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Clouds loomed gloomily overhead, but inside Rumah Aman, the atmosphere was anything but. All of the children were on the edge of their chairs and whispered excitedly to each other as Rudy and I set up the equipment for the presentation that we were about to give on Mr. Santokh Singh, one of our Malaysian football legends who had kindly consented to visit the orphanage with us. The children sat attentively through our little talk (in Bahasa Malaysia) before we finally introduced the great man himself to speak to them. He spoke a bit about his history before asking for questions. At the first mention of the question and answer session, many hands went straight up into the air and Mr. Singh willingly answered all of the curious children.

Eventually Mr. Singh invited the boys for a game of football on the field, to which they immediately agreed. So off they went to change into their football attire, after which we went in single file to the adjacent field. Mr. Singh and Mr. Thomson, our school’s PE teacher, set the boys (and Rudy!) off for a warm-up jog before dividing all of them into two groups. Then the game began.

Boys scrambled for the ball as it went up and down the field as Mr. Singh and Mr. Thomson advised them on what to do. Meanwhile, we cheered from the sidelines with a small Mexican wave! A few goals were scored and each of these was celebrated with a round of applause from us spectators.

However, all too soon, the game ended. It was just as well, as rain poured down not long after. All of us from elc took a bundle of donations, which included board games, bicycles and books; then, we proceeded back to the presentation room where we handed the donations to the founder of the home. It was great to see the happy faces of the kids as they received their bicycles, and afterwards, they all thanked us. It was such an amazing experience to be with them and hopefully we will be able to do it again soon.

- Jen Ho Ker

On Friday the 30^th of July, 13 elc students visited Rumah Aman for the first time. We were all very excited especially because the former Malaysian footballer, Mr. Santokh Singh was coming along with us to the orphanage for a surprise visit. I couldn’t wait to see the children’s expressions when they saw Mr. Singh walk through the door!

They were really excited, and when they were allowed to ask questions we could see the eager expressions on their faces.  The love they had for football itself was clear.

“How do you become a good defender?”

“How do you become a good striker?”

were only a few of the questions the children blurted out – when they could find the words to ask Mr. Singh.

When the time came for them to go out and play football with Mr.Singh, they were all set with their football boots and sport clothes eager to begin.  Our Physical Education teacher Mr. Thomson, was also there to help us out with the football game.

I was surprised at how well they played the sport. They all played a really good game.

Unfortunately for us, it began to drizzle and so the game had to be stopped, but the children looked like they were still pumped up with enough energy for another game.

After this, we gathered together to present the donations we had brought in to the founder of Rumah Aman. There were many books, a few bikes, and some board games.

It was a very enjoyable experience, because these children were some of the most active, cheerful and polite children I have interacted with.

On Saturday, I went to elc to play football and handball with the kids from Rumah Aman. They were so cute and adorable.  I went a bit later and so I had missed out on the handball session. When I arrived they had just finished eating their nasi lemak and were getting prepared in their football gears to have a fun training session of football first, followed by a game of football with the elc students.

It started with some training on their skills where we all got into pairs and kicked the ball around and practiced some dribbling and headers. Later on, we got into a circle and did some ball control exercises. It was fun seeing all the kids learning something new and enjoying it too!

We had cut some watermelon for them and so as soon as they were done practicing, they ate the watermelon. It sure was satisfying!

After this it was time for the big game alongside some elc students.  Unfortunately the weather wasn’t on our side – it began pouring! So instead of playing the game first, we ate and enjoyed the Domino’s pizza that we got for the kids.

Once we polished off all the pizza the rain had pretty much finished.  So we played the game and sure enough they had a lot of fun. The field was wet due to all the rain, so many people ended up slipping in the mud, but this just added to all the fun.  Undeniably they had the time of their lives!

Last Friday, on the 30^th of July, 13 students of the elc team, including myself, visited Rumah Aman; for some of us, it was familiar territory, as some of us had visited Rumah Aman earlier in the month, but for the rest, it was a new experience of sorts, a chance to get to know our “pledge children” as well as some of the other residents of Rumah Aman. And of course, all of us were anticipating a chance to finally meet football legend Mr. Santokh Singh!

After Jen Ho and I gave a brief introduction for our special guest, the anxious audience of keen footballers threw Mr. Santokh a few questions, ranging from:

“How to kick the ball high?” to “How to be a good player?”

Some of the children even had some interesting questions for me, one of them being “Why do you wear braces?”  I told them, with the straightest face possible, “Without them, I would have ugly teeth.” After a few seconds of silence, we all burst into giggles.

And of course, with a visit from such a man as Santokh Singh, what could be appropriate than a game of football? The boys were split into two teams, with Mr. Santokh on one team, and

Mr. Thomson, our PE Teacher, and myself on the other. I found myself in a tricky spot more than a few times, and caught quite off-guard by some of these little leaguers. The boys tackled, dribbled and shot right past me. They play better than I ever could!

