A GROUP of 26 students from the School of Computer Technology at Sunway University College donated 17 units of desktop computers to an orang asli community in Kampung Jelintuh, Perak as part of their community service project.
The donations were made in two separate visits over eight months, during which the students installed the computers at the village’s community centre (balai rakyat)and provided some basic lessons to the children and adults there.
Receiving the computers on behalf of the community was Penghulu Ba Ayyeh.
The community project adviser Johnny Savarimuthu said: “This is a milestone event for the orang asli community in Malaysia as it is the first time that a donation of computers has been made to them.”
The college students posing with the orang asli children after setting up the new computers.
Current project advisor Christopher Ong added: “We will continue to work with and support the orang asli in order to provide more opportunities and access to the latest technologies.”
Although the project involved a lot of time and effort on top of their academic commitments, the students involved in the project were enthusiastic about giving something back to the community.
“This is a truly remarkable and new experience for me. It gave me an insight into the orang asli community, said student Hasan-Ul-Mokaddes from Bangladesh.
“I was touched by their hospitality and their eagerness to learn about computers.”
His coursemate, Joseph Gangadaran said: “There are still a lot of people in Malaysia that have missed out on technology and I am really glad we had a chance to help.
“Through this project, we learnt to work as a team and it was a great learning experience too.”
The computers were donated by the college’s School of Computer Technology.
The costs of travelling and accessories for the installation were covered by a fund raising lunch organised by the students.
The students also raised additional funds through a recent Tea and Fashion Show for computer classes for the orang asli, which will be provided by the Shalom Community Centre in Gopeng.
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