FEATURE
Why I founded Refuge for the Refugees and what I have learnt about working with people in need
BY DEBBIE LOH AS TOLD BY HEIDY QUAH
IT IS OFTEN MUCH EASIER TO walk into an underprivileged community and buy the children a one-off meal , drop off presents from a wish list or even give pre-loved items than sit with a community , build relationships , listen to their stories and grow with them .
When we “ give quickly ”, we demean the other persons by seeing them as a charitable cause instead of treating them as people who have stories to tell , opinions to share and choices to make . We might not realise it immediately , but giving quickly centres on the self .
REAL GIVING IS SLOW GIVING People deserve our time and attention , not just our dollars . That is what love is . Everyone deserves the opportunity to tell their story and be lived as an entire person , and not just seen as " another need met ".
Jesus is spontaneous in His helping — His miracles arose as a result of seeing a need — but He is also serious about His
relationships . We see Jesus consistently eating with people and stopping for discussions and questions . Here is God with only three years of ministry time on earth , and He values people enough to eat , drink and have conversation with people . This is how He works .
Jesus also stops to get to know those who are considered unlovable by His culture , like the Samaritan woman at the well ( John 4:1 – 26 ). And in doing so , He keeps the focus on what God plans to do in their lives — He gives not only help but hope .
REFUGE FOR THE REFUGEES Refuge for the Refugees ( RFTR ) is a nonprofit organisation I set up together with a few friends including Andrea Prisha , the moment we were of age — 18 .
As 17-year-olds , we started out as volunteers for a couple of refugee schools . What impacted me was that these children did not have access to even the most basic formal education . I had always thought that education was available to everyone , except
perhaps those staying in remote Orang Asli villages .
It was unthinkable to me at the time that there could be children living in the heart of Kuala Lumpur with so many schools around , without access to education . To us , education is the core of someone ’ s being . With education as a foundational building block , people can thrive better in business and other initiatives .
Furthermore , the children themselves deeply valued their lessons . I remember a time when I taught a very simple English word to a child , and she looked up to me to say “ Thank you ” with such gratitude . We knew that something needed to be done to give as many refugee children access to education and we did it through RFTR .
SERVING INCLUDES LISTENING I ’ ve learned invaluable lessons since . Sometimes as people outside the refugee community , we tend to forget that we don ' t know it all . Sometimes , we walk into a community thinking
16 ASIAN BEACON 48 # 1 December 2016 - January 2017