Northern Corridor Character Assessment Program Journal Part I

The Beginning

On a hot November evening 2008, I was interrupted from my daily routine with a call from Baqi regarding an event that will change the way I see my work for a very long time...
“We got the job…NCIA has agreed to our terms”…this was a statement that led to a very impactful 7 Day journey in our lives…

The Journey
Friday, 14th November 2008 – 7:00am

The TT Team arrived on the dot as planned. After one week of rehearsals and gruelling meeting to get everyone prepared, the day finally arrived for the ultimate test… The destination – “Maktab Rendah Sains Mara”, Taiping Perak. The Team – Baqi, Sya, Firdaus, Ira & Me all travelling together in our ultimate mobile machine – “Jingga” - The Company Van .

MRSM is located just underneath Bukit Larut – The wettest location in Malaysia… Famous for its rain… Fortunately when we arrived, it was all hot and sunny.

2:00pm

After enjoying “Nasi Kawah” for lunch and after a quick meeting with Azrain – The Coordinator from Northern Corridor, we went to observe the classroom for the training sessions, “Oh my God !” was the first thing that came to my mind, The classroom reminded me of my National Service Days where we conducted training in camp areas – all dusty but still conducive enough. Immediately we went all out to clean up the room. Kudos to MRSM for being such a good host – they provided us with “Tikar Mengkuang” and all the things that we requested. It’s amazing what we can do when the team comes together. We managed to turn the impossible to possible. It was about 5:30pm when we completed the task, by that time we were all ready to cheer and welcome all our participants. By the time we went back to our dorm, the famous Bukit Larut rain started and we enjoyed our first bit of cold shower before the event began at 8:30pm.

The Show
8:00pm

We gathered early in the room to check for any final preparations, by 8:30pm the “PARTICIPANTS” finally arrived:
60 children from the age of 10 years walked into the training room. Little that they or any of us know that the training was the beginning of a life changing experience for at least ½ of them. By the end of the training, ½ of them would be selected to become the pioneer batch of the Northern Corridor Special School project. What is so special about the project is that we were given the privilege to really make a difference to the children in terms of shaping their possibilities for the future.

…To be continued…