Back To School : The Heart that Speaks
‘The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others’ — Mahatma Gandhi
The clock ticks slower when you stare at it. With all the unfamiliar faces, each one of us is a complete strangers to one another. With this insight in mind, it will be tough, especially if you’re a person who is not comfortable to meet someone new. Upon arriving in SMK Tengku Mahmud, all the facilitators were briefed about the 3 days program. A short and sweet ice breaking were held to get to know each other and by time, we get much closer. India, United Kingdom, Egypt, Korea, China, Ireland and Jordan. 7 countries with 1 mission, to inspire the youth.
Our 1st day started with the official opening ceremony conducted by the Headmaster of SMK Tengku Mahmud. As our name were called one by one to stand up and introduced ourselves, I have this uneasy feeling, like my shoulders just received a huge burden. They put such a high expectation to, and we must not turn them down. A simple game were played that evening, its called ‘Brain of Thought’ where the students were divided into 15 groups with 10 students in each groups. Their hands were tied up and they need to release themselves in 10 minutes. It was such a simple game yet so exciting. A forum called Symposium Mahasiswa Luar Negara (SMILE) were held in which there are 7 panels from each countries explaining about all the experiences, the hardships that they have to encounter while being an international student. The panels are :
- Miss Syasya (Medical), India
- Miss Fatin (Medical), Ireland
- Mr Fadhil (Syariah Islamiyah), Egypt
- Mr Asyraf (Chemical Engineering), UK
- Mr Fadhli (Arabic Language), Jordan
- Mr Hazimin (Mandarin Language), China
- Mr Megat (Mechanical Engineering), Korea
The chirping of the birds at dawn wake us up to face another new day. Looking forward for today’s activities. We strode our way to the mosque to perform Fajr prayer with the cold air that make us chill to the bones. Thank You to The Almighty for giving us another wonderful day. We palpably can’t deny the truth that this was the day we’ve been waiting for, the day where we can interact fully with and playing an array of games with the students.
After filling our empty stomach with the mouth-watering breakfast, we proceed our first activities with senamrobic in the main hall. Couple of songs were played repeatedly and we enjoyed ourselves as we dancing to the beat. Mind you, there is a huge gap between the girls and the boys in each activities that were held as we still keep the axiom of implementing the dakwah and tarbiyah during the entire program. Moving to the next slot, the students were required to build a bridge using only straws that were provided by the fasilitators. They need to build it from scratch using their own imagination and creativity ! At the end of the slot, we have got 15 bridges with such an overawe design !
As we were getting more and more desiccate, we take a lunch break for 2 hours to fill back the energy while the gentleman went for Jumuah prayer. Our evening were filled with debating competition between groups and amazing race slot really take up our energy. It really test our metabolism to the highest level and clearly, each one of us need to exercise more.
Later that night, we were entertained by the performance from the students. The hall were filled with laughters and smiles as they showed us their true colours. I believe that the judges must be having a hard time to choose the winner of the night. Our day end nearly midnight but we are still full of energy as we make our way to the dining hall. While having our supper, we shared life stories with each other. A wonderful moment that I will kept in my hippocampus for a long time !
The sun rays bid Good Morning as our final day arrived. We perform our Qiyamullail asking for forgiveness and happiness from The Almighty, hoping that He will give us His barakah for us to end this program. Not much to say for our last day in SMK Tengku Mahmud as all of us can feel the sadness filling the air, in a few hours more we will be going our separate ways. We held a mock interview for the students, to give them an overview of how the real interview that they need to face in the future, the tricks and tips to excel in it.
They did really well considered that it was their first time.
As the clock strikes 12.30 pm, we started our closing ceremony with speeches from the Headmaster and our Project Manager. It was a wonderful life experiences, with all the lessons and the new bonding that were formed within just 3 days among the facilitators and the students. A memorable one indeed. Such a programme is what we need to help the youth finding and realizing that dreams can actually be achieve but it takes persistency and hard work to reach it, as the saying goes ‘Diamond are made under pressure’. If you wanted to be a diamond, then you have to except the pressure that life has to offer. Definitely a 10/10 programme handle by Platform Siswa Islam UK. Looking forward for the next one!
There’s a melody that plays,
If you simply give it space,
You can see joy in the JOurneY,
Be it like the tortoise in the race.
Article by :
NAJWA SYASYA ATHIRAH BINTI ABDUL RAZAK
4TH YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT,
USM-KLE, INDIA.
