Shane and I meet Dr. Firdaus, founder of GIFT Foundation to help assist her in getting her NGO organized. The NGO (stands for non-governmental organization) is situated in Telok Gadong, Klang, Selangor in a village 37.1 km away from Kuala Lumpur city center. GIFT Foundation provides shelter and assistance to the Rohingya and Champa refugees, and impoverished children in the neighborhood.
The house is a part of GIFT Foundation and it welcomes anyone who needs help.
Our first visit is to a madrasah for the Rohingya refugee boys. Dr. Firdaus has inherited a building from her late parents to convert into a boarding school. A Rohingya elder acts as a live-in teacher. The government funding she received has ran out so she has to use her own savings to maintain the building, pay the teacher and feed the boys.
She desperately needs help with Shane’s organizational and mental health skills for the Rohingya and Champa refugees community.
We meet a group of Malay Champa at the house and invited to a simple lunch. Apparently words have spread across Malaysia of a couple from the United States coming to help with their causes. This is why some Champa have travelled long distances from Perak, Pahang and Johor to meet us. We are humbled and feel a great responsibility to help their community. An intern from a university and several individuals who have donated time and money to GIFT Foundation are also here.
Shane outlines the programs Gift Foundation will be doing during the course of our stay in Malaysia and the tools he will impart before we leave. The Champa community has much to say with Dr. Firdaus acting as an interpreter. They have put a lot of faith into Dr. Firdaus helping them obtain permanent residencies. Frustrations are mounting because of the extremely slow process on the government level. We are not representing any government and explain that we don’t have the authority to expedite their immigration progress.
Maybe we could help with some of the Champa welfare concerns and emotional state of mind.
This marginalized group has lost their refugee status after the end of Pol Pot regime in Cambodia and faces deportation. It’s a complex issue with the Malaysian government not making clear of the Champa’s status in the country.
UNHCR has stopped protecting them as their status change and they face police and immigration threats.
Many of the Champa have been here since the 1970s and their families have grown into several generations. Employers who hire them illegally pay less than minimum wage because they don’t have the legal rights to work. As a result, they face many hardships and can’t pay their medical bills for instance. Champa children don’t have the privilege to free education. Even if some do, most of them are made to stay home to help their parents.
We are here to see how we can help GIFT Foundation sustains the Champa refugees livelihood and protection from the authorities.
Next, Shane has a counseling session with the young Rohingya boys so he can get to know each one of them. The younger ones are curious and some older boys are weary of us because of their circumstances. There is so much to do and we pray God will guide us in helping our brothers, sisters and children.
