Teaching Dhamma on “Respect” to Children in Malaysia

By: Ven. Chan Sivilay

After my final examination ended on December 1, 2017; I and my friends leaving from IBC on December 6, went to Malaysia through a long way by train which was my first time to visit Malaysia. Personally I really appreciated IBC for giving me the great moment to learn and experience by myself. Actually I together with my friends purposely came to share our little knowledge from what we had studied to small kids in Moral Camp organised by Than Hsiang Kalyana Mitra Center, Pajam.

First day arriving in Pajam we were warmly welcomed by students there and had meeting with sister Chu who take care every logistic for us and helping in how to work together as a group for doing Student Camp approximately a week. In my group had eight IBC students; we separated all works into small pieces depending on our knowledge and experience, i.e. some of us might handle on Computer, while others prepared for Dhamma-talk. Everyone worked very hard and did their best for the benefit of the group. Even though many things could not turn out well as I expected, I acquired some lessons then improved it for next time.

I think, Malaysian children who came to join in the Camp they are very clever and obtain amazing talent in many languages, e.g. Chinese, English and Malay since very young age. Probably, some students could not speak English fluently, but they still could understand what we are talking about in our daily conversations which are completely distinct from young children in my native country.

As this is my first experience here in Malaysia, I encountered many hard and difficult experiences in sharing the teachings of the Buddha to little children but with the help of senior friends who had been there before set a great example for me to keep carrying on the duty till the last day of the Moral Camp. At the end of the Camp they would have sort of “Gratitude ceremony” by offering tea to their parents to show great gratitude and respect them.
In conclusion, I learnt a lot of things and contributed my Dhamma-knowledge to young children there. I really hope that they at least could acquire something from us about the Buddha’s teaching regarding to respect that we all put as priority in Moral Camp