Cultural Night

On the 11^th November 2009, HELP Department of Student Affairs (DSA) held a Cultural Night where each club under the guidance of DSA was required to come out with a performance. As CDP is known for its goal and vision on empowering and improving the welfare of children, we came out with a singing ala choir style.

The backdrop

The cast

In addition, we collaborated with the HELP Circle K as both of us share the same vision and goal. Therefore, we decided to sing the late Michael Jackson’s evergreen song, ‘Heal The World’. It was a very meaningful song and it suits the goal of our club very well. We sought to improve the welfare of the children as much as we could while at the same time, we want to spread awareness to every individuals about the importance of the “CARE” for children. Children were largely molded by the society and without the awareness; any negative effects could happen to the children. This song was focused to HEAL the WORLD in order to improve the way we live our life as well as helping others to improve theirs. It may be hard but when there’s a will, there’s a way!!

It was a night filled with tons of cultural performances, singing performances and even taekwondo exhibition. Food was provided and the performances were worthwhile watching. Furthermore, we are grateful that our performance was given a round of applause and most of the people sang along with us. We believe this performance had helped to spread the awareness among the people who attended the gracious event.

Here are the pictures of other performances:

Sketch

Indonesian Dance

Piano + Singing

Latin Dance

Taekwondo Exhibition

GM 4th November 2009

On the 4^th November 2009, the 1^st General Meeting for the club was held. It was the second meeting of the semester conducted following the success of the Annual General Meeting held two months ago. The theme of this meeting focused mainly on the “Self” in the sense of self-clarification and self-exploration.

Firstly, the members were introduced to an ice-breaker conducted by Xin Rou. In the ice-breaker, both the members and committees worked together to form two circles (1 inner circle and 1 outer circle). Afterwards, the gamemaster gave instructions to move left or right and the number of steps. Once they stopped, the two individuals will face each other and given some time to communicate with one another. After that, both of them will write out the strength of one another on the piece of paper pasted at the back of each other.

Everyone having their share of fun in the ice-breaker

Next up, it was the main activity of the day, which was conducted by Xin Rou and Jassic. It was an activity designed to encourage learning experience among the members and committees. The activity was aimed to instill a positive thinking in them as they were told to write their weakness into a piece of paper which was then folded into a small piece and inserted into a balloon. After that, they blew up the balloon and then stepped on it as a means of accepting their weakness and not allowing the weakness to bother them. The process is repeated three times with a variation done on the second and the third time. Instead of stepping on their own balloons, each person was instructed to ask a person whom they trust to step on his/her balloon in the second round. As for the third round, they were told to find a close friend to step on their balloon. These variations were meant to prove that being able to trust one another was a crucial element in overcoming our weaknesses.

Thinking to write a specific weakness of theirs

Folded papers to be inserted into balloons

Folding the paper into small pieces

The balloons with papers inside

Before the GM ends, Boon Chin conducted the energizer to hype up the day filled with fun and laughter. The energizer was basically about following the actions of the left person. For example, if the left person claps, then he/she should clap as well. Then, others will follow the action until the initiator (the one who started the action) changes to another action.

Last but not least, food was prepared for everyone and we duly enjoyed the meal as we felt tired after the tiring activities. It was a great day as the members got to know more about the club and most importantly, themselves. Even the committees benefitted from the activities as well. It was essential to know and understand ourselves because by understanding ourselves, it will give us a major boost towards helping the children across Malaysia or across the borders of the world.

Annual General Meeting (AGM) 30 September 2009

CDP had its Annual General Meeting (AGM) on the last day of September, which was 30^th September 2009. It was the event held annually where the new board of committees was installed. New faces were introduced and welcomed to the club while two previous committees, Lim Yan Ling and Chan Khay Shi were there to grace up the event as well.

