Sunday, January 31, 2021

MALAYSIANS DURING "annus horribilis"

 SAMUEL ISAIAH - top ten finalist for the GOLBAL TEACHER PRIZE

Malaysians started lock down on March 18th 2020. I faced it with anxiety plus despair. I quote Queen Elizabeth, “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an annus horribilis.” What did two Malaysians achieve during 2020. 
Sekolah Kebangsaan Runchang, Pahang

Samuel Isaiah travelled 200km daily to and from school to reach his students. His school is in an "orang asli" (indigenous population) community in a rain forest area in Pahang.
Children in indigenous populations seldom receive the same education opportunities as those in urban areas. 
School infrastructure and computer facilities were limited. Samul set up a national crowd funding platform and gathered funds to equip the school with tablets and computers. 
      To improve his students English proficiency, he linked them by email with volunteers in Malaysia and overseas. He used the guitar and ukulele and taught English through songs.
For his efforts, the average pass rate of English jumped from 30% in 2008-2012 to 80% in 2013-2017. 
As these indigenous children were not used to sitting in classrooms to study, he took the classrooms outside under the trees. 
SAMUEL ISAIAH - YOU MADE A DIFFERENCE.

       In a different arena, our girl artistic gymnast Farah Ann Hadi got a doll created in her likeness as a Barbie role model for young girls for sports. 
  The "shero doll" wears Farah's silver studded leotard 
that our gymnast wore in her  29th SEA Games GOLD and the 2018  Commonwealth Games Silver competitions. 
In Farah's words, "You just need to remember that self-belief is your greatest weapon in achieving anything."

DATE: Tuesday February 2, 2021
Eight-time squash world champion, Malaysian Nicol David was named World Games Greatest-Athlete-of-All-Time (GOAT). Quoting The Star, "A total of 23 past and present athletes representing various sports from all editions of the World Games' 40-year history were selected for the worldwide poll."
"Nicol spent an unprecedented nine years atop the women's squash world rankings between 2006 and 2015 as well as winning 82 professional titles."

I can only admire her perseverance and discipline perfecting her sport. The zillion hours she spent indoors in the 9.75m x 6.4m space. Her mental strength during the competitions, what motivated her through the years? 

Acknowledgement to The Star for the photos and write up on Nicol David.

2 comments:

  1. HUGE congratulations to both. People who make a positive difference should be celebrated and I am very glad that this pair was.

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  2. These three M'sians truly deserve their international recognition

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