Children from the Myanmar refugee school play marshmallow tower game

Building Bridges Beyond Borders (Malaysia), Volunteers' Stories 14 Apr 2020

Eilish and Faye moved into the new volunteers’ apartment this week and invited the children over to celebrate……..

On Friday morning the [refugee school] children took part in some team-building activities. They worked in small groups to achieve building the tallest tower using only marshmallows and spaghetti. They had just 10 minutes to construct a tower that would stand alone. The children were very focused, enthusiastic and were consistent at building their towers even when they fell. A successful challenge with tasty rewards!

Ella recalls her time volunteering at Building Bridges Beyond Borders in the first half of 2023

I arrived in Kuala Lumpur just before the beginning of Chinese New Year. This meant two things: The first, I was introduced to the beautiful and whole-hearted celebrations of Malaysia. Malls were full of dramatic displays, glowing red lanterns adorned the streets, and fireworks lit the sky each evening. One of the schools I taught […]

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Rachel leaves Kuala Lumpur after completing her 6 months volunteering

Rachel sets off for a brief last trip in Southeast Asia before returning to the UK after 6 months as a Bath University Placement Student at the BBBB project. My name is Rachel and I study International Development with Economics at the University of Bath. I chose to do my placement in Malaysia as it […]

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Miza, our BBBB Project Coordinator writes a very personal account of her 5 years with the project

Five years with Building Bridges Beyond Borders Miza contacted the programme when she was finishing her Masters at Edinburgh University and about to return to her native Malaysia. After being a volunteer herself, she completed her PhD and has now become an invaluable member of the BBBB management team! Here she remembers some key moments […]

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Rachel is Our First International Volunteer to Arrive in Malaysia for over 2 years!

For the past two years our projects in KL have been sustained by a number of hard working and dedicated Malaysian undergraduate volunteers working in person, as well as international volunteers working online. After two years we are delighted to be able to welcome international volunteers in person again! Rachel arrived at the beginning of […]

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During the pandemic we have had a wonderful group of international volunteers working with the children in Malaysia online

While the largest number of online volunteers have been placement students from the University of Bath, we have also been very lucky to have a dedicated group from the University of Durham volunteering a few hours a week online throughout the second half of this academic year. The experience of both sides has been very […]

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Harriet finishes one year of online volunteering as a Bath University placement student and expects to travel to Malaysia this summer to finally meet all the kids she already knows so well!

With Just Volunteers, I have been privileged to teach for three inspiring organisations in Malaysia: the Rumah Aman Orphanage and Welfare Home, the [Myanmar Refugee school supported by SID] and the YTL Foundation. Just Volunteers has been supportive and encouraging from the outset. As this is my first time ever teaching, having a strong network […]

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Ciara has learned more than she expected volunteering online!

Ciara will soon finish her more than 6 months volunteering at BBBB online. (And this summer we will be welcoming in-person volunteers to Malaysia for the first time in over two years!) My name is Ciara and I am currently studying Social Sciences (BSc) at the University of Bath. Working for Just Volunteers has been […]

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Madalena is finding online teaching much more interesting than she expected

Maddie talks about how she has been dealing with an internship done entirely online and working from home – when she would otherwise have expected to be in Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia working with disadvantaged local children. The experience is challenging for everyone but the attitude of the kids has made it a […]

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Building Bridges Beyond Borders (BBBB)

A collaboration between Soroptimist International Damansara  and Just Volunteers! Sponsored by YTL Foundation. MALAYSIA