Special gifts: The children holding up the books which were donated by the public during the Magnolia Milk Mooves Malaysia campaign.
THE curiosity and joy of receiving brand new and vividly illustrated books was evident from children from a charity-based tuition centre in Pangsapuri Enggang in Puchong.
While most of us take the availability of reading materials for granted, it is not so for the young children who received the books donated by the public during the F&N Magnolia Milk Mooves Malaysia to commemorate World Milk Day.
A campaign was held from May 25 to June 14 to promote the goodness and consumption of milk while incorporating a charitable element in which the public were invited to nominate and donate books to the Kassim Chin Humanity Foundation (KCHF). The foundation runs tuition centres at socio-economically challenged neighbourhoods to promote good reading habits among young learners.
From the campaign, a total of 400 illustrated storybooks were collected. A selection of books were chosen to be donated for the cause upon purchase of Magnolia milk during Magnolia Milk Mooves Malaysia roadshow.
The carefully selected educational books will be used by KCHF’s four tuition centres to develop critical childhood literacy foundation and reading skills for young children.
“We are committed to promoting and improving children’s overall health and well-being. The best way to ensure that all children have a fair chance at a brighter future is to give them the opportunity to read, learn and grow to their full potential.
“Getting our customers involved in this book donation initiative enables children at KCHF’s centres to receive the opportunity of learning through reading, which is a key to breaking the cycle of poverty and ensure their future and contribute to the overall well-being of the community,” said F&N Dairies (M) Sdn Bhd RTD Milk head Van Toh Peng at the book handover ceremony.
Besides selecting the books for donation, the participants also penned down motivational and inspirational messages to their peers at KCHF such as “Stay healthy”, “Knowledge is wealth” and “You can do it”. The encouraging messages were personalised with each child’s name to deliver courage and positive energy to the children.
“The messages are simple yet truly motivational to remind the children that they are not left out of the community. We hope every child receives the best possible chance of having a good childhood and a positive outlook in their adult lives,” said Van.
F&N Dairies has been working with KCHF through the Empowering Lives Through Education (Elite) programme since 2011 to assist underprivileged children in taking learning to the next level while effectively shaping them into future agents of transformation for their families. More than 300 children have benefited from the programme so far.
KCHF executive director Datin Miliee Kassim said the illustrated storybooks would open up a whole new horizon, stimulate intelligence and foster a love of reading.
“The teachers will use the new books in reading classes and the pupils will present storytelling skills at this year’s F&N Elite graduation ceremony to demonstrate their achievement of learning outcomes,” said Miliee.
Bright-eyed twin sisters Nurul Aryana and Nurul Aryani, 8, who were among the children enrolled at the tuition centre were fascinated by the creative and colourful illustrations in the storybooks.
“We like storybooks because they have very interesting stories and the cartoons are cute and funny! Our mother has promised to read the stories to us when we bring the books back home,” said the twin sisters excitedly, showing their favourite book titled Biring Sikunani, which is based on a Malay folktale and has comedic elements.
One of the educational books titled Sekiranya Aku Jurutera (If I am an Engineer) is helping 12-year-old Amira Fatiha to discover a better understanding of her dream career – engineering.
She was eager to discover the knowledge and information in the book before the class started.
“I get really excited when I see a new book and I have always wanted to become an engineer!
“I am studying very hard, especially mathematics and science, so that I will be a qualified engineer one day,” said Amira.
