THE aroma permeating the autumn air in a small corner of a residential area in South London was unmistakably that of satay on a grill.
At the residence of Dr Zainab Kassim and her husband, Dr Burhanuddin Busu, it was another “SatayDay”, held not to take advantage of the last few days of fine weather, but rather as a fundraising activity for a good and worthy cause.
Thirteen thousand kilometres away from her birthplace in Kampung Pimping, an ethnic Brunei village located in Membakut district in Sabah, Dr Zainab was busy grilling satay to raise money for an English Corner taking shape and nearing completion at the school she attended as a young girl.
Her aim is to help children from her old school, SK Kampung Pimping, and those in the neighbourhood, to learn the English language.
For the 48-year-old neonatologist at London’s Kings College Hospital, it was the proverbial payback time.
For someone who struggled with English at the age of 13 and was rejected by all secondary schools in her area, she knew the importance of the language to get on in life in the outside world.
The daughter of parents of no fixed income in Kampung Pimping, she was fast losing confidence and becoming quiet and withdrawn. She was given a much-needed break by an aunt, who was a cleaner in a school in Kota Kinabalu.
She managed to get Zainab a place in a classroom full of non-Malay students. That environment provided her with the stiffest challenge in her life — to compete and excel or suffer and fail.
“With zero knowledge of English, the first few months were the most terrible time in my life and I failed badly in English and in most subjects. I cried. But again my aunt, the cleaner, helped by spending the huge amount (for her) of RM60 from her pay packet to buy a dictionary. I practically read every page of the dictionary and read a few books a day,” said Dr Zainab of what must have been the most challenging period in her young life.
With such determination to compete — “I was never first in class but always second” — she excelled and did well in her Sijil Rendah Pelajaran (SRP) Exams.
She was placed at a residential school, but her parents could not even afford the RM45 a month and had to borrow from relatives. However, there was no turning back for Dr Zainab, who excelled again and was offered a scholarship. To cut a long story short, she was soon on her way to study Medicine in Dublin.
By then, she was already married to Dr Burhanuddin, an orthopaedic surgeon, and they made both the United Kingdom and Malaysia their homes, as they sometimes work and teach in some schools of medicines in Malaysia.
“It was during one of our visits back to Sabah that I realised how poor the quality of English was among the students in my old school. As a family, we decided to do something,” said Dr Zainab, recalling the moment the English Summer Camp was conceived last year.
It was a struggle, but the couple and their three children held motivational sessions with an initial group of 60 students and taught English the fun way through games.
The project received a lot of support from parents, teachers and the local community as well as like-minded former school friends of Dr Zainab’s.
More schools in the district expressed their interest, and this year’s English Summer Camp had the participation of 13 schools and 316 students, roping in educationalists from around the country, including Dr Zainal Sanusi, the director of Education Malaysia in London.
“I found it most important to engage the teachers, to try to understand the constraints they had and to build on from there. At the end of the day, there was renewed confidence and motivation,” said Zainal.
The English Summer Camps, in the hands of this ambitious neonatologist, have given birth to the English Corner, a project which she feels will provide the continuity to boost and maintain the enthusiasm of the students and teachers.
An old rundown house in the school compound has been successfully rehabilitated and converted into a functional place to provide English learning activities, all made possible by private donations.
“But we still need more funds for books, wiring, furniture... thus, the SatayDay!” said Dr Zainab who relentlessly operates the whole project from a distance, getting feedback and reports via WhatsApp.
Doctors and nurses from her hospital have been most supportive, buying her satay, nasi lemak and mee goreng.
In July this year, the Sabah English Aspiration Society (SEAS) was registered to facilitate the activities of the summer camp and the English Corner, which will be launched this Saturday.
Even though there is still a long way to go, leafing through English exercises written by the children has given Dr Zainab much satisfaction.
She has also received many letters from the students, expressing their desire to work hard, learn English and “be a doctor, like Dr Zainab”.