Inspiration

`Who am I to be blind… pretending not to see their needs…´

`If you want to make the world a better place… take a look at yourself and then make a change.´

Bless his soul for having such a caring heart! Bless his heart for having such a sensitive spot! It’s not usually common to find a little person such as himself – carrying that sort of personality and charisma at that tender age. My son has something most adults are lacking of in this modern world. My son has empathy.

I have a strong admiration for such charisma and powerfully drawn to his compassion and kindness toward others. Looking through a child’s lense make me realise how they don’t differ much from us adults apart from our mindset. They might be smaller in size but their capability to feel and love are no different from any of us. It’s miraculously flabbergasting to see how a child thinks even beyond our limited boundaries – pass the wall of segregation and hate, pass the painted coloured skins, pass the diversity in languages. I am, in fact, infatuated by his sense of innocence – wanting to ‘fix’ things if he is given the opportunity – even by means of heavy duty work after a few brainstorming.

I want it done

His passion and dedication drive him to want to give and keep on giving. Knowing how the world is not as perfect as most people portray them to be, his mind has a plan of its own. For him, no is simply not the answer, nor maybe. ‘I want it, and I want it done’ is usually his motto whenever determination kicks in. Stubborn as he is impatient, he longs for speedy results – which his lack of sense of the true picture of reality – being the child as he is, tends to frustrates him sometimes. Having to reassure the little one that sometimes good things come to those who wait and hard work does pay off at the end, seems not to be penetrating much through his skull. He doesn’t want to understand that not everybody feels and thinks the way he does. Such petit personage full of perseverance, he urges and urges if I can lean a hand. Not wanting to disappoint the little fellow, I just follow his instinct instead.

Such powerful drive pushes him to start his first collection of donations to the orphans. I have been participating – by carrying all shipment back to Malaysia on my own – twice (once with my husband!) last year. Our partner Hotel Abadi, Melaka has kindly enough volunteered to distribute this handful of collections to the needy.

Keep on going

This year is a different story. Since this is an on-going project, the little one – with the help of his older sister – keeps piling more stuff.. more toys, more clothing, more enthusiasm..! He wants to send more.. and more to the orphans. “I want them to have what I have, mom…” It’s disgraceful to see how an innocent child is able to open his heart endlessly to share to other children whom he has never seen in his life across the globe, whilst grown ups such as ourselves refuse to even share a half piece of bread with a starving neighbour next door…

Accumulating more than 110kg in the garage and up in the attic, I feel I am rather stuck in the gut – how on earth will I ever bring them all to Malaysia? Having the same determination and enthusiasm as my son, I keep on looking for sponsorships. Somehow along the dotted line, my best friend Norashikin Afifuddin (also the owner of Hotel Abadi Melaka) connects me to a circle of people who, at the end, produce an enormous pleasing result!!

A miracle….

With great honour, I am so pleased to announce that AirAsia Cargo has spread its wings and heart to sponsoring the shipment back to Malaysia this year!! However, their generosity goes beyond that. Not only they are sponsoring the shipment to be sent directly to Malaysia, they also arrange transportation for the donations to be picked up personally from our doorsteps to Schiphol airport for screening and re-packing. All this free of charge!

I am still overwhelmed by their prompt reply! Amazing how amaranthine determination can bring you a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow!

The shipment of donation will be in Malaysia in time for Eidul Fitr 2011

THANK YOU kind individuals who participated in this Project. Without you, this project will not be a success!!!

Jan 2010 : The Lingua Franca Foundation is proud to present a special club….

by the children for the children

Founder : Zacharia                             co-Founder: Maryam

“we want to make the world a better place for little people like us.” 

This one’s for the children

Now, it is Dr Naif Al-Mutawa himself who is the invited speaker of a new TED talk about his own creation.

In this funny and fascinating conference, Dr Al-Mutawa shows how American superheroes were inspired by biblical myths and values, christian archtypes that resonated with the American society positive values.

He created the 99 with the same kind of idea in mind.  In fact, the superheroes embody the 99 attributes of God, Allah : mercy, generosity and so on.  For instance, Jabbar, The Powerful; Noora, The Light; Darr, The Afflicter; Jami, The Assembler; Widad, The Loving; Fattah, The Opener, etc.  So far, not all of the 99 characters have been unveiled.  Each of the 99 is living in a different country which makes the series a kind of universal story.

Another link with Western culture is the recruits Dr Al-Mutawa brought in his project : these are all aknowledged artists in the comic books industry.  There is Fabian Nicieza, writer of the X-Men and Power Rangers ; Dan Panosian, characters creator for the X-Men ; Stuart Moore, best known as the writer for Iron Man; June Brigman, illustrator for StarWars and Supergirl; Ron Wagner,  illustrator for Batman and DareDevil; and, last but not least, John Mc Crea, who was an inker for the late Spiderman…  No wonder if the drawing looks so familiar to the superheroes series readers !