The members waiting for the AGM to start

A warm welcome by the emcee – Boon Chin

The first ice-breaker by Vivian Lim

Explaining the Vision and Mission of the Club

The second ice-breaker by Xin Rou

The first ice-breaker basically about imitating the actions (demos) showed by the committee whenever a particular character of a cartoon is called. It caused a little confusion as the members found it hard to remember the actions in a brief time but we gained momentum and had a great share of fun later on. The second ice-breaker tested the memory of each member and committee as we need to remember the names of one another to avoid getting beaten up by the rolls of newspapers. Both the ice-breakers were fun as the members liked them. Even our club advisor had a laugh on them. Besides, it also helped to ease the awkwardness between the committees and members.

During the video preview of past activities

The videos shown had spoken for themselves as the members got to understand the content without having much explanation from the emcee. The video consisted of the Janda Baik 4 project, trips to Penang and Johor-Singapore, past workshops – HIV and Child Abuse and the New Zealand Annual Dinner & Dance.

Besides that, there were also speeches by the previous club president, Lim Yan Ling and our beloved club advisor, Ms. Yeo Pei Li. Both of them shared their experiences gained throughout their services for the club.

The Janda Baik 5 committees also promoted their upcoming Janda Baik project after the video preview. The current batch would be going to Janda Baik on the 30^th October. After that, the Educational Project Team came up to promote their upcoming workshop in Puchong.

All in all, the AGM was a good platform to build a strong rapport between the members and the new board of committees. It was a fun and memorable day for all of us as everyone took part actively throughout the AGM.

Children Education Workshops

Three Children Education Workshops have been conducted throughout October – November which falls on 4th October 2009 in Selayang, 31st October 2009 in Puchong and 7th November 2009 in Jinjang. All children are from low income families which are financially assisted by Dialog Group with other banks such as Am Bank and EON Bank. Besides giving talks on financial management to the parent(s) of each family, Dialog Group has invited our club members to conduct and facilitate education workshop to the children of the assisted families in different places in Selangor. Our objective for the Children Education workshops are inline with our club mission which is to raise the awareness of the importance of education in children.

About the workshop..

As for the design of the 2-hour workshop(s), we have included the subjects such as science and geography as important learning elements of the workshop. Meanwhile, we have designed some games which require the children to apply the knowledge that they have acquired in the learning part of the education workshop. As expected, the facilitators and children have experienced the fun of learning through the education workshop! After the 3 workshops that we have conducted in different areas in Selangor, there are some suggestions from our team mates to improve the following workshops to be conducted in the future such as dividing the children according to their age group, redesign the education module for long term children education workshop, creating/making teaching materials for education purposes and many more. What we hope is to bring more knowledge and useful message to the children in a more efficient and effective way!

Appreciation...

Thousand thanks to the facilitators who put up their efforts and contributed throughout the workshops! Because of your cooperative attitudes, I, as the leader of the project could only work well with you as a team, it was a really fascinating experience! And also thanks to the Dialog Group for giving out chances for our club members for the golden opportunity to educate the children who need us. Of course, for those who are interested in joining us in the coming semester, I am sure you will have a lot of chances and what I really hope is to work the things out even better! You can drop me an email at jassicchew2002@hotmail.com for more information about the children education workshop.

New Zealand Annual Dinner & Dance 2009

Reported by : Lai Mun Yeu

Date : 6th September 2009

On the 15th of August 2009, a grand and gracious event had taken place. It was truly a day to remember. Well, it was the special invitation for the Janda Baik Project (JBP) committee and facilitators to the New Zealand Annual Dinner & Dance 2009. It was a held on a Saturday night from 7.00 pm till 2.00 am. The venue of the event is the Grand Ballroom of Shangri-la Hotel located in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

One of VIP speeches

A table was allocated specially for the JBP committee and facilitators by the Dialog Group, our honored main sponsor for the JBP. There were a total of 8 representatives from the project committee and facilitators attended the event. They were Cheng Ching Shean (Project Director of JBP 3), Oh Boon Chin (Project Director of JBP 4), Ng Xin Mei (Project Director of the upcoming JBP 5), Chua Xin Rou (Treasurer of JBP 3), Jassic Chew (Programme Master of JBP 3), Alice Chua Lai Ying (Secretary of JBP4) and the facilitators, Angeline Lee and Lai Mun Yeu. Unfortunately, our club advisor, Ms. Yeo Pei Li was unable to attend the event due to some unforeseen circumstances.

