By KAELAN ONG WEI ERN
alltherage@thestar.com.my

LIVING up to the Interact Club motto, “Service Above Self”, a group of Interactors from SMK Seafield in Petaling Jaya, Selangor put down our school books and set aside our usual Saturday outings to interact with children at the Paediatric Ward of the Sungai Buloh Hospital, Selangor, recently.

The board members of the Interact Club were earlier at the hospital to officially hand over a “Kids Interactive Corner”, an interactive playground of sorts, to the deputy director of Sungai Buloh Hospital Dr Aminuddin Tauhid. Also present at the ceremony was SMK Seafield’s Interact Club teacher advisor, Ho Siew Hoon.

The project was mooted in conjunction with the club’s Step Up For Kids community service campaign. The campaign aims to help improve the quality of life for children from less fortunate families through awareness and fund-raising projects.

As the Interact Club president, I really wanted to do something that is meaningful for the community during my term. So, we decided to pull all our activities for the year and run them under one main theme.

Since kids are the future leaders of the nation, choosing children as our cause for the year seemed a most logical choice for us.

Setting up the Kids Interactive Corner cost the club about RM5,000. The interactive corner comes complete with a TV set, a DVD player, a gaming console, a playhouse, double-sided magnetic stencil board, furniture, bookshelves and some educational toys.

The Kids Interactive Corner

The club’s fund-raising efforts kick-started during the December school holidays last year. Board members spent many hours producing their very own handicraft creations using Hama beads, and designed T-shirts, badges and other things for sale at a shopping complex. The event was well-supported by Interactors, students and teachers of the SMK Seafield, as well as members of the public.

This was followed by several other successful fund-raising events.

“It was hard work and a whole new experience for us but when we realised that we have finally raised enough money, all those hours of work seemed well worth it,” said Samuel Saw, the club’s community services director.

By August, painting work at the Kids Interactive Corner had begun. We decided to go with an animal-themed mural, which we thought would brighten up the space. A toy donation drive was also launched concurrently to help supplement the project.

“We truly hope that the children will find many hours of fun, comfort and solace in this little corner and that their pain and sufferring will be somewhat lightened with the activities that they can engage in during their stay here,” said teacher advisor Ho.