KOTA KINABALU: A GROUP of Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) students spend their weekends teaching stateless children at a market here to provide them with basic education.
Second-year Sociology and Social Anthropology student Naim Fahmi, 22, from Terengganu, is one of the pioneers who started the volunteer service after learning that street children had no schooling.
“When we did a video project on Cycle of Poverty this year, a child told us that he had never heard of school and that he learnt everything from the market.
“That was when a group of us decided to use our pocket money to teach these children,” he said, adding that in March, a club called Sekolah Jalanan Pasar Filipina was formed under the purview of the university.
Every Sunday, members of the club teach reading, writing and maths to 40 children, aged between 3 and 12, at the market.
While Bajau and Suluk are the main languages spoken by the children, they also use simple Bahasa Malaysia to communicate with the volunteers.
Naim said the volunteers also taught the children moral values and civic mindedness, and created awareness about the consequences of vice activities.
“These children are exposed to activities such as glue sniffing, because they cannot differentiate between right and wrong. We hope this project will help them lead better lives.”
Initially, parents were sceptical about the initiative as they thought the students were from enforcement units. However, the students’ sincerity in helping the children changed their mindset.
“Some parents send their children to school before they go to work in the city,” said Naim.