Thursday, 19 July 2007
Friday, 27 April 2007
About the Project
The name “Kalsom” originated from Puan Kelthom Abdullah, a single mother struggling to make ends meet in Kelantan. Her children were forced to drop out of school, and her plight was given some media attention in 1993. Upon reading about her in the papers, a group of young Malaysian students in the UK decided to run a collection to help bear the cost of her children’s education.
For the initial group of students, it was not enough to merely collect money. They decided to take it a step further, spurred on by the conviction that they had a greater role to play. They decided that given their youth, and being students themselves, they were in an excellent position to help encourage and assist students from lesser-developed parts of Malaysia to excel in their studies. And so, during their summer holidays in the following year, they ran a motivational camp for the students of Jerantut, Pahang. It proved successful, and they decided to run it again the following year in Gerik, Perak.
Projek Kalsom has since been held annually, growing from strength to strength, and we are now running the project with the full support of the Malaysian Ministry of Education. In 2006, Projek Kalsom 12 inspired 120-odd student participants from the state of Kelantan, with the help of 50 volunteers.
This year, Projek Kalsom 13 will be held in Kangar for 160 students in Perlis.
Click here to read the rationale behind Projek Kalsom, and here to read our objectives.
Monday, 23 April 2007
Project Objectives
1. To inspire and encourage students to want to achieve more in studies and life by: a) Helping them develop a positive self-image and sense of confidence through the various activities. b) Providing positive role models in the facilitators for the students to look up to and aspire to be like. 2. To equip the students with the means to achieve more by: a) Helping them develop and use practical study skills. b) Developing an interest in and debunking the fear of the English language. c) Exposing them to the wealth of career and education opportunities available to them after secondary school, and d) To provide information on higher education funding opportunities (scholarships and loans) available to students.
3. To help them develop good character and values, aside from producing good academic results, thus enabling them to be better citizens.
4. To encourage interaction between university students abroad and local students from lesser privileged backgrounds in line with the ideals of national unity.
Project Rationale
While the attention given to those areas is good, much of society out of the development spotlight remains lacking in relative terms of the economic and education opportunities made available to them.
We believe that while the government remains the chief actor in building the country, there is a place and role for members of the Malaysian society to contribute towards this similar goal.
We believe also, from observing the efforts of the government, that one of the primary ways to develop our country is via education, or the development of human capital. This has proven to be successful in alleviating poverty and raising the quality of life of people, not just in Malaysia, but all over the world.
As Malaysian students enrolled in tertiary education institutions in the UK and Ireland, we believe that we can assist in the process of nation-building by helping inspire, encourage, and assist secondary school students from lesser privileged backgrounds to achieve more in studies and life.
We intend to do so by running a motivational camp targeted at Form 4 students from lesser developed parts of Malaysia over a period of 5 days during the school holidays in August.
At the same time, we acknowledge that with the material prosperity that comes with development, we are currently being swept up by the cultural waves of individualism and materialism. This has led to some educated and successful Malaysians, like those who studied abroad in countries like the UK, being less aware of and concerned with the lives and struggles of the less fortunate in Malaysia.
We believe that Projek Kalsom will be an excellent opportunity for us to promote among Malaysian students studying in universities in the UK an awareness of and empathy towards the struggles of the less fortunate. It will also function as a means of empowering us students, as citizens, to contribute towards the process of nation building by volunteering to facilitate the learning experience of participants during Projek Kalsom.
Monday, 16 April 2007
Updates~!~!
We have proposed the date of this year's Kalsom to be 19 August to 23 August, a five-day-camp in Sekolah Menengah Sains Tunku Syed Putra, Kangar Perlis.
The dates are yet to be approved by the JPN Perlis but should be alright. About the venue, we have been given the permission to use the school as our camp venue as soon as we submitted the proposal to the JPN and the school administrator.
I would like to clarify some of the things about this camp as I received many FAQs.
1. The target group is Form Four students who did well in PMR but came from humble family background. JPN and the respective schools will send to us the pupils they deem fit under that category.
2. You guys will be going the camp as abang-abang dan kakak-kakak facilitators. We will have 160 participants, divided into 16 groups, each facilitated by 3 facis. Thus, we need 48 facis.
3. The participants and You do not have to pay a single cent for this camp. We will arrange transportations from KL to Kangar, probably hiring a bus departing from KL. Last year, Transnasional sponsored a bus for that reason from KL to Kota Bharu. Any contacts of any corporate companies which we can go for sponsorship is welcomed. We need quite a lot of money for this project.
4. The date we proposed to be mid august because it is during the mid term school holiday in Malaysia.
If you have any further questions or if you are interested to join us, just drop me a line in angchoonseong@hotmail.com.
Thursday, 29 March 2007
SEJARAH PROJEK KALSOM
Projek Kalsom bermula semasa sekumpulan pelajar A level (1993) dari Program British Top Universities (BTU) membaca keratan akhbar berkenaan Puan Kelthom Abdullah dari Kelantan di Dewan Malaysia, London. Keratan tersebut menceritakan tentang kedaifan hidup Puan Kalsom sebagai seorang ibu tunggal sehinggakan beliau tidak mampu meneruskan persekolahan anak-anaknya.
Pelajar – pelajar tersebut telah mengadakan pungutan wang untuk membantu Puan Kelthom, dan usaha sukarela ini telah diteruskan dengan merancang projek khas sebagai platform bantuan. Projek ini telah dinamakan Projek Kalsom sempena cetusan idea dari keratan akhbar tentang Puan Kelthom.
Dengan matlamat untuk membimbing pelajar-pelajar remaja di kawasan pedalaman di tanahair, Projek Kalsom dimulakan dengan hanya sepuluh sukarelawan mahasiswa yang mengendalikannya di Jerantut, Pahang. Projek ini kemudiannya berkembang tahun demi tahun; dan pada tahun ini, kami berharap dapat meneruskan usaha murni ini.
Wednesday, 21 February 2007
A brand new start
THe fact that you are viewing this blogspot page means you are interested in joining us in this project. My name is Ang, from edinburgh and i am working with a few others to organise this year's Kalsom, which is the 13th Edition.
The initial plan right now is to have it in perlis on the month of August (during national school holiday period). Target group is the Form 4 students who have high potential academically but with humble family backgroup.
This project serves as two way thingy, for us to learn from there, and for them to learn from us, as abang abang kakak kakak that have the oppurtunity to study overseas.
Kalsom 13 is 5 days camp, in one of the school in perlis with hostel facilities. We have several modules such as English Day, Career Day, Study Skills and so on.
Anyway, we will sort out the details and keep u guys informed.
I'll keep posting on the details, and other stuffs regarding kalsom 13.
Please email me at angchoonseong@hotmail.com if you are interested to join and i'll get back to you very soon.
ps: this blogspot page is created while we are waiting for our webmaster to come out with the website