- J
My name is JC MOON, I am the President of LIGHT OF PENANG FOUNDATION, which is a non-profit organization, and I am the executive director of SUNSHINE REFUGEE LEARNING CENTER (SLC).
To share a little background, in March 2017 I witnessed children, who should be in school, playing in a field scattered with garbage. The children were running around in tattered clothes and worn out sandals. It seemed as if I was in the city slums of a third-world country, not the developed, serene city of Penang.
I soon found out that this was a Rohingya refugee community of 50 families. These Rohingya people fled their native country of Myanmar due to violence against them from their own government. Although surrounding countries have denounced the violence, they provide little support to the refugees. There is little to no access to proper education, healthcare, working conditions, etc. for the Rohingya refugees in Penang.
Seeing those children and realizing how hard life would be for them, I decided I would try my best to give every single child an education so they would have options and opportunities to help their community. Therefore, I started a school for them, the SUNSHINE REFUGEE LEARNING CENTER, out of a rented home in Jelutong, Penang.
Today, our school has 44 child students, and we have an adult women’s class. Our primary goal is to provide primary school education and prepare these young children for secondary school and the appropriate entrance exams.
Recently, the community of 50 families was notified that they had to vacate the land that they occupy as soon as possible. Currently, they do not know where they will be relocating, and it is causing a lot of stress and turmoil within the community.
After speaking to the Rohingya community leaders, our organization decided that we needed to move the school in an area where we felt the community could also relocate and form a new community around the school, and around the children.
Amazingly, we were recently offered land (picture on the next page) to build a school building in Jalan Madrasah, Jelutong. We engaged with engineers and faculties at Universiti Sains Malaysia to begin planning the building process. We are planning to build a 3,000 SQ FT facility, which will cost RM50,000 – 60,000 if done in a low-cost way.
We are a non-profit, charitable organization with no institutional backing. Everything we have has been donated. Our teachers are volunteers. Therefore, we need financial help and professional supports to build the school for the children. We hope this new school building will provide a sense of foundation as they face eviction from their current home.
We desire to help these children to Dream Big and have the opportunities we have. We want them to know that they are valuable and loved. We want them to receive a proper education that will propel them into a life of prosperity and fulfillment.
It’s up to us to change the future for these Rohingya refugees by giving them a fighting chance. We hope that you see how much you can impact the future of these children.
Thank you for your consideration and generosity.
Sincerely,
JC MOON
To share a little background, in March 2017 I witnessed children, who should be in school, playing in a field scattered with garbage. The children were running around in tattered clothes and worn out sandals. It seemed as if I was in the city slums of a third-world country, not the developed, serene city of Penang.
I soon found out that this was a Rohingya refugee community of 50 families. These Rohingya people fled their native country of Myanmar due to violence against them from their own government. Although surrounding countries have denounced the violence, they provide little support to the refugees. There is little to no access to proper education, healthcare, working conditions, etc. for the Rohingya refugees in Penang.
Seeing those children and realizing how hard life would be for them, I decided I would try my best to give every single child an education so they would have options and opportunities to help their community. Therefore, I started a school for them, the SUNSHINE REFUGEE LEARNING CENTER, out of a rented home in Jelutong, Penang.
Today, our school has 44 child students, and we have an adult women’s class. Our primary goal is to provide primary school education and prepare these young children for secondary school and the appropriate entrance exams.
Recently, the community of 50 families was notified that they had to vacate the land that they occupy as soon as possible. Currently, they do not know where they will be relocating, and it is causing a lot of stress and turmoil within the community.
After speaking to the Rohingya community leaders, our organization decided that we needed to move the school in an area where we felt the community could also relocate and form a new community around the school, and around the children.
Amazingly, we were recently offered land (picture on the next page) to build a school building in Jalan Madrasah, Jelutong. We engaged with engineers and faculties at Universiti Sains Malaysia to begin planning the building process. We are planning to build a 3,000 SQ FT facility, which will cost RM50,000 – 60,000 if done in a low-cost way.
We are a non-profit, charitable organization with no institutional backing. Everything we have has been donated. Our teachers are volunteers. Therefore, we need financial help and professional supports to build the school for the children. We hope this new school building will provide a sense of foundation as they face eviction from their current home.
We desire to help these children to Dream Big and have the opportunities we have. We want them to know that they are valuable and loved. We want them to receive a proper education that will propel them into a life of prosperity and fulfillment.
It’s up to us to change the future for these Rohingya refugees by giving them a fighting chance. We hope that you see how much you can impact the future of these children.
Thank you for your consideration and generosity.
Sincerely,
JC MOON