`Searing Hearts', our 43rd annual International Understanding Day featuring our guest country, Sierra Leone was held on the 27th of April 2017. The theme was chosen to symbolise the burning passion in the hearts of the Sierra Leoneans who have enduring love for the land they call home. Just like always, our main goal was to educate the audience about the vibrant cultures of Sierra Leone as well as the social issues in the country.

The event started off with a time machine sequence where the audience as passengers travelled back in time aboard Time Machine Interact 0427 into the year 1993. In 1993, children were forced involuntarily to serve as child soldiers, and the cruelty of this time of darkness was portrayed in our opening. This was followed by the singing of the Negaraku followed by the Sierra Leone National Anthem and lastly the Interact Song. Roll call was then initiated to acknowledge the presence of our beloved guest present.

A short speech by our Vice Principal, Mr Amaranathan followed shortly after. After that, our Interactor Rachel delivered her spoken poetry titled, 'This is Sierra Leone'. It was an impactful recitation that filled the hall with emotion. PP Rotarian Datuk Chan Kam Fatt went on to deliver his speech about underprivileged children. He shared about the BRDB Rotary Children’s Residence, a home for abandoned children and how the audience could contribute to helping children through this home.

The long awaited dance and skit performances then began. The heartfelt story that showed how young children were abducted and forced to serve as child soldiers, and even murder their families, managed to touch the hearts of many in the audience. The poignant end to the story evoked strong emotional responses from the crowd, and even induced tears in many of the guests. The performances received a huge round of applause from the audience as they were immersed into the amazing performance put up by our very own group of talented Interactors.

As for this year, we added a surprise session where we set up market stalls inspired by Sierra Leone's Freetown Market. The guests were allowed to roam around the hall for 30 minutes and were encouraged to join multiple games and try food tasting in order to gain keys. Special prizes would then be awarded to those who collected the most keys. All the different stalls at this market related to cultural aspects of the country, and the audience indirectly learnt interesting Sierra Leonean facts through interacting with the stall keepers. Many guests were amazed at this new concept as it was fun and interactive. There was also an unexpected flashmob halfway through the market session to hype up the crowd. Our very first team of flashmob members managed to wow the audience with their synchronise dance moves and it ended with Interactor Sharif giving a heartfelt monologue about children in Sierra Leone. He received a standing ovation from the crowd.

After that, an inspirational speech was delivered by our Guest of Honour,  the Senior Child Protection Specialist from UNICEF, Mr Phenny Kakama, in which he discussed about issues faced by children. Shortly after, our very own IU Director, Interactor Jermaine Chok Cjun Mae gave her speech. In her speech, she invited our assistant IU Director up on stage to share the moment with her. It was a moving scene that touched the hearts of many.

Next on the agenda was the presentation of token of appreciation as a sign of gratitude to all those who were present that day. The TOA was a jar filled with rice as rice is the staple food of Sierra Leone. This year, our TOAs were presented in a new manner in which the Regi team who had handmade the TOA danced a tribal routine from the stage to the audience to present the tokens all at once. We then proceeded with our finale which was met by a resounding round of applause before Interactors began dancing at the center of the hall in an entertaining rave party. The event ended with tasty Sierra Leone delicacies being served in the canteen.

A long eventful journey filled with blood, sweat and tears has finally ended with a huge success. We would never have been able to pull it off without the support from our very own teacher advisors who guided us along the way and ensured that everything was perfect. Through this event, the relationship between the juniors and seniors have been strengthened as we had to work as a team to make this event a success. We sincerely hope that everyone had a fun time and we wish to THANK YOU FOR COMING!!

Cross Country 2017

On the 4th of March 2017, the Interact Club of WMSKL(I) organized it's annual cross country event themed 'Charity Miles, Radiant Smiles' in Lake Garden from 7am till 11am. The purpose of this event was to collect as much donations as possible and to donate them as a sign of appreciation of how grateful we are of what we have. To spice things up this year, we added a special category which is the relay where teams of 3 would be running the course. By joining this category, each team member is only require to run 2km instead of the usual 6km run. This was to cater for those students that would prefer to run shorter distances. 

