The BNI-Misner Foundation was started in 1998 by Elisabeth and Ivan Misner, co-owners of BNI as a way to help close the gap between educators’ needs and the resources available to them. The mission of the foundation is to support children’s educational programs in countries where BNI has members.

“Our goal is to improve tomorrow’s business through education today,” says Beth. “We love to award mini-grants to teachers who are making a difference in the lives of the children they teach.”

The BNI Lifestyle Collection is the first BNI-Misner Foundation project done in Malaysia. The fund raised from this project will be used to buy educational tools or academic books for needy children in Malaysia.

Please click here to view our collection and contribute to the donation.

In the light of the 2^nd Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of Universal Primary Education, Harvest Centre believes that no child should be left behind. Echoing strongly, the Education Development Plan for Malaysia’s focus for educational excellence, Harvest is committed to see that urban poor children complete at least twelve years of education. This can only be realized if there is equal access, equity and quality education for the poor.

Abdul Rashid’s father is suffering from a mental disorder that often drives him to the street. The mother and younger sibling are living on the brother’s income from some odd jobs at the wet market. In 2002, one could easily spot Rashid playing behind the market. Rashid later at age 6, hopped into our van to attend our preschool program. He was very happy to come and study. I remember teaching him in preschool when he was 8. To prepare him for reverse addition after weeks of working with him on addition, I asked him, “What plus three equals seven?” Rashid told me: “10″. After many hours of undivided attention and my deployment of different approaches, he still could not grasp the concept. The breakthrough came when I led Rashid to see through the eyes of another child who understood the concept. Seating this child and Rashid next to me, I interplayed with the other child. Rashid paid close attention to what the other child was doing and then suddenly, he got it! It was as if a light bulb had suddenly lit up in his mind! He answered the questions on my worksheet within minutes, an exultant joy at his own achievement only too evident on his face!

Now 14, Rashid is making progress in Form 1. From being an illiterate street kid with a bleak future, he is now the first literate member of his family! I showed Rashid a brochure recently to test his English. He read it with ease. Quite simply, there is no short cut to breaking the cycle of poverty. Children need quality education. Investing in young lives takes time, effort, material resources and a community of people who care enough to want to help. Now, Rashid does not have to live his life on the streets. Today he is set free to dream big dreams! When asked what he would like to be when he grows up, Rashid now says with confidence, “a business man”.

To leave the streets, children must have something to do, somewhere to go to, someone who cares enough, someone who believes that they too can make it if given the same opportunity as others for a quality education. At Harvest Centre, we believe and we most certainly care!

In short that is what Harvest is about, giving children like Abdul Rashid a second chance to education and to life. Harvest Centre’s educational programs offer a holistic approach to meet the unique learning needs among the urban poor children. The approach focuses on high quality classroom environments, good teacher-student relationships, daily meals, foster care, sporting activities. Harvest Centre’s programs include Preschool, Primary and Secondary education, nurturing the children for life-long learning. Two daily schooling sessions cater to over 650 children and youth. Over and above the academic Malaysian curriculum, programs center on living skills and morale, music, health, hygiene, child-safety, and other topical issues that emerge in the external environment.

Through its own progression and development, Harvest Centre has been recognized as a model NGO educational centre by the Ministry of Education and United Nation High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR). Through its teachers training and school consultancy programs Harvest Centre is expanding its capacity and influence to replicate its framework and structure thereby expanding its geographic footprint and reach in other parts of Malaysia, for the benefit of underprivileged children. Harvest Centre’s goal is to empower poor communities to establish new ground and break the POVERTY CYCLE for themselves.

Background

The Sentul district is one of the areas earmarked for unprecedented development under the 9^th Malaysia Plan. Despite evident infra-structure expansion and enhancement, the plight of its poor community remains little changed and continues to be embroiled in their daily existential struggle.

The Community

Urban Poor: Family Structures and Profiles -These families generally have larger number of children with breadwinners possessing limited functional/marketable skills. Income is derived mainly from spasmodic odd jobs that barely meet their basic household needs. Reserves are nonexistent for educational needs and skill development for the next generation. This further exacerbates the community’s helplessness, and the vicious circle continues unabated with little hope of escaping from poverty’s tightening grip!

The economy - With rising inflation and increasing cost of living urban poor population in Sentul and the nearby areas is set to increase on the back rural migration and influx of foreigners (see point 2 below).

Political / Economic Instability in Neighboring Countries - Refugees and asylum seekers from Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Somali, etc have been on the rise straining the infrastructure of existing refugee communities within the Sentul District. The refugee communities now constitute a significant percentage of the urban poor population.

Commercial Development and Privatization - Encroachment of commercial development in Sentul is systemically displacing impoverished communities with no alternative accommodation adding more stress to their underprivileged existence.

The Children

Children from the backgrounds as mentioned above face extreme difficulties, especially in the area of education. Children from impoverished families are often under stimulated from infancy and are generally unprepared for entry into the schooling system (which are economically beyond their reach).

The current scholastic framework and structure are not designed to meet special needs, characteristics that are prevalent among the impoverished. As such these, children who do poorly are subsequently moved to and clumped in “underperformers classes” receiving less attention and resources. Little progress is made and discipline problems becoming the end result of neglect. The current a non-retaining policy of allowing children who fail school evaluations to “progress” to the next levels based on their age, raises hurdles even higher making it almost impossible for them to catch up much less keep abreast.

The plight of these children goes beyond that of scholastic challenges as with emotional stress from their home situations. Impoverished homes are characterized as dysfunctional, many with illiterate parents, and are constantly exposed to various social problems including physical abuse, gangsterism, drug and alcohol abuse and more.

Refugee children face “administrative challenges” in that, their status of statelessness, excludes them from qualifying for much needed education in the public school system. No options have been established for them. These children therefore repeat the cycle of poverty that inflicted their families for generations.

Education breaks the cycle of poverty. In order to ensure an academic future for the urban poor children the following elements are imperative:

• Quality learning environment. Due to their learning difficulties these children cannot engage in study just by using textbooks. They need teaching apparatus to help them build learning skills and concept.
• Different learning methodology. The traditional method of teacher-directed learning is not suitable for these children. They have a very different level of understanding and learn effectively if they are allowed to do it at their own pace and interest.
• Quality teacher-student relationship. The teachers not only need specialized training in dealing with the urban poor children with learning difficulties but must be able to demonstrate genuine care and concern.

Harvest Centre is operated by Dignity for Children Foundation since January 2010.

Founders

Mrs. Petrina Shee and her husband, Elisha Satvinder, have been working with the poor community in Sentul for the past 11 years, and founded Harvest Centre in 2003. Petrina received her Master of Arts in Holistic Child Development from the Malaysian Baptist Seminary, Malaysia. She also holds an International Diploma in Montessori Pedagogy from Montessori Centre International, UK, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from University of Queensland, Australia and Lower Elementary Montessori Teaching Diploma from the North America Montessori Center. She is currently completing her Master’s in Education with the University of Queensland, Australia.

She has implemented and is currently supervising educational projects of Harvest Centre, which include the Sentul project, catering to 650 underprivileged and poor children, as well new partner preschools for the rural poor communities in Sarawak. She teaches Mathematics and Science for upper primary and has developed preschool curriculum specially catered to children who have learning difficulties.