Northern Corridor Character Assessment Program Journal Part II

….Continuation

Day 1


Lights Out
11:00pm

This is the end of the first day. The wardens tuck the children into bed. Some of these kids don’t have a proper bed at home to sleep on. Sharing one mattress with six other siblings. Over here each of them had a bed to themselves. It was heart wrenching to see them just appreciating the comfort of their own beds by feeling and caressing the MRSM mattress. While I was making my rounds, one boy was just so happy about this new found comfort, would just refuse to sleep and when I ask him why, he told me “I just want to lay here and enjoy this bed by myself. At home I sleep on a mat with my other siblings”. My heart dropped and affirmed my reason for agreeing to this project is to open up possibilities for them and to make them see that they can make something out of themselves. We however were entrusted to observe and evaluate these children and decide on who goes and who doesn’t. After seeing all the above, it just made our jobs harder, and that was the challenge choose to accept. All of us including the NCIA officials and the wardens were up until 2:00 am and working each other to get clear and thorough information on these children base on the evaluation and observations so we could really select the right kids.

DAY 2



Rise & Shine
5:45am

The children are up screaming and running. They were everywhere. We thought chaos descended upon us. When we got our bearings together, we learnt that it was only the children energized and hyped up for what’s in store for them throughout the day. I have compassion for the MRSM students, which were preparing for their SPM Finals. To our surprise, they actually enjoyed having the kids around. Salute to them and all the best. The children went for morning prayers immediately for some aerobics, had their bath then breakfast. This will be part of their daily routine if they are selected into the NCIA hostel. As for me, I look forward to the refreshing morning shower. When you turn on the tap, icy cold water rushed through the shower head. It will definitely instantly wake up you up.



The Challenge
7:30am

Firdaus, the Superman in our team made sure everything is setup orderly. The doors open at 7:50am with background music playing and the participants arrived. Immediately, Sya, Firdaus and I went on to setup the outdoor obstacle course for one of the activities. The whole day the participants played games and activities with their hearts out that would allow us to evaluate them. They are good mannered and well behaved kids. Their parents raised them up well in spite of the obstacles they face at home. Taiping, being the wettest town in our country, in rained most of the time. But it’ll be really hot at mid-day. The weather was getting to some of us. But we managed to pull through. This experience was definitely worth remembering. I am optimistic about this kids becoming great leaders in their lives some day. And they would remember this day that someone made a difference to them to be better and they would pay it forward to someone else.

… To be continued…