Offering life skills to the marginalised in society

Aug 16, 2019

By Adelle Lim
A Media Literacy class, a mission project by Fondacio is being offered for young working adults at the Youth Livelihood and Development Centre (YLDC).

YLDC has been operating within the Cathedral of St John for the past two years. Despite its beginnings as an alternative education programme, it has since grown into a thriving community, and a safe space to learn and exchange ideas. As part of the programme, the students must complete a Media Literacy course, which helps them to understand the pervasive influence of media in their lives and how to use it as a tool to advocate for their own causes.

As the group progressed through the sessions, it was remarkable to note how their perceptions were tested and reshaped, simply by challenging preconceived notions of what media and democracy mean.

The key to bringing about change is to not only feed the bodies, but also to nourish the minds of marginalised youths. While learning usual basic computer skills would suffice to ‘improve’ their prospects, this alone would not bring about true change in a person’s outlook.

This is the belief at the core of YLDC’s mission. To put forth a well-known adage, teaching people to fish is more life-giving than simply giving them a fish. This is particularly noteworthy in the case of three former students of YLDC who have managed to surpass the limits placed on them by poverty and circumstance.

Below are stories of the three students who were accepted into the Mission Community School, a newly developed programme that has a vision of developing a new generation of Catholic leaders, as well as vocations for the Church and society.

Angela is a 19-year-old Chin refugee from Myanmar. Even as a teenager, she supported her family with a low-paying job while attending English classes by night, simply because she was denied the opportunity to attend school and university in Malaysia.

Rosa is a 27-year-old from the war-torn state of Kachin. Having worked in Malaysia for years, she never gave up on her learning, continuing to attend night classes in YLDC.

Edmund hails from Penampang, Sabah. As a middle child in a large but poor family, he came to Kuala Lumpur to work, hoping to earn more to support his extended family at home, while wanting to help other youths from Sabah who come from similar backgrounds as himself.

This might be a modest achievement by Malaysian standards, yet it marks a momentous occasion for these three young people and their families. The context is heart-breaking: as refugees living in Malaysia, many children and youth learn early on that there are few choices for those who are deemed to be outcasts. Regular schooling and education are denied to them. Volunteer-run refugee schools are unable to provide them with proper accreditation, even if the standard of teaching is reasonably high. When money is tight, parents are also often forced to pull their children out of even these schools. This lack of access to quality education sees many teenagers trapped in a vicious cycle of working for meagre salaries, with few opportunities to break out of poverty.

In the case of Edmund, his formal education gave him the accreditation and job opportunities to survive, but not the spiritual and value formation he sought for himself and other rural Sarawakian and Sabahan youth. Separated from their families, facing a completely different environment from the one they were raised in, these youths were overwhelmed by the complexities of urban life, often lost and dejected. Their connection to the Church, no matter how tenuous, then becomes an important key to navigate these struggles and articulating for them a sense of self worth in an unrelenting society.

What keeps them coming, despite it all? What drives them are the small seeds of hope each student carries within himself/herself, hope for a better life, a better community, better opportunity. As Angela put it in her farewell address, “Don’t look down on things that are small. It may seem useless, but it can change lives, and make a big difference for some people.” One cannot help but recall the parable of the mustard seed, a tiny grain that eventually grows into a tree capable of offering succour and shelter to those in need.

As youth who are deeply concerned about the life choices other young people are making, the eight-month programme at the Mission Community School is a means of changing their lives.

--YLDC is a response to the plight of the poor and marginalised across Southeast Asia. The organisation offers life-skills training in the form of English and IT classes, as well as personal development. In Malaysia, YLDC works closely with Myanmarese refugee communities. We welcome new student registrations and contributions. For more information, email [email protected] or whatsapp 011 2613 5788.