Giving Back to Malaysia – Helping with Education Expenses

Students at Tunku-Putra secondary school along with teachers and representative from the charity club.

When I was planning my move to South East Asia (I hadn’t settled on Malaysia yet) I tried to read as much online as I could. One of the places I decided I wanted to visit to see if I could live there was Langkawi. Langkawi doesn’t have much information available online, especially on how an expat can live there. There are not many rental options. So I diligently looked for everything I could find.

One of the things I found was a reference to a charity helping pay school fees for some children in Langkawi. Education in Malaysia is not free and many families find it financially difficult to meet the costs associated with sending their child/children to school. Helping a child get an education seemed like the kind of thing that was worthwhile (I knew I wanted to contribute in some ways to where ever I settled down). I also knew it was easy to get busy and not get these kind of things taken care of. So I arranged to contribute before I went to Langkawi. I did so and was able to sponsor one child this last year.

Last week I received a report that he has graduated from Tunku Putra secondary school and is looking forward to college. The program, by the Charity Club Langkawi, Kedah was able to fully sponsor 41 Schoolchildren in Langkawi in 2011.

The Charity Club Langkawi “are being referred to a growing pool of young people who are very bright and are not able to attend, or drop out of, university because of lack of available funds.” It seems to me the charity club does great work. If you are an expat in Malaysia consider contributing. You can also sponsor a family or contribute in other ways if you prefer. If you know of similar clubs in Johor Bahru, or elsewhere in Malaysia, and a comment below.

I ended up not staying in Langkawi. It is worth considering but the rental options are very limited. There also isn’t much going on. But it has great beaches and wonderful food. I decided on Johor Bahru instead.