Hello!

My name is Ng Shi Ren, and I will be running a 12 hour race (Back 2 Endurance) in Lake Gardens, Kuala Lumpur on the 10th of September. I will be attempting as many loops of the 2.3km course as possible to raise money for The Top Achievers Academy in Ampang.

Together with my school mates, I visited the academy earlier in July and was instantly taken away by the friendly community of caring teachers and refugee kids. We folded origamis and played football with the young scholars of the academy and it was truly an experience to reminisce. During my time there, i was awed by the children's ambitious dream professions written on a wall, some wanted to be astronauts while others wanted to be interior designers, all this kids had big dreams but after speaking to one of the older girl scholars, and heard of her family's and school's financial situation, i wondered how many of the children would actually suceed?

As a refugee, normally awaiting relocation to another country, the children are not permitted to study in Malaysian public schools. The relocation process can take as long as 6 years or more. I learned the challenges for refugee and asylum seeker families can be greater in that they may have previous traumatic experiences in their home country and can face further social disruption and poverty upon arrival in Malaysia because of their legal status. Asylum seekers such as this particular girl's parents had low level or no financial support and are not entitled to work which results in many parents and caregivers struggling to feed and clothe their families.

The Top Achievers Academy is one of the very few academies that focused on the diverse cultural, linguistic and economic needs of its community to prevent the marginalization of young fellow humans in need of a brighter future. Recently, this non profit academy has been relinquished of its steady stream of funds from a philanthropic businessman and is now solely relying on the public's donations to keep them afloat. As of recent times, the academy has fallen into thousands of dollars of debt and even had too stretch the shallow pockets of the scholars parents to stay alive.

I am deeply saddened by the plight of helpless children of the academy and can only imagine the bleak future of the refugees if this academy were to go out of business. I may not be able to do much in the academy's cash problems in the future but I hope this run and fundraising will be able to raise awareness on the minorities in our society and keep the dreams alive of the fellow children of our community.