The Grand Ballroom

Dialog Group was one of the co-lead sponsors of the event. Therefore, the representative from Dialog Group, Mr. Sukhbindar had liaised with us to promote the JBP at the grand event. It was a great publicity for us as the event is attended by a large number of people from different personalities. Mr. Sukhbindar had been helping out with the JBP. Thus, we came out with a video presentation, courtesy of Xin Mei and Mr. Adrian (Representative from Dialog Group) for the event. They have spent endless amount of effort for a few days to get the video done. Our video was even shown in the Grand Ballroom.

The opening ceremony was fantastic. It all started with the performances from the Kahurangi, the Maori Dance Theatre that came all the way from New Zealand. They performed various dances from a wide variety of ethnics which include Hawaii, Tahiti, their own Maori and so forth. It was an eye-opening experience for us to be able to watch the wonderful and enthusiastic performance. Besides that, the event was emceed by Mr. Frankie Stevens, the well-known performer from New Zealand that had performed with various artists and even starred in a James Bond movie, as well as Matrix 2. We watched all the performances during which we were accompanied by a very delicious dinner.

The main performance

Another part of the performance

Mr. Frankie Stevens with his rendition of songs

The dinner

Before we left the event, we took a couple of pictures with Mr. Sukhbindar and chatted about the upcoming workshop by Dialog Group. We were also introduced to a few people from the other companies. It was certainly a night to remember as we felt so honored to be invited to attend such grand event. It was fun for us as we did learnt more about the Dialog group now and we hope that Dialog Group will keep sponsoring our JBP in the coming years. From the event, we all learnt how social networking skills and we were able to improve our communication skills as well. We also gained invaluable advices from Mr. Sukhbindar.

Mr. Sukhbindar and us

Janda Baik 4

4th Janda Baik Project is coming!!!
We need your help to bring future to aborigines and orphans in Janda Baik (Kampung Songkok - the orang asli village).

Aim:
1. Understand aborigine children from Janda Baik
2. Generate their interest for learning & knowledge
3. Expose them to the outside world

In line with the project, we have a few on-going activities:
1. 4th Janda Baik Project Facilitators Recruitment Drive
We are looking for HELP students with passion for children, good observation skills, listening & facilitating skills. We promise you room for growth, hand-on experiences & valuable exposure to real aboriginal life. Welcome to join this meaningful activities.

Project details as below:
Date : 20-21 June 09
Venue : Janda Baik, Pahang
Fees : RM70
Dateline : 31 May 2009
This is an once and only chance in a life time to be participated. Only recruit those who havent participated before.

2. Fund-raising (26-28 May)
We are having fund raising selling food and beverages: sandwiches, herbal tea egg, soya cincau, bubble tea, sausage bun & etc.

Date : 26-28 May (coming tues to thurs)
Venue : in front of KPD-A
100% of the profit will go to the Janda Baik Project for the aborigines. Do drop by, have a drink, have a bite, and bring your friends along, okay?

3. Donation Needed
Money & sponsorships
Food: rice, flour, oil, soy sauce, sugar, salt, canned food (3 months before expiration date), eggs, bread & etc
Clothing: shirts, pants, shoes, slippers and towels
Personal hygiene items: shampoos, soaps, toothbrushes, toothpastes, combs & etc
Material for children: stationary, spelling book, coloring book,story books,
dictionaries, encyclopedia & etc
Janda Baik Project is a long-term project, so you can donate anytime you want.

