L-Mix ’09 ~~ Latino Youth Discover the Cultural Mysteries of Malaysia

This cultural exchange program is directed by Millennium's Country Director who is Student at UKM, Director of Programs in SE Asia for FCI-Facilitating Cultural Interchange. 

Malaysia. The name brings to mind an exotic land with beautiful beaches, lush tropical forests and warm, welcoming people. This past summer, from July 12^th to August 6^th, a group of Latino young people went to Malaysia to participate in the Latin-Malay Intercultural Exchange 2009 (known simply as L-Mix ’09).  This exchange is organized each year by the Institute of Occidental Studies (IKON) a research institute that is part of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).

With participants from five countries, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Bolivia and the United States, this special month long course gave students the opportunity to get to know the life and culture of Malaysia.  They saw things not as tourists observing from the outside, but as participants in the culture.  Eyes were opened to the cultural “mysteries” that are a part of daily life for the locals, but which were unknown to the Latinos. 

Millennium Malaysia Helps Organize
2^nd Year of Little League Soccer
June 20, 2009

The Liga Bola Sepak Junior of Bangi (LBJB), a little league soccer club for boys from 6 to 12 years of age, finished their official 2009 season with a special one day tournament.  The event, held at the stadium of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, was a great success as some 80 local families turned out to cheer on their teams.  It was a grand finale to a very successful year. 

The LBJB community league was first started in 2008, when Millennium Relief & Development Services (MRDS) staff based in Malaysia discovered a similar league on the east side of town called the Subang Jaya Community Youth Football League.  Daniel, a Millennium Latin Scholars Grant recipient, and his wife Sandra, a Millennium employee, joined with the local parent and teacher association to organize the league.  That first year, the community signed up about 60 boys.  They formed four teams divided by age group.  The league was such a success, that they had to move out of the public school field to a larger community field.  In 2009 all the season matches were held on fields at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia.  We are grateful to the university authorities who are such a great help to the league. 

For 2009, LBJB had about 110 boys registered in three divisions.  Each division with four teams.  There was the Junior division for boys 6 and 7 years old; the Major division for boys 8 and 9 years; and the Senior division for boys ages 10 and 11.  As school began in January 2009, according to the Malaysian school calendar, our soccer season began as well.  After registration each boy was evaluated on his soccer skill.  The teams were made up by the league staff with an eye to balancing the teams so each would have an equal share of experienced and inexperienced players.   A very important league rule is that each boy who registers MUST play at least half of every scheduled match.  

Dreams Do Come True
Millennium’s Youth and Sports Program 2009

Last year one young girl had this to say about her first experience in the Millennium Youth and Sports Program:

“This year I participated in the sport  program of my school. One of my greatest joys in life is playing sports. From early childhood my left foot has been shorter than the right, which means that I have had to wear special shoes. As result, I am usually not allowed to play sports and have become very sensitive to the others laughing at me. I couldn't believe it when my teacher ACTUALLY invited me to play in a volleyball tournament. It was like a dream come true! You can only image how my heart danced when I was NOW included in the games. I want to say Thank You a thousand times over to those who made this possible. My hope is to play even more sports in the future!"

Volleyball
During the spring of 2009, Millennium organized a Volleyball league for girls that included several schools in and around Kurganteppa. Volleyball is a very popular sport and the girls were eager to practice and learn the finer points of the game. Besides coaching and training, Millennium also helped supply the volleyballs, nets, and uniforms.

Meeting Needs in Rapareen
From the Director
2009

The Women & Family Center in Rapareen, Northern Iraq exists to provide knowledge and opportunities to Iraqi women who want to learn and improve their lives.  Through our programs and innovative ideas, the people in our neighborhood look forward to a better future.

The Center provides Iraqi women a variety of courses including handicrafts, sewing, English, computer and other skills.  Some are learning new things, others building on what they already know.  All are growing.

The Center began with a focus on serving women in the community.  By serving the women, the wives and mothers we can serve the entire family.  By serving the family, we will serve the community and eventually the nation.  We realized that to truly serve the women it is vital to have the support and participation of all members of the family, so we broadened our outlook and our Center. 

Going Forward

Early in 2010 we are extremely pleased to be welcoming a dentist from Bolivia to our team at the Center.  The addition of a staff dentist will greatly expand our family dental clinic and education programs.

Sustainable, income-generating crafts and skills training are projects that will enable women here to rise above their present circumstances.  We are exploring new projects and expanding existing programs to meet this need.  Our initial focus will be on:

• sewing traditional Kurdish outfits
• making candles
• making scarves

Recently, we began to think about other ways to serve our adopted community.  One opportunity is to contribute to the total health and well being of the women.  We are looking at starting an aerobics exercise class just for them.