The students were reminded to reach the venue before 715am whereas the Interactors were required to be there by 6am sharp to do our preparations for the course. The students were asked to sit according to their classes to take attendance while those participating in relays were told to sit separately. The event started off with the singing of the national anthem followed by the Interact Song. Morning exercise was conducted right after a short speech by our Principal, Mdm Chia. 

After that, the flag off for each category took place. The Interactors were specifically placed at each stations to ensure that the students would not take the wrong route and also to encourage them as much as possible. 

After every participant arrived back at the meeting point, the prize ceremony for the top winners of each category began. After that, our Guest Of Honour, Rotarian Hardeep Singh was invited to give his speech and it was indeed an inspiring one. 

After the dismissal of all the students, the Interactors stayed back to ensure that the place was clean. This event was a huge success due to the overwhelming support from all the participants and also the hard work put in by the teacher advisors and Interactors of the Interact Club of WMSKL(I).Special thanks to Int. Kelly Goh and Int. Nigel Lee for coordinating this event!

On the 24th and 25th of January, the Interact Club of WMSKL(I) had our first Chinese New Year Understanding Day. The event was organised by our IU Directors, Int. Jermaine Chok and Int. Ong Kye Li. The main purpose of this event was to allow students to have a deeper understanding towards Chinese New Year. 

We had an exhibition in the school's Dutton Hall during break and lunch where decorations and fun facts related to this celebration were prepared and showcased. Games such as an obstacle course, whisper challenge, Happy Family Card Game, tongue twisters, Chinese riddles and many more were conducted to let students know more about Chinese New Year in an interactive way. 

There was also a wishing fountain for the students to make their Chinese New Year wishes. Besides that, we had a "Take What You Need" display where students could take their own Chinsse New Year blessings and pass it on to other people to spread the love and festive spirit. We also had a mini museum where traditional Chinese objects were displayed with information beside them so students could learn more about Chinese artifacts.

Not only did the event receive overwhelming support from the students, even teachers joined in the fun. The event wrapped up on Wednesday and the Interactors helped cleanup after that. Overall, the event was a huge success and we hope you enjoyed it too (: Thank you for reading!

ILTS 2017

On the 14th of January 2017, the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja organized the annual Interact Leadership Training Seminar in Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur (International). The purpose of this event was to prepare the new leaders of each interact club from District 3300 to take the lead to serve the community and their own respective schools. The seminar was also to provide the new Interact leaders with some important tools that they can acquire to lead their clubs in providing excellent service to their schools and community.

              As our school’s Interact Club was the one hosting the event, the board members of the club came early to school to prepare the tables for registration, arrange the chairs in the hall, and to station ourselves at different areas to guide the guests to the hall. We also introduced ourselves and interacted with the Interactors as we were guiding them to the hall. The Interactors from the other schools came from 8.30 a.m. onwards and the registration began then. The Rotarians came about 9.00 a.m. and although we started the event later than expected, everything still ran smoothly.

             Firstly, we had an ice breaking session by the Rotaractors. We had to mingle with different people and find out interesting facts about them. It was a good session to get to know each other and make new acquaintances. After that, we sang the national anthem, 'Negaraku' and the Interact Song. Next, we had our roll call to acknowledge the presence of the Rotarians and Rotaractors as well as the different schools that had attended the event. Right after that was the opening address by the Youth Service Director, Rtn. Hardeep Singh. He addressed the opening of the seminar and we were excited to receive whatever that was in store for us throughout this event.

            After Rtn. Hardeep Singh's address, the President of the Rotary Club, Rtn. Datuk Uwe Ahrens gave a speech, explaining what was Rotary and Interact all about. He  explained further about the good work that we did recently and the positive impact it had to the misfortunes. In relation to Rtn. Hardeep Singh's earlier address, he stressed that we prioritize our academics as students before attending to our Interact duties. He also said that everyone will experience failure at least once, and the importance of that failure is to learn from it.

