Doing more for community in the Philippines

Hazwani and Guang (right) with Virlanie Foundation’s Manon Lefevre. — ANSOVINA CHAI / The Star

MIRI: Nineteen student volunteers from Curtin University, Sarawak representing the Humanitarian Affairs Curtin Sarawak (HACS) Student Chapter, were in the Philippines to carry out their “Painting Philippines Abroad” programme.

Aimed at raising awareness on good nutrition, personal hygiene and the benefits of education among underpriviledged children in Manila, HACS volunteers collaborated with non-profit organisations Mission Among the Unreached and the Virlanie AIME Home.

During the first three days, they gave educational talks on nutrition and personal hygiene in Las Piñas, a suburb of Manila. The talks included activities to help children develop their thinking and communication skills, as well as encourage them to interact with the facilitators.

At Virlanie Aime Home, which shelters children with special needs, the volunteers entertained them with games, arts and crafts, and nursery rhymes. Clothes collected through a donation drive at Curtin Sarawak prior to the trip were handed over to the Virlanie Foundation, the parent organisation of the Virlanie AIME Home.

Event organiser Hazwani Jamaludin said: “We should never stop doing little things for others. Sometimes the little things we do touch people the most.”

HACS president Dexter Stanley Guang said he was glad that the volunteers were able to contribute in some way to the children’s future.

HACS is part of Humanitarian Affairs, United Kingdom, a London-based social enterprise that initiates and supports humanitarian relief efforts and development programmes in countries that are poverty-stricken and disaster-prone.

Meanwhile, students from 14 secondary schools in Miri are gearing up for competition in the “Curtin Ultimate Croc Challenge,” an electronics design competition being organised by the university as one of its Open Day activities.

This inaugural event is the brainchild of Curtin pro vice-chancellor and chief executive professor Jim Mienczakowski.

The competition aims to encourage interest in electronics and engineering as well as an appreciation of crocodiles as a natural and integral part of Sarawak’s eco-system, among students. It requires the competing teams to design and develop simple electronic systems that can sense the presence of crocodiles, utilising programmable microcontroller kits.