MARIAM, 13, wants to be an ambassador, so that she can visit other countries and meet people.

She decided this after meeting US Ambassador to Malaysia Kamala Lakhdhir at her “school” in Alor Star, Kedah, recently.

“I will tell them what they want to know,” said the teen, when asked what she would talk about with people overseas.

If her dream comes true, Mariam has much to say about children like her – a young refugee from Myanmar, who escaped with her parents to Malaysia.

She may be free from religious persecution here, but Mariam has no access to formal education. Her school is just a small rented shoplot at the Gangsa Business Complex.

Catholic group New Thessalonian Apostolate (NTA) has been running the free school for refugee children and others denied a formal education since 2012.

There are about 100 children studying at the school, including a group comprising kids aged 5 and 6, who are placed in a preschool class.

The older children attend English, Bahasa Malaysia, Mathematics, Science and Islamic lessons taught by volunteer teachers, among them Fulbright English teaching assistants.

Most of the children are Rohingya, and the others are of non-Malaysian mixed parentage.

“I like coming to school,” said Mariam, adding that she particularly enjoys learning English, Mathematics and Science.

The teen, who speaks good English, also teaches her parents Bahasa Malaysia at home, enabling them to converse with locals.

“My mother would ask me how to say this and that in BM. I teach her how to speak BM correctly,” said the eldest of five children, who has two younger siblings at the same school.

Mariam is described as an “exceptional” child by NTA school co-founder and head teacher Marianne See Kameron.

She said Mariam has shown a great desire to learn and can go far – if given the opportunity.

The tragedy of the situation is that Mariam is too old for the school, which does not have classes for the secondary level.

“But, she insists on coming to class anyway. She made her mother – with whom I had to communicate using hand gestures in the past – ask us to let her stay in class with the younger kids,” said Marianne.

If all goes well, older refugee children like Mariam may soon have a secondary school. NTA is working on a pilot programme for secondary-level education using an online homeschool-based programme from Canada.

“The kids can earn a certificate that can even get them into university. We are still working on it,” said NTA founder Dr Dave Kameron.

Begging for their children’s education

The husband-and-wife founders of NTA started the school six years ago after learning of refugee parents in Alor Star who were begging people to teach their children to read.

“We didn’t know refugee parents were approaching random people, asking them to help teach their kids something… like ABC, for example,” said Dave.

“They had doors slammed in their faces, until a refugee mother approached a local church, which then contacted NTA.”

At the time, NTA was operating a centre in Sg Petani for troubled youths.

Dave and Marianne started the school using their own money, and with support from family and friends.

The first class had just a handful of kids taking lessons in a living room, before the pilot project developed over time.

The refugee parents, many of whom were illiterate, were overjoyed that their children had the opportunity to learn to read.

Dave and Marianne quit their jobs as a medical doctor and computer science lecturer to focus on running the school.

It was able to thrive thanks to the work of their friend, Sherril Netto Vijayan, whom they roped in to handle management and funding. Sherril eventually left her own career to run NTA’s charitable projects.

As its external affairs director, Sherril has forged good working relationships with the US embassy in Kuala Lumpur, local churches and private donors.

The embassy contributes to NTA’s education programmes, while the Roman Catholic Diocese of Penang helps with the shoplot’s monthly rent.

With the support of donors, the children are not only able to pick up basic literacy and communication skills, but they also get a proper breakfast and lunch, multivitamins and vaccinations.

Meals are provided by a local Baptist church, while the vaccines are from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, as the children come from families holding UNHCR cards.

Shaping a different future

Sherril said the school keeps the children safe, by ensuring they are not roaming the streets during study hours.

The staff also monitor them for signs of abuse. For young girls, in particular, this allows for interventions for those about to be married off by their families. There have been cases of girls as young as Mariam becoming child brides.

Dave said if NTA hears of marriages involving children at the school, it will check with their families and get the UNHCR involved.

“But the problem is, our laws allow it,” he said, referring to state shariah laws that set 16 as the minimum marriageable age for Muslim girls, but allow younger ones to be wed with the shariah court’s approval.

NTA hopes that with education, refugee girls and their parents will not resort to child marriages.

Dave said he hopes that in the “New Malaysia”, after the change in government following the 14th general election, refugee children will be given the opportunity to attend normal schools, and be allowed to assimilate better into society and contribute to the economy.

“Malaysia is supposed to be a transit country before they go elsewhere, but it creates problems when the children are not educated while they are here.”

He said young girls are the most vulnerable, and those not given adequate protection are at risk of being married off, only to be abandoned after they have been taken advantage of.

He said the school’s best students are girls, adding that if they are given a proper education, they will not fall victim to child marriages.

“The older girls with us say they don’t want to get married so young. They have seen it happen to some of their friends.”

A vocational training programme run by NTA, called PieceWorks Vocational Training Centre, also in Alor Star, is a lifeline for refugee girls, helping them gain independence. Some of its young graduates have learnt to become home bakers.

“There were two sisters who underwent training. They are now baking to earn money for their family,” said Dave.

“If their daughters generate income for the family, the parents would be less pressured to marry them off at a young age.”

In Penang, NTA is working with The Lighthouse to run a school for refugee children, and organise skills-training programmes for adults.

The Lighthouse, the social arm of the Catholic Church of the Penang Diocese, in Jalan Penang, George Town, is providing the premises for the project.

NTA, which was originally founded in Kuala Lumpur to help victims of abuse, gangsterism, and human trafficking, today also has a nutrition and advisory bureau, emergency and medical aid, and vaccination and stewardship programmes. – August 5, 2018.