always full of energy, loving towards the kids! Great job boys and girls!

And finally, our Reading Program came out in the newspaper - DAILY EXPRESS in Sabah, that had amazingly created a blast among the Sabah community, and we have corporates calling up for CSR Projects~! Well done!!!

Let's not stop this spirit of fire, keep rolling on, in BRINGING HOPE and CHANGING LIVES!

Again, a BIG thank to CIMB Bank for making this happen!

2010 MY Reading Program Nationwide - Seremban, Negeri Sembilan! Sponsored by CIMB

16/10/2010, MY Reading Program had reached it's second destination - Seremban, Negeri Sembilan.

This time, we were in an orphanage called Rhema Home, which located at Taman Rasah, a housing area estimated 5 to 8 kilometers away from the Seremban town.

The Reading Program started at three in the afternoon. By 2pm, we volunteers had arrived there for location setting, and also some important briefing as well. Special thank to Bruce and June, for helping us a lot in finding places to introduce MY Reading Program, and as well, had brought along a lot of friends to be the program's volunteer facilitators. Some of them are Africans who are currently studying in Malaysia. June's parents were also there to support this program, together with June's daughter, Jeanelle, who is just 10 months old.

It has been a great experience working together! The children were all so enjoyed and out of themselves, and they appreciate the effort and love from the volunteers by showing their friendliness throughout the program.

This batch of children mostly are orphans who are staying in Rhema Home for years (we have a group of children joining us who are not orphans, they came from other places). As an outsider, we see them as children who are less fortunate, and insecure with their future. But as during the 2 hours program, we were amazed with the children's confidence. They never consider themselves as someone who were less fortunate but always carry a very positive attitude be it during introducing themselves to the volunteers and reading session.

We hope MY Reading Program will continue to bring hope to the kids, and change their lives!

We all were singing "Finger Songs"!

2010 MY Reading Program Nationwide - Kuching, Sarawak! Sponsored by CIMB

On 02 October 2010, our first mission accomplished at the very first destination - Kuching, Sarawak of the "2010 HOPE worldwide MY Reading Program Nationwide Project"!

We stopped by Sekolah Kebangsaan Serian, which is estimated 50 kilometres away from Kuching town. The school is located at a greenery place, with all the natures surrounding - trees, hills, flowers and of course, fresh air, which are things that we could hardly get in KL.

So, I love this place, and I love the kids there too.

Most of the kids are from the rural community. Learning English seems very hard for them, but never stop their eagerness and passion. We had great fun there!

This is how it goes. The kids were first, very shy and insecure. But when the songs start, they started to sing along, and picking up really fast with all the gestures we taught them, songs like "BINGO", "Head, Shoulder, Knees and Toes"and many more!

Then, we had our classics - STORY TELLING ! This time, we had our time favorites since my childhood - Snow White. As the story started, we introduce the Snow White of the day - Du Lin, one of the Volunteer Facilitator for our Reading Program, and we have the rest of the volunteers to play the act as well - The Wicked Stepmother and the Seven Dwarfs!

The kids were just so overwhelmed with all of us! And finally we reached the climax of the story - our prince! Well this time, is not the volunteer to be the Prince Charming, but one of the kids in the Reading Program! His name is Marc Beckham! Woww, what a fancy name he had! So, in the end, Prince Marc Beckham wake the princess up with a blow of Flying Kiss!

Eventually, here we started our Break Out Activities - The Reading Session lead by respective volunteers and the "Learning Alphabets with Play Dough" activities specially designed for kids who have Dyslexia, objective is to help them to progress in recognizing and write the 26 alphabets. Basically, this age range for this group of children is around 5 to 7 years old.

And then, during our game session, we have memory games! We have some flash cards, which contains pictures of different animals on each card. Before the game start, we have a round of studies on every animal that appeared on each card. After that, we shall have a round of tests on the children, see how many of them can able to catch up by telling the name of that particular animal every time we show the card. Then, the game started! We divided the children into two groups, each group of them will have one empty plastic cup which always will be hold by the first person in the group. At th same time, all of the flash cards will be placed randomly on the floor. Once the game start, the facilitator will call one of the name of the animals, eg: snake, then the first person of the group who is holding the cup, shall place the cup on that particular flash card which have the picture of "snake" on it. Who will be the first one who place the cup on the card correctly, will be the winner.

After a round of excitements, now it's time for everybody to sit down and have some snacks and packet drink - cakes, biscuits and milo. Before the snack is served, we trained the children to wash their hands, to emphasize the hand cleanliness before having meal.

Let's call it a day! After the snacks time, will be time to go home! Since this is our very first Reading Program, so, we have a round of photo snapping session! What a great time we have had together!

So, let's check out the pictures

MY Reading Program's classic - STORY TELLING "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"

Game time!

Volunteers preparing the snacks

Jiva, one of our volunteer is, a teacher of SK Serian. He discipline the children so well! As he used to be very serious and stern during the school, now, finally the kids can see his smiling in this Reading Program on Saturday!

Above all, we HOPE worldwide Malaysia with the children of MY Reading Program, would like to express our deepest gratitude to CIMB Bank, for funding us, in order to expand MY Reading Program to Nationwide!

More cities we are heading on our way! Stay tune with us, with more updates on MY Reading Program, sponsored by CIMB!

See you soon!