The Muslim Youth Skills Enhancement and Language Fundamentals (MYSELF) Program is a youth oriented-project that is fully intended to help Out-of School Youths (OSYs), one of the marginalized sectors of society today, that because of poverty are unable to attain formal education which eventually avert their living decent lives in a society and place majority of them, most often than not, as eyesores and maladies of society.
MYSELF project was borne out of concern for this sector of society. It is a free program that gives non-formal education, in a way, giving free training skills and language enhancement to equip the OSYs with the necessary knowledge that will help them build their vocational career while becoming productive members of society.
How it started? This is the story… it was a Sunday morning when a young skinny boy of 14, clad in a worn out dress, came to me asking to buy a language book which I have written in four languages. He knew from a friend that I was selling a four-language book on English, Malay, Filipino, and Tausug for P350.00 but begged a favor of asking me to accept an amount of P120.00 because that was his only money obtained from doing labor work in a wharf carrying freights from the stores to sea transport bound for the islands, in his tender age.
With sympathy, I asked him if he was a student trying extra or sideline jobs for his studies. He bluntly told me that he was an out-of-school youth working and earning a meager income of a hundred peso a day to sustain a living for himself. He was an orphan.
I was touched by a determination of a young boy to overwhelm the difficulties of life that in such a tender age, has the courage of squarely facing the challenges of life just to live, and the ambition to get a good living by wanting to learn Malay language because of the intention to travel to Sabah, Malaysia and get a good paying labor job. Sabah is a neighbor of this island province and could be traveled backdoor in only four hours.
So I gave him the book without taking his money. He told me that he knows how to read since he finished his fifth grade in the elementary and could learn Malay, on his own, from the Tausug language (his native tongue) translation of the book. I was struck by an admiration and a strong self-determination of a tender-aged youth, who, despite poverty and lack of education is not only settled of improving his life but as well emancipating his substandard living into a better future.
That night, while I was in bed, an idea permeated mind. I said to myself “What if I teach English, Malay and Filipino to out-of-school youths? Probably, I could help them enhance their language skills which can help build their self-confidence. They may have not gone to school formally knowing how to speak Basic English, Malay and Filipino but my teaching them would surely help enhance their language knowledge and capabilities, which is a step next to getting a vocation coupled with some technical skills.
I slept that night with the idea of setting a free language and skills training center aimed at helping marginalized youths by providing them the non-formal education necessary to build their self-confidence, reliance and determination vis-à-vis the challenges and advancements of life as they grow.
Setting the center was not quite hard, since I own a little publishing outfit -Reenafezrah Publishing- we made the little office in my residence available for the training. We named it Reenafezrah Publishing and Technical Training Center.
Although, it took me the prowess of convincing my friend to help me with the technical skills training, I handled the language classes in English, Malay, and Filipino. And with seven OSys, one blackboard, one long table, the free language program and skills training took off.
On the other hand, from the little funds we have in hand, we provided them free tools for the technical house wiring class, notebooks, pens and the four-language book as materials in the MYSELF project. It is on the premise of wanting to help the youth that the “Help Others Help Themselves” advocacy from the MYSELF program by Reenafezrah Publishing and Technical Training Center as the training provider begun.
And this advocacy shall continue for as long as there are out-of-school youths who need the helping hand and there are concerned people who are willing to donate funds to maintain the project, we are there to assist the youths and provide them the non-formal education they need to get out of poverty, in order to improve their lives and become productive members of society.
So it is now your concern, our concern and everybody’s concern to help our fellowmen achieve the success in life that is likely obstructed by the plight of being on the level of poverty, of which can be emancipated by the concern of people like you, who have the means and capacity to help others in a modest way.
As good Samaritans you should HELP OTHERS HELP THEMSELVES.
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