Please help spread the word!
For any further queries, you may contact:
Boon Chin 016-2498075 geminibcoh@hotmail.com
Lai Ying 012-6338604 aclying@hotmail.com
Kai Jia 012-2441133 kaijia90@hotmail.com
Sharina 012-3284177 sharinadewi@hotmail.com
YinYee 017-2056183 yinyee2n1@yahoo.com

We thank you in advance for your help and support for the project and on behalf of villagers and children of Janda Baik for their next meal and warm clothing!

Regards,
YinYee
Program Master
4th Janda Baik Project
Child Development Psychology Club
HELP University College

Johor&Singapore Trip (26th-29th April 2009)

Child Development Psychology Club organized a 4 days & 3 nights trip (26th-29th April 2009)to the southern part of Malaysia and Singapore. It was an educational and enjoyable trip. The participants had the opportunity to learn and had fun at the same time. Day 1- Pusat Kebajikan Kalvari Combined Homes. It is an orphanage which consists of two age groups, children who are below 12 and teenagers who are 12 years old and above.

The theme of our activities on that day was Earth day. The kids were encouraged to use newspapers during the activities for recycle purpose. The kids were divided into 9 groups with 4 facilitators in each group.

They had to collaborate with each other in order to complete the tasks and activities of the day. The facilitators played an important role as scaffolding and assisting the kids.

The climax of the day was the moment of Prince&princess fashion show. The creativity of art and design were clearly shown by the kids. They were modelling and posing with their newspaper clothes. Prize giving ceremony was held at the end of the visit. The outstanding groups were rewarded with gifts. We were tired and exhausted at the end of the day but we felt happy and contented because our visit lightened up the day for the kids.
Day 2- Hospital Permai, a mental health hospital. We were welcomed by Sister Nancy, head of nurse and Dr Selva, the psychiatrist. Dr Selva was giving a speech. He talked about the services which are provided by Hospital Permai, the reported psychological cases of the years, the symptoms and treatments for different types of disorders and etc. According to Dr Selva, most of the Malaysians are not aware of the importance of early intervention due to their education level and lack of exposure to psychological disorders. Dr Selva shared his working experience throughout the years and he said psychologists are in great demand in Malaysia. After that, we visited rehabilitation center and child guidance clinic in Hospital Permai. The occupational therapist observes the children's response and reaction when they are playing with the toys.

Next, we were heading to Calvary Victory Centre, a centre for autistic children. The head teacher, Ms Lily gave us a tour around the building. This centre provides early intervention programme, sensory integration exercises, primary school special programme and pre-vocational programme.

One-to-one teaching styleThe children have to complete the one-day-task according to the pictures(beginner) and words.
Two kids were learning in the computer room
Secondary school teenagers were enjoying in their music class.
Hand-made souveniers by the children. They are for sales.
Sensory integration exercises

Day 3- St. Clare-School of Special Needs (Singapore)http://www.saintclare.com.sg/home.html

The mission of St. Clare School is to educate children with learning differences such as autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit disorder(ADD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder(ADHD), dyslexia, down syndrome and other learning challenges.

St. Clare is a private school which is owned by Mr Prakalathan Kelaver, the principal.

The school provides different types of education and programme for their students

(a)Picture exchange Communication System(PECS)

(b)Social skill enhancement/trainning

(c)Occupational therapy

(d)Speech therapy

(e)Incidental and naturalististic teaching

(f)Multi-sensory educational techniques

We were not allowed to take pictures because the principal would like to minimise any disruption to the classes and thus we could only observe the students from the outside of their classes. However, we managed to share a Q&A session with the principal.

Next, we visited Von Auer Psychology Centre (VAPC) in Singapore. VAPC was founded on the premise that a warm and nurturing approach would soothe a client's soul and psychological well-being. The centre looks more like a home rather than an office setting. It makes the clients feel comfortable to look for their services.
VAPC consists of the adult division and the STARS Children's clinic. The adult division provides counselling for adults (individual/couples) and the children's division provides expressive behavioral therapy/counselling for children with psycho-social-emotional struggles as well as early intensive therapy for autistic children.