What is fascinating in this series, is the combination of different cultural elements : the characters are Allah’s attribute, but the Noor Stones (the “Light” Stones, in Arabic) are the ones which chose you and not the opposite, and that’s what Dr Al-Mutawa calls the “King Arthur element of the story line”.  The medium itself, the comic book, is a Western form of art and the chosen artists are mainly of Western origin or background.  If the values conveyed in this series are inspired by Islam, they are actually universal : generosity, knowledge, tolerance, freedom.  Who on earth would deny such a set of values ? (Perhaps some extremists, who are likely to be found everywhere, in whichever society…). 

Amazingly, Dr Al-Mutawa’s the 99 readers include President Obama  who praised the the importance of these characters in spreading tolerance and open-mindedness.  He said about the 99 , as a response of his Cairo Speech to the Muslim World : “I have to say, perhaps the most innovative response was from Dr Naif Al-Mutawa, from Kuwait. [...] His comic books have captured the imagination of so many young people with superheroes that embodied the teaching of tolerance of Islam.”

The 99 are now a 26 episode animated TV series and Kuwait built a theme park called The 99 Village Theme Park.

But for Dr Al-Mutawa, the importance doesn’t lay in publishing success. Being responsible of a training program for the survivors of political torture in Bellevue Hospital (New York), he knows what intolerance means.  And for him, it is the spreading of positive elements about Islam and the understanding between cultures that matters.

You can download your free copy of the first episode, THE 99 Origins, just by cliking here.

“  You give but little when you give of your possession. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give ”      

A truly beautiful and worthy quote. Something we all ought to carve onto our hearts indefinitely. Plenty of hearts out there are blackened by the stubborness of penurious and greediness. This is hard to swallow but true in reality. Most people take things all for granted. Plenty of us totally ignore, and some even forget that countless of people out there are so unfortunate, naked and beggared from all the necessities which we humans need to survive. Sadly to say, most of them are children.

 It is not easy to lean a hand, or even to part with some of your precious belongings and (worse!) offer them to anybody who truly needs it. The first thought that usually comes to mind is that: hey, this belongs to me. I worked day and night for this, why should I give it to someone else?  There is a lot of truth in that sentence. People who genuinely work day and night to support themselves and families, they too, deserve to have ‘something’  in life.  Who’s to say that they shouldn’t? However, everybody deserves to have that little ‘something’ too. Nobody deserves any less. After all, part of life is giving…

One thing that all hard working people have in common is that they tend to accumulate material things. Yes, they do. They start spending what they thought they need and most of these ‘stuff’ are all piled up somewhere, either in the attic, or closets, or in the basement, or garages etc. The point is: they collect, they accumulate, they gather. Up to a point where there is no return for some people !

But, seriously! Do they actually need all of these things? Some say, yes, some say, not really, and some even say NO. Imagine, collecting all those things just to say NO at the end. NOPE, I don’t really use it actually. I have no freaking idea why I bought the thing. Shocking, isn’t it? To think that people spent enormous amount of money to buy things they do NOT need.

What about toys? Is that luxurious goods or neccessity? To the ‘little people’, toys are considered as a neccessity. I am not referring to the luxurious, too sophisticated, high-tech toys that only the children of the Rich and Famous could afford. I am talking about the real simple toys. Toys help children to grow and to nourish. Toys also build bridges between children no matter where they are. I am saying this because two of the co-founders of the kids4kids club (created under the Lingua Franca Foundation) have decided that they, too, want to participate in the act of giving.

In order to promote diversity and international exchanges, the Lingua Franca Foundation has gone another step further with it’s activities.  This time, the kids4kids club have decided to part with their beloved toys and give them to other needy children who are at the other side of the globe.  Besides parting with their own toys, they have also collected toys from other children who share the same idea and philosophy  - help and give to other needy children. The children have been collecting toys since January 2010 and have piled up over more than 50 kilos worth of toys (soft, wodden, plastic etc).

Finally, the Lingua Franca Foundation is very proud to annouce that…

On the 10th of  May 2010, the Lingua Franca Foundation has taken it’s wings and flown all the way to the eastern part of the globe : a country called Malaysia. There, Lingua Franca Foundation has marked it’s first donation by giving away their first batch of toys (collected by the kids4kids club) to the director of  Hotel Abadi – a hotel which is located in the state of Melaka.

 This hotel is conducting a special on-going campaign to help distribute used toys and clothing to the poor and needy children in Malaysia. This is an on-going project, therefore, the kids4kids club will continue to collect more toys and also chilren’s clothing for the needy children.