To wrap up a happy day, the elc team presented Rumah Aman with donations of all sizes, including bicycles, board games, drinks and books.

All in all, it was a great start to our own Promise Me journey!

Friday the 30^th of July was my first visit to Rumah Aman.  It was a great place where all the kids seemed to have a lot of fun doing everything they do. They are a very happy and cheerful lot. We visited the place with Santokh Singh, an all time soccer star in Malaysia.

We watched a small presentation by Jen Ho and Rudy about Santokh Singh, and then Santokh Singh himself talked to us. The kids were very happy to see him there. The kids asked him endless questions until it was time to actually play!

Santokh Singh and our elc school teacher, Mr. Thompson, and Rudy joined the kids in playing football. Surely they had lots of fun! They were adorable. We were watching from the sidelines and cheered them on. After a game of nonstop fun, the game came to an end.

Then, it was time for us to give out some donations to the orphans. We had bought them bikes, books and even many board games. They seemed so happy and thanked us tons.

I was so happy to see those smiles on their faces. I wish they could always remain that happy.

I was approached by Kaberi, quite early on in the “TLC Promise Me” campaign, looking for help and ideas with regards to her pledge of helping Arif learn how to play football.  We talked at length about getting a coach, finding the space to play football, convincing her friends to come and help play a game with Arif, and generally how to make the event as special as we possibly could.

Many of our “dreams” had to be majorly adjusted as the boys at Rumah Aman have a packed schedule and so finding any free time for them to get out of their studies and normal commitments is very tough indeed. But one of the grand ideas we had was to secure one of Malaysia’s finest football legends to come and visit the Rumah Aman boys and give them a sense of pride about Malaysian football.

Through one of my family friends – Mr. Mohan Ramalingam (THANK YOU!) – we managed to make contact with Mr. Santokh Singh.  To be honest it was a very simple conversation and once he realized that it was for young orphaned boys he was immediately on board.  So this Friday the 30^th of July 2010 we shall all be going over to Rumah Aman to introduce a living legend with a heart of gold to the boys….

We just can’t wait! ROLL ON FRIDAY 30TH JULY 2010 !!

- Rajan Kaloo

Santokh Singh, Selangor Captain, raising the Malaysia Cup

Santokh Singh & Dato’ Soh Chin Aun

Hey! My name is Shivani. I am going to be helping out for the Promise me Campaign along with 3 other captains. We don’t have a specific pledge to fulfil and so in that case, so we will be trying to help out anywhere and everywhere we can.

As soon as I heard about TLC, I really wanted to do this program as I was really pleased by the fact that we actually get to do something hands on instead of donating money and helping out the homes.

Having done charity work before, I believe that this is one of the best opportunities to help out in a more personal and memorable way. It would most certainly help support the children and have their wishes fulfilled. This has made me realise that having helped the child yourself is one of the greatest happiness you can get for having done something and helping out someone yourself. Sometimes its fun to spend time with others and you will, for sure, end up having a lot of fun!

My name is Jen Ho from elc International School, and I’m one of the four captains of elc’s Promise Me contingent. I joined this campaign to give something back to someone who hasn’t gotten all the blessings that I have received because making their dreams come true, however small they may be, may mean the world to them. However, this is not about glory, but about doing a little part for society. Therefore, throughout the two weeks of this campaign, we are going to do everything we can to make sure that we make their dreams come true and we will keep you up to date on everything that is happening with us!

I joined the TLC campaign mainly to make a difference in one person’s life. In our team, I got selected as one of the four captains. This means that I do not have just have one pledge to fulfil, captains need to help with all the pledges and make sure that we as a team do the very best.

We could raise money for the pledges by selling things (such as food and drinks) for the pledges themselves and raise some extra so we could help Rumah Aman as a whole. I would like to visit the orphanage regularly and do some volunteer work like reading to the children. This would help the Rumah Aman, and it would also give a chance for the members of our team to get to know the children whose wish they are fulfilling.

Besides this we could raise awareness about this campaign by regularly posting things about this on network sites such as Facebook. More people would see it and so more people would get interested in this campaign.

As team captain the members of my team would want to do their pledges in their own way. So, I wouldn’t tell them how to do it, I would ask them how they were progressing and give some suggestions and make sure they are on the right track.

There are 30 boys being raised in Rumah Aman between five to ten years of age. Making a difference in their lives would be really something.

I am Thariq Rudy, and my role is a little different from some of the others on the elc team. I, along with 3 other “captains”, don’t have specific pledges to fulfill, but we’re here to help with anything we can.

When I first heard of the TLC Promise Me Campaign, I was immediately drawn to the concept of meeting, interacting and having fun with the residents of all these homes.

While I have done some charity work before, TLC made me realise that moral support and creating memorable moments for those less fortunate, is just as valuable as donations; and, for me, on a personal level, it really does feel great when I get to see them smile, to share a joke and laugh with them.