Scholars enhance UWC life - United World College of South East Asia

Dunia, April 2010
10
Houses and so much more - Tabitha GC
In just two terms at UWCSEA, the Dover
students have built a total of 36 houses
in one of the poorest regions of Cambodia.
Building a house is the final stage
for Tabitha participants on a journey that
started five to seven years earlier, when
they first joined the programme.
The move for Khmer families from abject
poverty to relative “middle income” is not
based on hand outs. The beauty of the
Tabitha family savings scheme is that
the participants are not given charity by
our students and staff, instead they gain
dignity and self respect by working and
saving their way out of poverty.
Participants start their first cycle of
savings for a simple dream such as the
purchase of a bag of rice or a change
of clothes, and then work up eventually
buying materials for a home. Yet save
as they might, some families will never
manage to save enough to build their
own homes and it’s at this point that our
amazing student groups step in to assist
by providing the labour and sponsorship
to complete the houses. They work
alongside the soon-to-be new home owners
and Tabitha staff. The house building
experience is about so much more than
foundations, floors and walls, it is an
enriching experience for both the builders
and recipients. For example, the Grade
11 and 8 teams who built 12 and 16
houses respectively, planned, saved and
fundraised for months before their trips
taking pride in the opportunity presented
to them to help some of the poorest people
in the world.
The passionate support for Tabitha GC
extends from the Senior, High and Middle
Schools right through to the Junior
School and Infants. Although often too
young to build houses themselves, these
students do amazing things to help
those less fortunate than themselves.
At this point it seems appropriate to
highlight some of our youngest donors
who between them have raised close to
$15,000 in just two terms. They are (in
no particular order): Harry Faulds; Naomi
Schulberg; Mea Stanley; Jun Han Huang;
Rhiannon Durant; Caelinn ÓMaoileoin;
Cameron Warren; Ella McAuliffe; Samuel
Hamilton; Joshua Raj; James Hamilton;
Siddharth Roy and the Grade 2 Tabitha
GC.
It is extraordinary to see how much can
be achieved when the Junior School students
put their minds to it. For example,
Grade 3 student Ella McAuliffe took part
in the CNY Family House Building trip
and commented, “I liked helping build
someone’s home as it’s people who don’t
have houses and they’re not as privileged
as us.” Another student keen to help
those less fortunate is Heather in Grade
2, who asked her mum (Alix Burrell) to
donate 100% of her book sales, I Hate
Peas, to the Tabitha Foundation. When
the founder of Tabitha, Janne Ritskes,
came to speak, Heather presented her
with the sum of $5,000 for books sold
through the school and has since added
a further $2,300 for sales beyond the
College.
UWCSEA students have adopted an impressive
range of fundraising strategies
from sponsored fasts through to lucky
dips. They are an inspiration to others
and should be very proud of all they have
achieved.
Kate Lewis
Above left - Janne Ritskes meets the High
School GC members for a Q & A session.
Above - Heather proudly presenting Janne with
a certifi cate for $5,000
Glofund event raises
$62,000
An auction of ceramic pieces
donated by some of Singapore’s
top artists, including Iskander, successfully
raised over $62,000 for
four Global Concerns projects. The
event, organized by the Glofund
Global Concerns group, was held
at The Asian Civilizations Museum
on a February evening.
This was the second such event
held by Glofund whose purpose is
to help other GC groups fundraise
for the causes they support. The
fortunate GC projects this time
were Safuge, which supports the
rehabilitation of child soldiers in
Sierra Leone; The Mercy Centre
in Bangkok; the BOSCO streetkids
initiative in Bangalore; and
Half the Sky, which helps with the
education of girl orphans in China.
Members of the College’s Jazz
Band provided background music
while students mixed with and told
guests about their projects.
Adi Chand and his Glofund team
are to be congratulated on a successful
and thoroughly enjoyable
evening.
Anthony Skillicorn