We are also calling for more volunteers who are willing to help gather more toys and children’s clothing in their area. We are also hoping for more collaboration with schools and other institutions for more help.

 If you, your child, your family, your child’s school, your workplace, or anybody who you know, want to participate in this noble project, please contact us by clicking here,

and if you want to support our work by donation, please click here.

Stichting Lingua Franca Foundation realise the importance of  each client’s individuality and uniqueness. We acknowledge the existence of the client’s own specific needs and demands. We also acknowledge that each client needs to take total control on the development of his/her need(s) through out the entire course and everybody has his/her own pace to tackle the need(s) according to the level of understanding and acceptance.

Walking through the sand

We want the client to know that we actually understand their needs and the manner of wanting their needs to be fulfilled. Face-to-face interaction is one of the basic methods we use to penetrate the client’s true wish. Some people are afraid of spilling out what is truly in their hearts; thinking that others might make a mockery out of them. Some even think their needs and demands are too impossible to achieve. We are here to break that barrier of endless fear. We are here to assure them dreams can be realities if you work hard to achieve it. Dreams are not impossible. It is solely up to YOU to make the impossible possible.

Tailored Made Programme

The services offered by the Stichting Lingua Franca Foundation are specifically designed around YOUR NEEDS. Yes, YOUR NEEDS. We will propose to you a programme/service/workshop/course specially for YOU. A tailored made programme to solely suit YOUR EXACT NEEDS.  Considering all factors and wishes from YOU the client, the Foundation will evaluate seriously all levels of the individual’s potential and achievement. From there, we will create a course that you are comfortable with to enable you to  finally achieve your goals.

Personal Development and Performance

]]> http://linguafrancafoundation.org/2010/01/13/uniqueness-of-service/feed/ 0 Suziana Salleh walking through the sand personal development and performance http://linguafrancafoundation.org/2009/12/13/fruitful-future/ http://linguafrancafoundation.org/2009/12/13/fruitful-future/#comments Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:35:42 +0000 Suziana Salleh http://linguafrancafoundation.org/?p=692 Continue reading →]]> There is a new project buzzing around the local neighbourhood. I heard this through a contact of mine. We accidentally bumped into each other 2 days ago at one of the Youth & Family Development centres. The last time we spoke, I told her about my idea to propose a project in exposing children to multiple languages at very tender age.

Apparently that somehow caused some sort a chain reaction since, mysteriously out of the blue, she suddenly told me that she (and other colleagues) are in the process of trying to propose some sort of programme to develop children’s mind from birth till they are 4 years old.

Unfortunately we had to cut our conversation short due to appointments we both had to attend (but at different location with different people), but now it gives me a very strong impression that people do think the idea of teaching children and exposing them to new methods of learning, or a new language, etc. is extremely important in order to maximise the potential of the child’s mind and to gear it up to its fullest capacity. I have to say; I got excited! And I fully support this notion.

I have seen that plenty of kindergartens (pre-school) here are making groups therapy for little children to stimulate communication skills. This is mainly because the society is fully mixed structured with people coming from every part and everywhere on the planet. Not only that, mixed couples are considered very common nowadays that you can easily see the result of such mixed relationship walking and running practically almost everywhere.

Verbal communication not only derive from one source – I mean – not coming from only one language. There is no such thing as one language or the ‘master’ of all languages. If you are only capable of mastering just one language, the chances of you flying out of your nest are next to zero. You have clip your wings entirely.

Since plenty of children globally know more than one language since birth , it is important to keep encouraging them to continue using and practicing multiple language on a daily basis. This helps to stimulate the fluency of the language, and the importance of knowing how to use the language in the correct manner and grammar. Some parents tend to put one language above the other as being the dominant language. They stress the point that the dominant language has more significance compared to the other.

As a matter of fact, each language has its own unique identity. Nobody could claim that his/her language is superior to the other. Knowing and having the skill of mastering more languages enable all of us to better understand and respect one another despite of all the differences that exist in this world,  thus,  help us to live prosperously with each other.

Multi-lingual children are the children of the future. These children should be given the chance to blossom in the most cherishable fashion, therefore the future that we would like to create could be very fruitful at the end.

Shereen El Feki, half Egyptian, half Welsh, is observing these side effects of globalization. “Her passion lies in the many projects in which she is involved which aim to better understand, and surmount, the social challenges facing Arabs, particularly young people”.

In this video, published by Ted India, she is showing some examples of these borrowings.

