UNHCR HQ's representative, Mr. Anatoli Poujai, and Refugees International's Officer, Mr. Sean Garcia, visited UNHCR Tzu Chi Educational Centres in Kuala Lumpur. Qatar’s Al Jazeera TV also came along to document the daily life of the refugee children at home and in the classrooms. Picture:UNCHR officer from Geneva at Kampung Tasik Permai educational centre. From left: Nai Keng Hak, Tan Chee Wei, Mr. Anatoli Poujai, Loo Leong Teck and Mohammad Younis (squatting first from the left【Photograph by Ho Wen Yee】

Mr. Poujai watching news clips on the Educational Centres from the laptop at Tzu Chi University Continuing Education Centre【Photograph by Ho Wen Yee】

Officers from Refugees International, Mr. Sean Garcia from USA and Ms. Camilla Olson being briefed on the operation of the educational centres in Kampung Pandan and Kampung Tasik Permai.【Photograph by Sam Pin Fook】

Refugees International representative, Mr. Sean Garcia, Ms. Camilla Olson and TV crew of Al Jazzera came to observe the situation in the Kampung Pandan educational centre.【Photograph by Sam Pin Fook】

The Al Jazzera TV crew filming the everyday life of the refugee children.【Photograph by Sam Pin Fook】

A tour to appraise the outcome of collaboration

On November 20, 2008, Mr Anatoli Poujai, Senior Desk Officer, Asia Pacific Bureau of UNHCR-Geneva, was accompanied by Mr. Mohammad Younis, Officer of UNHCR-Malaysia, on his visit to UNHCR Tzu Chi Educational Centres at Kampung Tasik Permai and Kampung Tasik Tambahan in Kuala Lumpur. Representatives from Tzu Chi Foundation, Tan Chee Wei, Nai Keng Hak and Loo Leong Teck, were on hand to guide and brief the visitors on their tour.

As their visit coincided with the Children's Day celebration, the visitors were warmly welcomed with songs sung by the refugee children. Mr. Poujai was glad to find that the children are cheerful. He hoped to see the UNHCR-Tzu Chi collaboration continue into the future.

This visit materialized as a result of Mr Poujai's meeting with Tzu Chi representatives who attended the 2006 and 2007 Annual Meeting in Geneva. Mr Poujai was impressed with Tzu Chi and subsequently made this visit.

During his tour, Mr Poujai visited Kuala Lumpur Jing Si Books & Cafe and Tzu Chi University Continuing Education Centre. He appreciated the humanistic feature of Tzu Chi both in its curriculum and hardware. The remarks made by Mr. Poujai indicated the positive prospect for a closer collaboration between both parties in the future.

Visit by Refugees International

Refugees International is an NGO that advocates for life-saving assistance and protection for displaced people. It also promotes solutions for displacement crises.

Mr. Sean Garcia from USA and Ms. Camilla Olson, who is in charge of Myanmar refugees' affairs, were two officers from Refugees International who attended the "Asia Pacific Consultation on Refugee Rights" at The Royale Bintang Hotel in Kuala Lumpur. In connection with their request for UNHCR-KL to recommend an executing partner for the Myanmar Refugees Aid Programme, these two officers visited the educational centres at Kampung Pandan and Kampung Tasik Permai on November 21, 2008.
 
Ms. Olson was pleased with the facilities at the centres and praised Tzu Chi volunteers for creating such a conducive place for the refugee children to study. She noticed that although the centres were opened for less than a year, the interaction between the children and teachers was good, and there was no language barrier at all.

Mr. Garcia said that the refugees have been in Malaysia for 20 years. Their children were born without a nationality and as such, have lost many of their rights, including education. He praised Tzu Chi for enabling these children to receive education. This would instill a sense of confidence in them when facing the future.

Mr. Garcia was also impressed by what he saw in the children. He found them to be obedient, polite, and curious, a rather different picture from his prior imagination. He said that he was well aware of the refugee situation in many other countries, and was pleased that the children here were well-catered for in education.

"Tzu Chi has filled the gap," said Mr. Garcia. He pointed out that Refugees International seeks to safeguard the legal and human rights of refugees. However, this would be a long process before the final result could be seen, and Tzu Chi has played the important role as an intermediate aid, giving timely and practical help to the refugees. Both Mr. Garcia and Ms. Olson said that they would report to their organization about the Tzu Chi model of education for refugee children when they are back in USA.

Al Jazzera TV's documentary on refugee children

On the same day, Al Jazzera TV visited the educational centre at Kampung Pandan to document the daily life of the refugee children. This documentary is to be aired in conjunction with Human Rights' Day on December 10.

Al Jazzera TV is the most influential TV in the Middle East and the Islamic world. With its HQ based in Doha, Qatar, its channels include News, Sports, Life, Children and English. It also boasts of an audience of 50 million strong.

The documentary discussed the issue of education for refugee children, and the collaboration model between UNHCR and Tzu Chi. The programme will be aired in a number of Asian countries including Malaysia via the satellite TV station Astro's Al Jazzera Channel.

It is hoped that the audience of this documentary will be able to see the Humanitarian Spirit of Buddhist Tzu Chi, which goes beyond race and religion. These refugee children are Muslims with no nationality.

On the issue of education for refugee children, there were many other prohibiting problems relating to attitudes, tradition and family livelihood to be considered. UNHCR has plans to set up educational centres to overcome these issues. They were, however, greatly surprised that Tzu Chi had managed to set up five such centres this year, benefitting more than a hundred children. Commencing as of August this year, Tzu Chi's educational team has started learning programmes on humanity for the children in the respective centres.

The serious effort put forth by Tzu Chi has won the applause of UNHCR, resulting in the extension of their joint collaboration. It is our sincere hope that the two parties will work hand-in-hand to achieve the best for the refugees, and to bring about social stability in the long run.