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IMPACT 0437: ENSURING A HOLISTIC LEARNING EXPERIENCE FOR CHILDREN

Cahaya Community is a registered charity that takes on a holistic perspective towards social support. The organisation is run by young, vibrant volunteers who believe in placing the community at the very centre of all they do. Today, they share more about what they do.

Tell us more about what you do!

Our work is centred around four communities serving about 100 kids. We hope to forge meaningful relationships and offer holistic learning experiences to these children through community support, spirit and care. All of these is done with the vision of inspiring each child to realise and reach their boundless potential. We work with the community and families to unlock the infinite possibilities of each child.

Community forms the bedrock of our three pillars: Inspire, empower and develop. To inspire our children, we organise mentorship and learning journeys through our partnership with community actors. To empower parents as they do their best for their children and family, we partner fellow do-gooders to carry out livelihood support and psychosocial support. To develop volunteers as critical agents of change in our communities, we carry out peer-led immersive sessions and practical workshops with experts to focus on different skills to strengthen our volunteers’ capacity.

What inspired you to do this?

For us, volunteering with this programme is something we genuinely enjoy. Although it entails a lot of work, the smiles on the faces of our beneficiaries make all this extremely rewarding – it’s cliché but true.

Have you faced any challenges so far? How did you overcome them?

Nothing of value comes easy. The hardest thing was getting the community, especially the kids and their parents, to see the vision that we had, as well as retaining and attracting volunteers and beneficiaries. We had to work very hard!

If you could share one piece of advice with your fellow youth, what would it be?

As the old saying goes, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” And if we could, we’d add the word “courageous” in front of “step”. It is our belief that we’re all blessed in ways that allow us to contribute and reach out to those with less. It’s given us so much purpose and so much to be thankful for. Give “giving” a try and you’d be surprised at how much you will receive in kind.

What are your hopes or plans for the future? What do you want to see or perhaps do?

Just like our vision, we hope for a world where everyone feels loved and empowered to be there for one another. We hope to continue to impact more communities whenever and wherever we can!