Pusat Bantuan Sentul Workshop

The last Interact Club project of year 2009 was a Pusat Bantuan Sentul workshop, held for all the kids that frequent the centre. The last time we had them all at our school was during the Kids' Carnival (which was, given that so much has happened since then, a VERY long time ago). This time we decided to do something entirely different- a motivational workshop centred around teamwork, achieving your dreams and most importantly, having fun while doing it.

And so, the PBS Workshop was born- an event that I hope will become an annual affair, simply because it was so much fun (for the kids AND Interactors). The workshop was held over two days, the first of the school holidays, the 23rd and 24th of November. Day 1 focused more on skills, personal development and teamwork whereas Day 2 focused on career, life goals and games.

FYI, Pusat Bantuan Sentul is a non-profit based centre that works with children from all ages, who usually come from difficult backgrounds. It is a place where the kids go for homework help, and WMS Interactors visit the centre twice a week to help them with their work. Next year, we'll be teaching them how to use the centre's newly-installed computer.

After the kids (aged from 8 to 16) arrived at our school, we got them registered and divided into groups, according to colours. After the opening ceremony, we played a few icebreakers and then started the arts and crafts session.

Funding Director Ong Kar Jin conducting the motivational session on Day 2. (sorry, pictures are not quite in order)

Interactor Laura helping out with the arts and crafts using recycled materials.

Plasticine animals!

On Day 2, we talked to the kids about their dreams and goals. We were glad to see that all of them seem to know exactly what they want to achieve in their lives, no matter how difficult the circumstances. Another activity was to give each participant a piece of paper and a pencil, and ask them to draw exactly what they want in life. This activity unearthed interesting dreams- most of the boys drew men wearing suits and carrying briefcases with a sports car in the background, one boy drew a doctor, and a little girl drew a big house on an island.

Later on we took the kids to the Chapel for a movie screening.

Our teacher advisor, Cik Norhayati, brought along her 3 nephews and a niece. This is one of her nephews snuggling up to Interactor Jeremy.

Cik Norhayati's nephew.

After two long days, the Interactors and the participating kids were exhausted. During the closing ceremony, certificates of participation and gift bags were handed out to all the kids.

The pioneer PBS Workshop turned out to be a successful event that brought us much closer to the kids. They clearly had a lot of fun and we are glad to have been involved with this project. Thank you to all the Interactors who participated, worked tirelessly and made this event what it was.

41st District Interact Conference

On the 10th of December 2009, 9 Interactors went to Nilai University College, Negeri Sembilan to attend the 41st District Interact Conference. The conference was hosted by the Rotary Club of Klang and over 700 Interactors from 111 schools attended the event.

Low Zhi-Yang, Lau Yen June, Esther Foo, Anisha Passcuran, Lim Qing Wei, Jonathan Lee, Giselle Soosay Nathan, Ong Kar Jin, San Peggy and Teoh Pei Ji all attended the conference. We weren't sure what to expect as we had never been to such a large-scale Interact Conference before.

After registration, the girls headed off to their dorms and the boys went to theirs. We got changed into our conference T-shirts and went downstairs to the Multi-Purpose Hall, where most of the talks would be taking place throughout the conference.

The conference featured many talks from several professionally-trained, distinguished speakers. We later learned that none of them were paid to speak at the event.

Us Wesleyans were really excited to see Mr A.R. Peter, our former principal. We went up to him and were glad to find that he is still as amicable as ever. As Past President of the Rotary Club of Klang, Mr Peter (or Master Peter as he was addressed by Rotarian Anthony Dass) laid down the house rules. Later on he gave one of his trademark speeches on 'Patriotism towards the Country'.

After dinner the Rotaractors of ATC conducted a session that highlighted our constitutional rights and the rights of the child. After that, Rotarian Gerard Lazarus, an accomplished lawyer, gave a hilarious speech on 'Crime-Related Problems in School'. After supper we went to bed and had a good night's rest for tomorrow.

On Day 2 the official opening ceremony was held, where all the Interactors had to wear their official Interact uniform. The Wesleyans stood out as one of the few groups that were not clad in black, but purple! After the opening ceremony we got a chance to properly mingle and get to know the other Interactors, which was one of my favourite parts of the event.

After the opening ceremony, more talks were held- however, the most inspiring talk was conducted by Datin Paduka (Dr) Hajjah Sharifah Mazlina. She talked about her journey all over the South Pole and the North Pole, all for the love of her country. In preparation for her trip to the South Pole, she underwent rigorous training to build up her strength and endurance. After becoming the fastest person to cross the South Pole, she injured both her kneecaps yet refused to undergo surgery, as advised by her doctors. Instead she trained even harder, became a sharp-shooter and went to conquer the North Pole. She became the first Muslim to cross the South Pole and the first Asian woman to conquer both. After completing her North Pole mission, she said, "This is for all of us Malaysians; Malaysia boleh!"

After that there was a talk on how Interactors could use social media to their club's advantage- a move which we will be taking in the future. After that was formal night, where everyone got dressed up to watch performances. Everyone was having fun, but due to strict time constraints, we had to return to our dorms.

Our president Zhi-Yang and vice president June.

Day 3 was full of talks, some less engaging than others. There was also a huge treasure hunt. The highlight of Day 3 was the Talentime competition, where unfortunately the judges were very strict on time.

The next day Past President Rotarian Dr. Siva Ananthan spoke on 'The Leader in You', which was amusing and thought-provoking at the same time. Then there was a workshop, where all the Interactors sat in their respective groups and discussed several topics with their Rotarian representatives. Issues such as the problems faced by our Interact Club, conference pros and cons, and Rotary participation were all dealt with, and later on we were given 1 minute to present whatever we had discussed. A question-and-answer session followed. Certificates were given out to the Interactors, and we returned to our dorms to get things sorted out before making the journey home.


Zhi-Yang receiving the certificates on behalf of the WMS Interactors.


All in all, it was an eye-opening conference and we certainly learned new things that could help us as Interactors in the future.

Where have we been??

Hello all! We know we've been pretty quiet these last few months, but of course it's only because we've all been so busy. Since the 30-Hour Famine, we've had a host of other events and things going on. The Form 5 students retired to get ready for the SPM examination and the Form 4s got ready to carry on the legacy.

Our funding project, called the iFun Carnival was held on the Monday right after exam week in WMS, which was October 26th. We wanted to create an atmosphere that was totally different from the one hanging around school during the exams. The carnival succeeded in letting the students unwind and have fun, and it was also a great way to kick off the post-examination activities.

We had tons of cool attractions that day- including a dunking booth, Human Pacman, song dedications, face painting and body art, Human Foosball and an obstacle course. It was evident that everyone was having fun. All the Interactors were also given permission to wear sunglasses that day- really cool. T-shirts commemmorating the event were sold, and they were completely different from our usual black-and-white ones. This time, we decided to sell bright orange T-shirts.

The Carnival started at around 8.30 am and ended late, at about 2.30 pm. At the end of the day all the Interactors were exhausted, but it was all worth it.

Pictures coming up very soon.

Updates coming up on these events:

• iFun Carnival
• Pusat Bantuan Sentul Workshop
• 41st District Interact Conference