Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Crashing at Krash Pad

There's this new centre for at-risk youths in KL to hang out at after their school hours called Krash Pad. The aim is to ensure these kids do not loiter around aimlessly and to provide a safe environment for them to be in.

So, Wai Meng and I decided to check out the place yesterday and we were pleasantly surprised with the condition of the place. Very clean, organized and high-tech too. They have a gym, ICT lab, a common room with a flat screen Plasma TV, music room with guitars and drums, fully-equipped classroom and a library with a great selection of books from all sorts of genres. The books are even better than the ones in DJ's library! Sorry to say =p

We've decided to help tutor the kids there. Wai Meng will teach Bahasa Malaysia to Form 3-Form 5 kids while I opt to personally tutor stateless children who have not been schooled for as long as they could remember. Seeing as how these kids have no birth cert and official documents, they are not allowed to go to school.

Some of them, even at 17 years old, still can't read, write and count the simple things. One of the girls was so eager to learn and she told me, "Saya suka la ada orang lembut macam kakak ni nak ajar saya. Dulu saya punya kakak pernah nak ajar saya. Tapi kalau saya tak faham sikit, dia jirus muka saya dengan air la, buang pisang kat saya la. Saya pun takut nak belajar." (I like gentle people like you who wants to teach me. Last time, my sister tried to teach me. But if I can't understand a bit, she will splash my face with water, throws banana at me. I've become scared to learn, too).

It's saddening, really. These kids are not stupid, no way at all. It's just that, they're not given the opportunity to learn like how the more fortunate kids are. So, I'm helping out at the centre and do what I can and help where I can. And when you're there, you can't help but feel attached to the children and feel yourself at home, too.

I've always thought that charity doesn't only begin at home, it begins from the heart. <3

They have dance class every Monday morning. A volunteer who is also a medical student from India teaches the girls belly dancing. I couldn't help but join in as well. Hehe.

And we stretcheeddd to the left

The Gym at the centre

The library. I can't get over how cool the book selections are.

Played a Malay-version of Scrabble; Sahibba. It's a lot harder, you know!

Teaching one of the girls how to read. She told me she had always wanted to read a book on Pinocchio but she didn't know how to read and no one would read with her. And so, yesterday we managed to read about Gepetto and Pinocchio's lies :)

9 comments:

Sam said...

This is single handedly the coolest thing I've read this month. Where is this place? I want to help out too when I'm back.

Nik Nor Zafirah said...

Hey Sam, Krash Pad is on Jalan Tunku Abdul Rahman. So, you can always get by there using the LRT.

And yea, you should help out there when you're back. It's a really fun place to be in! :)

Lily Tan Lay Li said...

hey zafirah (: its just so cool and awesome because there's passionate youths like you who are willing to help without hoping for anything in return. but i guess your heart is really filled with joy :D

Nik Nor Zafirah said...

Aww thanks, Lily. That's very nice of you to say :)

You can probably do stuffs like these when you're done with your SPM, too. It takes fun and satisfaction into a whole new level.

hamid said...

salam.......

Qhairul salleh said...

Glad to hear what u did.. i'm from ministry of women, family and community development who actively involved in the set up Krash Pad and still do want to say TQ for ur support.. Really glad that my project was a success and glad to have volunteer like urself to be a aprt of the center....

Nik Nor Zafirah said...

Qhairul Salleh: It was a real pleasure of having the opportunity to be part of the centre.

Today we had some students from Singapore Management University as well as IIUM to help facilitate more programs for the children and we all had fun planning them.

A little deed goes along the way and thank you for setting this up. At least there is somewhere save for these kids to be in.

nyonyafern said...

Qhairul Salleh: I'm from Melaka & would like to set up a Krash Pad site for the troubled youths here. My friend & I hv a centre; currently offering one-day & two-day courses like cupcake course, cheesecaking making course, kenali potensi diri melalui tarikh lahir workshop, holiday workshop for children and Make-up & beauty workshop. We also hv English programmes for school kids & even offered special rates to kids from welfare homes. Can you pls guide us how to set up Krash Pad in Melaka or who we should see to set it up & running for the benefit of our Melakan youths?

Qhairul Salleh said...

sufferbee: Krash Pad is a callobration of government, NGO and private sector.. it's a pilot project and being setup @ chowkit.. and judging from the crowd, it was a success.. but we need to see the annual report first to see the effectiveness of the center.. we do have a plan to add more Krash Pad in the future.. i will take notice of your suggestion and could i know which part of melaka? so that i can evaluate the place myself.. TQ