After one year with the Fellowship, what I aim for 2013...

It's one day before we all welcome the Year of the Water Snake, and I'm still on my teacher duty at Institut Latihan Perindustrian (ILP) Kuala Langat for the Malaysian Red Crescent workshop for the students of primary and secondary education within the Kuala Langat district. Being here sure is a blessing in disguise (others teachers can't make it due to their holiday plans), and I'm also happy that I'm not stuck in any road traffic heading back to the hometown. Right now it's the breaktime, and thinking back, it has been a year, a month and a week since my first official day of teaching in class, and sure a lot has happened, but I'm just lucky to be part of this awesome movement. 

A few things that I'm really happy about teaching in 2013: i) new principal who is very transformational; ii) being the head teacher advisor (yes!!!) of the Kelab Pencinta Alam (the club members have yet to agree on my proposed English name for the club, which is the 'Nature at Heart Society'); and iii) being class teacher to Form 4 students. 

The stepping stones of my final year in the Fellowship has been very progressing to the extent that not I can see the developments, but so are the students that involved with my community development project. As a marine biologist, I'm very concerned about the state of the coastline, and folks at Tanjong Sepat are blessed to have mangroves in their area. However, human activities are affecting the health of these mangroves that for some avid photographers, the dead mangroves are always included in their shots. Raising awareness may seem to be the obvious answer, but for me, I want to do more than just raising awareness. I want the students to take self initiatives to learn how their actions can impact the environment. That they need to work with each other, tolerate one another, putting aside the differences among themselves and see the urgency to think creatively and critically on how they can live in harmony with nature. 

Having said, I hope to post more on my developments about my community project in Tanjong Sepat with the help of other stakeholders as well. Being at Tanjong Sepat truly have taught me about the challenges in our education systems that are tackled by multiple factors, but at the same time, to be blessed with the rewards that comes in being a teacher.