One of my previous experiences was being a facilitator at various types of camps of which involved mainly students as their participants. Having said that, such role had brought me to various parts in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, up north to Perak dan to the east in Pahang. There were leadership, motivational, co-curricular camps, and the one that I had created my own when I was asked to was ‘Anak Soleh’ camp. And every time I would to go for such camp, I would bring this new-kind-of-spirit feeling (of course, depending on what type of camp and role I was acting as) to work with the kids.
One of the memories I had was still fresh in my mind when I first joined the team (of facilitators from UKM and IPB [Inst. Profesional Baitulmal]) was the camp held for the heavy smokers among form 3 students around Gombak dan Hulu Langat Districts. If I remember them correctly, there were 150 participants who were mainly Malays, some were Chinese and Indians. Some of this kids smoked two boxes of cigarettes per day (one of them was a little lady I should say), some averagely a box per day and so on. Needless to say, I was quite agitated and worried as it was my first experience dealing with such kids, there were bombardment of speculations and thoughts in my head.
My friends and I came on the second day (probably as trials as we stayed there only for a day) and we were given short briefing of what needed to be done. After a while the students were divided into smaller groups, and each of us was to take one group for an internal ice-breaking session and a brief talk about smoking. These kids were very active and I seemed to get the good ones (not really, maybe a little). So I was thinking, how would I get through these kids? I introduced myself first and then asked them to introduce themselves to one another, and I put up a little game, of which they would be tested about other’s biodata, with this, I could get them involved and concentrated.
What really happened was I took down all the walls of differences between me and them, bridged the gap, put away the prejudices, and accepted them as who they were, kids of our future generation. What happened all day was mainly on the concepts I put above. A teacher inspires their students, motivates their students, build their students’ self-esteems, and guide them to success. I also gave them the chance to speak, for them to prove and deem themselves worthy, for them themselves, for the school, for the family, and for whatever they wanted of. Guess how it turned out?
I reckoned when you treated others as humans, giving them their rights to be respected, despite the ‘thing’ they were into, they would honour you the same. As I was saying that we came on the second day, the first day didn’t go very well with the earlier facilitators as they were treating the kids like savages, and convicts while they themselves blew the same smoke they were trying to curb.
There were very much memories for only a day of facilitating, and I couldn’t write them all. As night had covered the earth with its blanket, we ought to leave. Some of the kids were crying that we had to leave, some were begging for us to stay until tomorrow. Even the naughtiest of them all asked the same thing. We really hoped that we could, but that was how far it went. Nevertheless, we did leave our numbers with them, so they may ring us up if anything.
What I was trying to say here is that, there is hope in everyone. What they need is a chance, to prove, to deem themselves worthy, to be treated as who they are, not what they do, free from prejudices. What is required of us then, is to give them the chances, to open up our door of acceptance, free from prejudices, and a clear intention to help. Since then, I have fallen in love with such role and I am still looking forward to be a teacher. Remembering those memories have always made me wanted to teach and educate even more.
P/s: up until today, I still keep in touch with one the participants, and he had stopped smoking. He had health difficulties now, yet he is still strong. For that I love him due to Allah.
One of the memories I had was still fresh in my mind when I first joined the team (of facilitators from UKM and IPB [Inst. Profesional Baitulmal]) was the camp held for the heavy smokers among form 3 students around Gombak dan Hulu Langat Districts. If I remember them correctly, there were 150 participants who were mainly Malays, some were Chinese and Indians. Some of this kids smoked two boxes of cigarettes per day (one of them was a little lady I should say), some averagely a box per day and so on. Needless to say, I was quite agitated and worried as it was my first experience dealing with such kids, there were bombardment of speculations and thoughts in my head.
My friends and I came on the second day (probably as trials as we stayed there only for a day) and we were given short briefing of what needed to be done. After a while the students were divided into smaller groups, and each of us was to take one group for an internal ice-breaking session and a brief talk about smoking. These kids were very active and I seemed to get the good ones (not really, maybe a little). So I was thinking, how would I get through these kids? I introduced myself first and then asked them to introduce themselves to one another, and I put up a little game, of which they would be tested about other’s biodata, with this, I could get them involved and concentrated.
What really happened was I took down all the walls of differences between me and them, bridged the gap, put away the prejudices, and accepted them as who they were, kids of our future generation. What happened all day was mainly on the concepts I put above. A teacher inspires their students, motivates their students, build their students’ self-esteems, and guide them to success. I also gave them the chance to speak, for them to prove and deem themselves worthy, for them themselves, for the school, for the family, and for whatever they wanted of. Guess how it turned out?
I reckoned when you treated others as humans, giving them their rights to be respected, despite the ‘thing’ they were into, they would honour you the same. As I was saying that we came on the second day, the first day didn’t go very well with the earlier facilitators as they were treating the kids like savages, and convicts while they themselves blew the same smoke they were trying to curb.
There were very much memories for only a day of facilitating, and I couldn’t write them all. As night had covered the earth with its blanket, we ought to leave. Some of the kids were crying that we had to leave, some were begging for us to stay until tomorrow. Even the naughtiest of them all asked the same thing. We really hoped that we could, but that was how far it went. Nevertheless, we did leave our numbers with them, so they may ring us up if anything.
What I was trying to say here is that, there is hope in everyone. What they need is a chance, to prove, to deem themselves worthy, to be treated as who they are, not what they do, free from prejudices. What is required of us then, is to give them the chances, to open up our door of acceptance, free from prejudices, and a clear intention to help. Since then, I have fallen in love with such role and I am still looking forward to be a teacher. Remembering those memories have always made me wanted to teach and educate even more.
P/s: up until today, I still keep in touch with one the participants, and he had stopped smoking. He had health difficulties now, yet he is still strong. For that I love him due to Allah.
2 comments:
brapa umur diorg nih?
15 years old bro~
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