Malaysia Group Teaches Refugee Women to Read and Write

 

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.

It could be a picture from any English language classroom. A piece of paper with English letters hangs on the wall. A teacher stands and points to the letters. The students sit on the floor and repeat them out-loud.

The difference in this Malaysian classroom is that the students are not children. They are adult, refugee¹ women, some in their late 50s. They are learning how to read and write, both in Malay and English, for the first time.

A group called Women for Refugees² offers the weekly classes in a neighborhood outside Kuala Lumpur. Two law students formed the group in September to help migrant women learn to read and to help them find a place in the local community. Another goal of the group is to help the women create a fuller life for themselves, one that includes work.

Twenty-three-year-old Arissa Jemaima Ikram Ismail told the Associated Press that a refugee leader in the town of Selayang asked her to help women in his community. Selayang is home to many migrant workers.

She and fellow law student Davina Devarajan, who is 25, then met some of the women. They were surprised that the women wanted to learn both English and Malay languages. For most refugee women, Arissa said, education is often considered unimportant³.

"It was very essential for us to not pitch the refugee women as a charity, where they are constantly requiring external aid. So we want to equip them with the necessary skills so that they can sustain⁴ themselves, so that they aren't dependent on anything else."

Zaleha Abdul is a 54-year-old Muslim Rohingya refugee. She said that before joining the group she did not know any English. Zaleha has struggled to remember the English alphabet but will not give up. She said she wants to be more independent.

Arissa and Davina formed Women for Refugees and found teachers on Instagram. They now have about 20 volunteers. They give weekly, two-hour reading and writing classes in English and Malay. They teach in a worn two-story building that houses about 50 families.

The free classes are open to all migrant women. However, currently⁵ the students are all from Myanmar and Indonesia.

For the first classes, more than 12 women, from ages 18 to 50, attended classes and they brought their children. The children, like all children anywhere, made it difficult for the mothers to learn. So, the group launched classes for the children in a separate room. This way, their mothers could continue their studies.

Davina said the group hopes to expand classes in other neighborhoods. They also want to include technical skills that could help the women earn an income.

However, since mid-October all classes have stopped. Restrictions⁶ were put in place in Kuala Lumpur and surrounding areas to stop an increase in coronavirus cases. Recently the restrictions were expanded to most of the country, and all schools nationwide will be shut until the end of the year.

Shahidah, a Muslim from Myanmar and a mother of two, said she was preparing for a new life in another country. She was called for interviews three times last year by the United Nations High Commission⁷ of Refugees (UNHCR) on possible resettlement to a third country. But there has been no news during the coronavirus pandemic.

"English is important for us," she said. "When we go overseas we will need English."

Arissa said teaching still goes on with pre-recorded lessons that are watched on three shared laptops where the migrants live.

Also, live classes are being conducted once a week for older migrant children.

About 178,000 refugees and asylum⁸ seekers in Malaysia are registered with the UNHCR.

Words in This Story

migrant –n. a person who goes from one place to another especially to find work

essential –adj. very important and necessary

pitch –v. to talk about something in a way that will make people want to support it

charity –n. an organization that helps people in need of assistance

conducted –v. to plan and do (something, such as an activity)

1 refugee   

n.难民，流亡者

参考例句：

• The refugee was condemned to a life of wandering.这个难民注定要过流浪的生活。
• The refugee is suffering for want of food and medical supplies.难民苦于缺少食物和医药用品。

2 refugees   

n.避难者，难民( refugee的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The UN has begun making airdrops of food to refugees. 联合国已开始向难民空投食物。
• They claimed they were political refugees and not economic migrants. 他们宣称自己是政治难民，不是经济移民。

3 unimportant   

adj.不重要的，无意义的

参考例句：

• Let's not quarrel about such unimportant matters.我们不要为这些小事争吵了。
• Money seems unimportant when sets beside the joys of family life.与天伦之乐相比，金钱显得微不足道。

4 sustain   

vt.保持，供养，维持，支持，经受

参考例句：

• During the war we had just enough food to sustain us.战争期间，我们的食物仅够维持生活。
• These four posts sustain the entire building.这四根柱子支撑着整座建筑物。

5 currently   

adv.通常地，普遍地，当前

参考例句：

• Currently it is not possible to reconcile this conflicting evidence.当前还未有可能去解释这一矛盾的例证。
• Our contracts are currently under review.我们的合同正在复查。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

8 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。