(Adopted from http://www.vapc.sg/about%20us.html

Q&A session with 3 psychologists
Souvenier from CDP Club

(From left- Mr Kris Pubalan, Associate Psychologist, Ms Silvia Fontanella, Associate psychologist, Ms Vanessa von Auer, Clinic director, Ms Yeo Pei Li, CDP Club advisor)

Day 4- Tanjung Piai & Kukup

Tanjung Piai- the southern most tip of mainland Asia, one of the largest mangrove habitats in the world, is also the home to many different species of birds, beady-eyed mudskippers, multi-coloured mangrove crabs and crab-eating macaques.


Pulau Kukup is a little fishing village. It is an island covered by mangrove forest and surrounded by mudflats. The rich diversity of marine aquatic life is the main source of income for local fisherman.
We took a boat. ^^
The local fisherman showed us the fishes
Little shark!!
This fish is poisonous!!
Jelly fish

Before we left, we had seafood lunch at Pulau Kukup. YUMMY! The price is absolutely cheap and the seafood is very fresh!

The participants were exposed to different types of psychological disorders especially autism. Working with children especially children with special needs requires patience and passion. The participants had the opportunity to communicate and deal with children through activities. Besides that, the participants know about the education requirements and the career pathways of a psychologist in order to work in this service line in the future.

Written by Charlene Low

Project director of Johor/Singapore trip

Food, Taste and Hunger

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Thanks to the sharing of Lizzy Foo.

3rd Batch Janda Baik Video

Designed by Oh Boon Chin (April 2009)

3rd Batch of Janda Baik Project

This is the 3rd Batch of Janda Baik Project which recently confirmed to be a long-term project collaborating with big companies as sponsors specifically the DIALOG company. As it has been emphasized over and over again in previous post about where Janda Baik is and what is our aims/objectives for this projects, I shall not repeat it again.

Several visits were conducted there to help them to learn more about the outside world and be aware of the importance of educations. Of course, this recent visit did the same , that is, to encourage them to be involved in education. Besides that, we've added a new workshop which is to educate the children and teenagers about self-hygiene. The committees realized that the aborigines and the kids there are not aware about the importance of self-hygiene during the 2nd batch visit to Janda Baik. Most workshops were introduced based on the 2nd batch feedback and suggestions on our findings and surveys that were done. Self- hygiene is one of the most important issues that needed to be improved there. Besides that, we've gotten feedback from the kids that they would enjoy to have more outdoor activities. Therefore, this time we have them a Station Game Activity. This will test their teamwork and unite spirits , being together as a team to overcome obstacles.

Thanks to our dedicated committees, we have gotten a great deal of food for the aborigines from the sponsors. This time, they were given food almost 3 times more than previous visits as most of the families there have some moved out from the village.

Nonetheless, we've gotten an alternative for them which is to have the sponsors to help them out, not to have electricity but to have the basic needs they need, the food. We made surveys requested by the sponsors while we distribute the food to each family there. This is to make sure that each family could collect their share and that we could have a more organized way of distributing the food. It is also used as Dialog company's record. We really appreciates the sponsors for their generous help and contribution in helping us to help these people to have a better life ahead.

We did not only help them but also learn a bunch from them. From the suggestions and sharing from all the facilitators of the 3rd batch project, most of them were amazed and touched by the will power of these people to try to live on and stay strong to live and survive till today. The most innocent creatures in the world, the child, suffers the most among all. We were glad that they had a feast that night, had a full stomach to sleep with , and together with a smile even in their dreams....=D

Written by Jacqueline Ng

Johor and Singapore Trip

Dear CDP members,

We are organizing a learning and resting trip to Johor and Singapore. This trip is a 4 days 3 nights trip from 26th to 29th April 2009.

What will you get from this trip?

You will gain valuable experiences and plenty of fun from this trip.

We will visit Hospital Permai and orphanage centre in Johor as well as linguistic centre in Singapore. We will have the chance to interact with kids.