 Before the next speech, the Vocational Service Director, Rtn. Rajendra congratulated us on a successful effort at the Christmas Wish Tree Project hosted by the Rotary Club last year. By the end of the project, the public had sponsored around 590 gifts for children in 21 different homes. Each club was presented a cash token for our contribution to the project. 

 Following the Presidents speech, the Past District Governor Dato' Jimmy Lim introduced us to the Rotary Foundation. The Rotary Foundation is a non-profit corporation that supports the efforts of Rotary International to achieve world understanding and peace through international humanitarian, educational, and cultural exchange programs. It is supported solely by voluntary contributions from Rotarians and friends of the Foundation who share its vision of a better world. The Foundation was created in 1917 by Rotary International's sixth president, Arch C. Klumph, as an endowment fund for Rotary "to do good in the world." It has grown from an initial contribution of US$26.50 to more than US$1billion. It has one of the largest and most prestigious international fellowship programs in the world. 

            The first workshop session we had was based on the roles of the positions that we hold in the club. These workshops were coordinated by experienced and trained Rotarians who are currently holding a position in the board of directors of the Rotary Club. The teacher advisors also had a workshop session by the Rotarians on how to advise and control the club. The workshop session we had was really beneficial for us as we realized that each and every position in the club plays an important role and although everyone has their own roles to play, we still have to help each other out.

 All of us were then gathered in the canteen again to have our lunch. After that, all the Interactors were gathered back into the hall. The event was continued with the presentation of the different roles played in the club and their responsibilities. Each Interactor that had to present did a very good job explaining their roles and responsibilities in the club. The Rotarians praised the Interactors again for really using this time to gain information of the roles we had to play for the club. They were very happy with the progress that we made and thanked us all for attending this event. It was a very beneficial event and we were glad that we could all make it. We hope that we will play our roles in the club well and be a role model for the rest of the Interactors in our respective schools.


Form5/Year11 Community Service Project

On the 7th of January 2017, the Interact Club of Wesley Methodist School Kuala Lumpur International had its annual F5/Y11 community service project where the Interactors paid a visit to Rumah Titan Kasih in Titiwangsa. The project was organised by our Community Service Directors, Int. Kelly Goh and Int. Nigel Lee. The 45 senior Interactors gathered at school at 9am before departing to the orphanage. 

When we arrived, we were greeted warmly by the children and caretaker of the home. We then introduced ourselves to the kids before proceeding with our first activity of the day which was icebreakers. The main purpose of this activity is to foster greater bonding between Interactors and the orphans. We played games like 'tangled hands' and 'the eagle and the chicken' which allowed us to become good friends with the children and build team spirit amongst the Interactors.

After that, the Interactors were split into two groups in which one would be cleaning the orphanage while the other wrapped books for the children. The Interactors worked hard in scrubbing the premise and patiently taught the children to wrap their textbooks. It was an enjoyable experience both for the children and the Interactors.

After the cleanup, food was served to the children. We prepared fried rice with sausages and drinks such as soya bean and iced lemon tea for the children to satisfied their tummies. There was also a variety of other food such as chicken nuggets and egg sandwiches. Shortly after, a singing performance prepared by the Interactors was next on the agenda. Our talented performance team as well as our teacher advisor Ms Grace sang an English and Malay song which the children really enjoyed. 

At noon, we had our final cleanup before bidding farewell to the children. The Interactors left the home at around 12.15pm with special memories of the children held close to heart. Although we were sad to part ways with them, it was an enjoyable and memorable experience for all of us. We learnt that we have to be grateful for whatever we have and to always give back to society whenever we can. It was a valuable oppurtunity to help out the community and we look forward to organising more of these projects in the near future. Thank you for your time!!