But Shereen El Feki is not only talking for TED India, she also publishes a crosscultural website, called Meedan - town square, place of gathering, probably the best Arabic equivalent to the Greek word Agora – where internautes can exchanges texts and opinions both in Arabic and in English.  She is not alone.  Meedan is built by a non profit organization based in California and the texts are produced by a international team of volunteers in places as remote as “Amman, Damascus, Cairo, Casablanca, Bethlehem, Beirut, London, Portland, Pozan, Brussels, Toronto, and Armonk“.

All this is also made possible by a new translation technology called Machine Translation (MT).

“Meedan’s mission is to further global understanding and tolerance through technology. At Meedan, we think the web can play a big part in bringing people together to help heal mutual enmity and distrust.So we aim to increase the number of cross-language interactions on the web between Arabic and English speakers.”

You can see this beautiful project by clicking here.  Don’t miss this new bridge between civilizations… Nowadays, the opportunities to bring Arabic and English talking people together are so scarce…

She wanted to console and convince herself, that this journey would be the best and the last ride of her life. Her search for true love has finally ended.  Dalilah’s body trembled a little. She smirked. Such a heavy feeling. She felt as if her lunch was reaching the tip of her throat. ‘I should be happy. I should be happy.’ She murmured again.

The Journey

Excitement hit her the moment the plane hit touchdown.  Adrenaline rushed down her spine. Dalilah turned to her daughter. She was still  resting on the headrest. She snored all through the journey. A soft voice hit the intercom informing the passengers about the local weather and having a safe journey. Dalilah looked around and saw the other passengers started to grab their belongings from the compartments. Most signs on the headboard were blinking. Everybody was ready to leave the plane.

Dalilah was nervous. Quickly she grabbed her handbag and searched for her passport. Felt very intense, Dalilah immediately shook her daughter’s shoulder. Groaning and mumbling slightly in Chinese, Jasmine stretched her body like a lazy cat. She abhor her mother shuddering her like that. She didn’t like the entire journey in general. Nevertheless, she was eager to see this famous land of the tulips with her two eyes. Being a teenager and curious to the bones, Jasmine took the opportunity to follow her mother thinking that this would be a great experience in her lifetime.

Waiting in the waiting hall made Dalilah more and more nervous. She looked at her wrist watch all the time. Suddenly a warm kiss landed on her neck and she immediately knew who that was. She turned and returned the kiss.

“I am very hungry, honey.” She passed part of her luggage to Maarten. “Ok, let’s go and have lunch.” Maarten walked toward the train station. Dalilah hesitated, ” didn’t you bring the car?” She couldn’t imagine having to drag all the luggage into the train and traveled back home. She had a long journey on the plane and to think having to drag those heavy luggage on another long trip home, that was unrealistic and insensitive.

“I reckon, since you are here and we are very close to Amsterdam, I think it would be nice if we go and have lunch there. “

“But, honey…. I just arrived. I’m tired like hell.”

“Yeah, but hon…. I haven’t been to Amsterdam. We can just do it now.”

“Honey… I am REALLY tired… it was a very long journey. I don’t want to go and visit Amsterdam now. Why don’t we do it some other time?” Dalilah sounded rather irritated. Jasmine kept silent.

“No. I want to do it now. I have paid for the train tickets. I don’t want to waste money to come here again.”

Dalilah had no choice but to go. Having had to drag all the luggages she didn’t enjoy much from the short trip. Her body was deteriorating. Her energy drained. She couldn’t even think properly anymore. Maarten, on the other hand, got more and more excited. He wanted to show Dalilah his homeland immediately. He forgot about the tiredness. He was just overwhelmed to see Dalilah there. He wanted to share everything. Finally, she arrived!

In this video of a TED India Conference 2009, he is explaining how myths can shape our vision of THE World and My World and how we can understand each other.  Through the story of Alexander the Great and a gymnosophist, 326 years before Christ, he analyzes how their beliefs about life and death shaped their thoughts and feelings.  This is a great intercultural lesson with loads of humor…

But ancient myths can also provide resources to understand our modern world and the cultural conflicts that prevent business people around the world to work together…

Find more on Devdutt Pattanaik’s home page.

Egypt just put an end to the Western writing system domination by publishing the first domain name in Arabic.

Learning Arabic writing

As the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) opened registration for non-Latin domain names, Information Technology Minister Tarek Kamel said at a U.N. sponsored Internet conference that his government had filed an application to register the domain “.masr” – or “.Egypt” — written entirely in Arabic.

It took six years of discussions and technical work to get ICANN to the point of approval, even if most than half of the 1.6 billion Internet users don’t write a Latin alphabet based language…  The Chinese are the most numerous Internet surfers outside the Latin realm.

This opening towards non-Western writing systems is meant to allow many Eastern languages speakers to surf on the Net in their own idiom, but, in the same time, it will close access to Westerners.  So the big Internet Ocean will look more like real world with its geographic and cultural diversities…