Besides learning, we will also have fun. We will visit to tourist places such as Tanjung Piai, Danga Bay and other interesting places in Johor and Singapore.

If you interested, please contact Lim Yan Ling @ 016 7693288 or Chan Khay Shi @ 016 4408839 or email us @ club.cdp@gmail.com

Janda Baik Programme Kutu__28th Feb 2009

Designed by Yan Ling (March 2009)

Programme Kutu__28th February 2009

Last Saturday, 28th February 2009, we went up to Janda Baik again! This time we went to Kampung Songkok. We conducted The Kutu Programme with them.

There were five persons in total who joined this trip. They were Tay Kai Rong, Ng Lai Thin, Lim Yan Ling, Chan Khay Shi and Queenie Yip. We brought scissors, nail clippers, kutu shampoo, toothbrushes, packages of rice and eggs with us.

At around 9 o' clock in the morning, we reached Puan Ainon's place. After we carried our stuffs into Puan Ainon's car, we started our journey to Kampung Songkok. Once we reached there, we distributed milo drink with bread that we prepared to them.

After that, we started their hair and nails cutting session. Puan Ainon told them that those who came forward and willing to have hair cut would get free kicap while those got nails cut would get free eggs. Those got both services would of course, get both items.

At first, they felt reluctant to come forward. However, after being promoted by Encik Dol, they went out one by one and let us helped them to have their hair cut and their nails' cut. This was our first time to be others' hair stylists. We were so excited.

After finished the hair and nails cutting session, we started to distribute the foods to every family. Each food package contained a pack of rice, one bottle of kicap, one pack of oil, one pack of eggs and one mineral water.

After that, we brought some kids and went to nearby waterfall. We went there to do kutu programme. We taught them how to clean their bodies and hair. Besides that, we also taught them how to brush their teeth. They were very happy having fun at the waterfall. We definitely had fun with them at the waterfall.

We ended our programme at around 3 pm. When we left Kampung Songkok, we saw their smiling faces and they kept waving to us. Our heart melt at that moment. We were tired and exhausted but felt warm and happy in our hearts because we did a good deed by helping the poor.

written by Kai Rong

T-shirt fund-raising

Hi guys,

Child Development Psychology club at HELP is having fundraising for the "Janda Baik Project", which is running once a semester.We are selling T-shirt with one design.

What is Janda Baik Project?
The name Janda Baik is a small town in Pahang. There is an orphanage and a village-Kampung Songkok where aborigines live.
The main objective of this Janda Baik Project is to raise awareness of the orphans and aborigines about the importance of education and to give a chance for facilitators to gain rarity values through the program.

100% of the fund we got from T-shirt selling will be donated to the aborigines and orphans we are going to visit in this coming March. The price for one is only RM25 and for two is RM 44.
The children are very much need your contribution. Donate to the needy, we shall be extremely grateful if you could contribute generously towards this worthy cause.


Regards,
Jassic
(Programme master of Janda Baik Project)

Child Sexual Abuse Workshop

Dear CDP members,

We will be organizing a workshop regarding child sexual abuse. This workshop basically covers what are the basic rights of a children; what, why, when, who and how child sexual abuse occurs; what is the role of a child advocate and much more. You will get to experience role playing, games and activities conducted by a professional speaker from PS The Children association.

Details of the workshop are as the following:

Date: 28 Feb & 1 March 2009 (Saturday & Sunday)

Time: 9am - 5pm

Venue: Wisma HELP DSA Level 5

Fees: RM88 (inclusive of materials, lunch & refreshments)

This workshop only has limited space based on first come first served basis.

If you are interested in children, would like to gain more practical and hands on knowledge on handling children, this will be a stepping stone for you. Besides that, for those who are interested to be a trainer for future child sexual abuse workshop, this will be an opportunity for you as we will be organizing a Train the Trainers workshop for those who have attended this workshop.

What are you waiting for? Quickly grab a chance, contact us for reservation!!!