A TEACHER'S TEARS
By Christopher Quah
Working full time as a volunteer teacher is a very tough job and more so when there is no salary, yet at the same time one has to be dedicated to the students, full time. This sharing is about Peter a volunteer teacher in one of the special refugee schools in Malaysia, specially catering for refugee students from the Chin State.
Peter, a Hakha Chin has been a volunteer teacher since 2013 and finds it isn’t easy.
This year his workload apparently has gotten a lot heavier. The reason he said is that there are less and less full-time volunteer teachers helping with the various Chin schools around Malaysia.
“I’ve been working with the Chin organisation for the past six years. I teach English in the schools run by them. The nature of this job causes me to move from one school to another wherever the need is. First, I was placed in Imbi, then in Sentul, then I was transferred to Cheras, Puchong, and Loke Yew,” Peter explained.
Impressively all his teaching knowledge and skills are self-taught.
“I’m not a trained teacher, nor do I have the necessary academic qualifications. But I feel I can do something for my own people in this way. I didn’t have any educational experience before, and I started teaching by learning everything by myself. I would read the text in a certain text book over and over again. Little by little I master a deeper understanding of the subject. This is how I approach the subject and my students can understand follow my lessons. I dedicated my life to them as they come to Malaysia without a basic formal education. They do not have any foundation but at least I can teach them basic ABC, and to speak proper English,” he said.
Peter currently is the elected chairman of the Chin students organisation also bemoaned that many of their schools have closed recently.
“For this year we are only running two schools. One in Cheras and the other in Puchong. The Imbi, Loke Yew, and Sentul centres have been closed because of the lack of man power. Committing full time as a teacher is not easy. Most volunteer could only commit teaching for one or two months. But the schools have to go on for the whole academic year and keep running for years and years. It’s really tough. I’ve experienced this uncertainty of the lack of committed volunteer staffs to run the schools for more than five years,” he lamented.
The schools are desperately looking for more full-time volunteer teachers and this is hard as many people cannot commit to teach on a voluntary basis on a long-term basis.
“I understand why people can’t commit long term they aren’t paid. I don’t get paid as a teacher. Only food and accommodation are provided. Most of the teaching materials we have are donated, the whiteboards, stationeries and other related teaching stuffs. They are donated by well-wishers and the local people as well as foreigners. There are many kindhearted people. The only difficult part is full time Chin volunteers do not have a salary,” Peter explained
He added that because of this, himself and many of the full-time Chin volunteers couldn’t enjoy a normal life, like others Chin refugees who have come to Malaysia.
“There are times when my friends have a party or celebration but I find myself and the other teachers can’t join because we don’ have any money. We want to go to a birthday party but we can’t even afford the cost of the transportation so we just stay in the school even though we have friends and love ones who would invite us. This makes it very hard for us to mingle around,” Peter said in a sad tone.
He added though schools do charge school fee, it is very little just RM 80 per student and it is used to help maintain the school and not to pay salary.
“This is a really tough situation. But we managed to continue go on, stronger. This is a must, as we cannot stop even a single day. Try putting yourself in our shoes. You cannot understand our feelings, our bitter experiences and this breaks my heart,” Peter lamented.
Their situations are tough and sometimes faithful volunteer even like Peter feels like giving up and who wouldn’t. Peter said that he did not throw the towel because of his faith in God and that is what is getting him through these hard times.
“I believe that my higher calling in life is to take care of these kids who are in need. They are kids who are vulnerable and have nothing. I need to help them in any way I can, and I always pray to God that I can commit myself in helping these refugee people, my blood relatives. The kids need a lot of help. It’s all about the kids, as they are our future. And we as the teachers can bring them to the point where they can make it in life. Till they can do what other people can do,” he added.
Peter also explained that another motivation for him to go on as a volunteer teacher is for him to provide the refugee kids open opportunities for a better future through education. He sees them all having very great potential.
“We believe that education is the best way to break free from the poverty cycle. So, we have to invest our lives for these young kids, so that our next generation will become something really wonderful. If we want to change the next generation, we have to start now. We have to start today, and continue working hard for these people so the next generation will be changed. If we don’t work hard for this generation, then the next generation will get worse,” he said.
He is adamant and will not give up on his vocation as he believes that if he can change the lives of the children, he will change their families and his nation too.
“These kids are within our reach, so we can train them and can teach them. As long as we have the zeal, as long as we have the enthusiasm the teachers here will carry on despite how harsh the situation is. We see ourselves more than teachers. But life changers. Just the thought of helping students gives me full satisfaction. For me when I see the kids growing, and improving, I feel very good deep inside, that I have done something to change a life. When we change a life, that person can change an entire family. Even an entire nation. Like Martin Luther King, he changed a nation. If we cannot do a big thing, start by a small thing. We can start with a small thing. Like what we are doing now,” Peter added.
He also is thankful for all the kind locals who have and are still supporting them. He hopes that more locals can come forward to be volunteers as well.
“We are running tutoring sessions for our kids on Saturday and for people who are interested to help as teachers please feel free to contact us at……….”he hopefully making a request.
