Opening an Academy for Refugees & Stateless People

We need to raise RM145,000 to officially open an academy for the refugees and stateless persons for a full year. (7 days a week, 365 days a year). After the first year of public support, we will then hopefully be able to be self sustainable. The academy has 4 classrooms plus 2 studio spaces for lectures, workshops and performing arts. The academy will be called "United World Academy" as we will be hosting refugees of different religions, ethnicity and background. Diversity and unity in education is our main goal.

Many refugees do not have the opportunity to live life as normally as others from a young age. They don't even know what being a 'refugee' means yet as such a young age. Many don't even go to school. Those that finally enter school, often lack basic knowledge such as alphabets or numbers that other kids learn at home. They find it hard to keep up with the rest of the kids in class. Therefore, we are setting up a bridging programme through a creative academy for refugees, whereby we help them transition from home to school environment. We will be teaching basic English, Bahasa Melayu and Mathematics so that when they do decide to enter mainstream school systems, they shall not be overwhelmed and will be able to keep up with the rest of the students their age. We also understand that many refugees do not have a platform to express themselves, often seen as a taboo to talk about their problems and refugee status. We shall use arts as a way to allow them to express themselves. For example, guitar, percussion, ukulele, dancing, critical workshops, lectures and theatre. We also provide empty and quiet cubicles whereby they can come whenever they want to practice or take off their mind and play instruments, or study! This academy will be located in Cantonment Exchange, Jalan Ipoh - whereby it is accessible by foot and also MRT to most of the refugee community. We hope to be self sustainable within 6-12 months! But for now - we need your help to gather 145K Malaysian Ringgits.