Melissa's E-Portfolio

Visit to Rumah HOPE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Teaching in Rumah Hope

 

      During my foundation year, my friends and I went to Rumah Hope to carry out a charity event. Rumah Hope is basically an organization that caters for orphans and it was started in 1994 as a social ministry of Good Hope Lutheran Church and it acts as a sanctuary for abused, neglected and under-privileged children between the ages of 5-17. The Home relies on public funding for its maintenance. We went there to carry out volunteer work to teach the children English Language. We stumbled upon this home whilst searching for charity events to be carried out and we thought it would be a good form of exposure to us. I was very eager to help out with the children because we have learned that they were having trouble with the English Language especially in terms of speaking and writing. I was not very comfortable with communicating with children before but after having met the kids in the Home, I have learned to be more compassionate and caring towards them. They were a lovable bunch and even though they had difficulty in communicating in English, we guided them slowly.

      When we first entered the Home, it was filled with about 20 children around the age of 5-10. We had an ice-breaking session in which we went around and introduced ourselves to the children. Later, we had a story telling session as well and by the end of it, we were very happy with the feedback from the children because they were able to convey to us about the lessons the learned from ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’. After the story telling session, I was assigned with a small group of 5 children to teach them on speaking and spelling in English. It was quite tough for me because they were quite slow in catching up with me but I slowed down my pace to ensure that each one of them could understand me. Before ending the session, a small assessment was carried out to see whether they had understood my lessons. Thankfully, they were able to spell better and many mispronunciations were also corrected. Before we leave, we played games with the children and bonded well with them.

        I was very reluctant to leave by the end of the day but I was glad that I have had the opportunity to meet such adorable kids and to be able to teach them as well. After having done the volunteer work, I have learned to be grateful of the little privileges that I have in my life and I truly enjoy every bit of the moments I spent there.