Fulbright: The Clinical Research Half

Note: Photo at top is of page is of, from the left, the heads of Harvest Center, Petrina, Pastor Elisha, Mr. Liew as the World Vision Malaysia CEO, and me

September 25, 2010

How lucky am I that I get to take my family to a soccer tournament for my research? Why would that be research? Because the first stage of my research project is to meet people. Yes, just talk and talk and talk. What I am doing for my Fulbright project is to collaborate with a community-based organization to do a sustainable mental health intervention for children and their families.

To develop this partnership with a community organization, I first have to meet a lot of people who will introduce me to the organization leaders; I can't just meet them without some sort of formal introduction. So, I first have to meet with the larger charitable organizations who fund the smaller community organizations, to get an idea of who might be a good match for my work and get some introductions. And, my HELP University professor colleagues have connections with Christian charitable organizations, like World Vision, who fund these community organizations. It is interesting that it seems to be mostly Christian organizations in this Muslim country that are funding interventions for children in poverty.

After I met with the head of World Vision Malaysia, he offered to introduce me to the heads of the organization called Harvest Centre, or Dignity for Children Foundation. The World Vision CEO, Mr. Liew, said he thought I should join him for a soccer tournament to meet the heads of Harvest Centre who were running the tournament. When we arrived for the tournament, he and Pastor Elisha, head of Harvest, were waiting for us out front. And, they gave us a warm welcome, with the older Mr. Liew even kicking the soccer ball around with Griffin, giving it a header too. Then, Mr. Liew and Pastor Elisha toured me around in the VIP fashion I've been honored with at every turn at these organizations. And, I thought it was because of my Fulbright status (God knows, I drop the Fulbright card shamelessly!) but I've started realizing it's also a Malaysian custom to host with great generosity, patience, and attention, and usually involving a meal.

Pastor Elisha showed me the soccer and net ball tournaments (for net ball explanation, see Griffin's post below) which were filled with refugees and poor kids from, typically, Indian slums. The refugees are mostly from Burma and can't speak either Malay or English. And, the Malaysian government refuses to accept refugees so the refugees are illegal here. They have no potential to become a legal immigrant or citizen. So, they get no official status, they are invisible. Worse, unlike in the U.S., as illegal immigrants/refugees, they get no schooling, protection from crime, health care, etc. On top of that, there is a group of Malaysian citizens who are backed by the government to round up these refugees/immigrants and take them to the border, in an often scary, threatening, and exploitive manner. This quasi-governmental group is called the Renu, I think, and they often threaten to expel them, then say they can stay if they pay a bribe. This is all after these refugees are already fleeing persecution from their own country, like Burma.

So, Harvest Centre takes over where the government chooses not to. They run a school for the children, because the government won't. And, the school has a mission to provide as high quality education as they would receive at Malaysian schools, saying refugees deserve respect and good education. The school's become famous for its education and has trained and developed many other schools for refugees all over Malaysia now. Pastor Elisha is originally Punjab, on the border of India and Pakistan. His wife is Chinese Malaysian, and they have a dorm and home at the school where they take in many of these children, with the intent of giving them a fresh start, especially away from some of the toughest families fraught with physical abuse or "gangsterism."

Pastor Elisha thinks the parents only get in the way of the kids getting ahead in life and healing from their past. He complained of parents pressuring their daughters to get married by age 13 but, now that they are at his school, they say no to their parents, saying they want to be teachers like their teachers at school. He has threatened fathers who were physically abusing their children. He doesn't try to change the parents. He tries to take the children out of the parents' home, often into his home or dorm. Or he tries to empower them to be different from their parents.

He and I had a moment where we realized we have different philosophies about helping kids get better. Mine has always been through changing and supporting the family and school, and his is to get the kids as far away from the family as possible. Maybe he's right, in this case, but I still wonder if there's potential for involving the parents somehow in this mental health process with the kids.

Pastor Elisha told me the story of why the soccer tournament is called the Faisal cup. Faisal had been in Elisha's school. He was about fourteen but had a "simple" mind and was at the academic equivalent of 1st grade or so. He often squeezed himself into the small chairs in the first grade classroom. One day he was playing soccer and the ball was kicked into the river. Faisal went in after the ball, since to him a $3 ball was precious and had to be retrieved. But, he couldn't swim and he drowned. Pastor Elisha teared up as he told this story. And, he said that to lose one of his most beloved students over a $3 ball inspired he and his wife to run this soccer tournament because so many refugee children have no organized soccer or even soccer balls to play with. The government provides soccer for all Malay children, but there's none for the immigrants or refugees.

Once Ken helped get Griffin and Boom started on playing soccer with the refugee kids, it made me really happy to see them connecting through soccer, especially since their rarified world is limited to the elite at their school.

In the meantime, I introduced myself to the head of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) who is now an American, and he knows Fulbright. I've been dying to meet him, since UNHCR funds so many refugee programs, and I thought they'd know which are ripe for and interested in mental health program development. Vernon is his name, and he gave me the historical and current perspective on refugees here, making me feel like I was having an ivy league education in the reality of refugees in Malaysia and beyond. He also suggested a couple organizations who would be possible for me to collaborate with. What a coup to connect with him! And it looks like he'll be connecting me to organizations with potential too.

We had to leave, and when Ken had to take the ball with us, he said it was hard to take the soccer ball away. All the kids playing with Boom and Griffin were very reluctant to give the ball up since they didn't have a ball of their own and couldn't play as a result.