#projectofthemonth

Back2Communities led their four-day convention in Brunei at the beginning of August. Using YSEALI Seeds funding, the group brought together people interested in improving the lives for citizens with disabilities. Throughout the convention, the participants learned more about the specific issues this group of people faces and brainstormed solutions. Here's a recap of the successful event. 

FIRST DAY

The first day of the convention started with an opening ceremony graced by Mr. Scott Woodard, Chargé d' Affaires, U.S. Embassy Bandar Seri Begawan. In his opening speech, he said "The efforts by the Youth-Setter Community to advance disability rights and encourage an inclusive Bruneian community are commendable, as it gives a reminder that persons with disabilities have the same rights as all people - the right to non-discrimination, the right to equal access of opportunity and the right of inclusion - overall, the right to be full participants in society.".

His Excellency and Nur Amalina officiated the convention with ribbon-cutting to mark the start of the 4-day convention followed by presentation of token of appreciations to our sponsors.

Participants register for Back2Communities on the first day of the convention

Participants were firstly exposed to the two United Nation Convention rights that are currently use in Brunei by our first speaker, Sharifah Adila Surya, Deputy Director of Administration SMARTER Brunei. The last activity for the morning session was the team-building activity facilitated by Malai Hj Abdullah, President of SMARTER Brunei. The participants were group into 5 teams of 8 to 9 members and were assigned several tasks where each team need to come up with a team's name, motto, logo, values and song. The convention continues in the afternoon with panel forum with 3 invited speakers, Dawn Lee from La Vida, Jasmin Brahim from Down Syndrome Association, ABLE and Haji Ali Yusri from Special Education Unit, Ministry of Education. The panel forums covers 5 topics such as volunteerism, youth-empowerment, mother's perspective in raising a child with Down Syndrome, effective communication and self-development.

SECOND DAY & THIRD DAY

The participants were given the opportunity to be involved in various volunteering work at their assigned centres from 8:30am until 4:30pm. In both SMARTER BACA and EDGE, they were assigned to assist the teachers in classes and learn how to interact with children and individuals with autism. The participants were also involved in assisting the students during their rehearsal for the upcoming "Autism in Wonderland" concert in September. Meanwhile in Persatuan KACA, the participants organized cleaning campaign and few interactive games such as "Teacher says", singing and dancing. Other than that, to get to know more about the children with different abilities, the participants also conduct question and answer session for the families and their children. Lastly, the participants were given one session where they will use their experiences to brainstorm and prepare their action plan with their group members, and pre-pitch it to the committee as a practice for the 4th day.

Part of Back2Communities convention involved volunteering with local organizations for people with different abilities

FOURTH DAY

The morning session kicked off with the arrival of Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports, Yang Berhormat Mejar Jeneral (B) Dato Paduka Seri Haji Aminuddin Ihsan bin Pehin Orang Kaya Saiful Mulok Dato Seri Paduka Haji Abidin. In his remarks, he said "caring for people with special needs is indeed a shared responsibility for all of us and building an inclusive community has been a long standing commitment in Brunei Darussalam, and even among the international communities here. "

Team Hope pitches their carnival idea to the rest of Back2Communities convention

In the morning, the 5 groups pitched action plans. The first to pitch was group TEAM with their proposal to conduct an app design competition for sign language in Brunei. Meanwhile, CIP's action plan aims to develop 3 interactive simulation booths that allow people feel what it's like to be an individual with different ability. The third team, Hope proposed to conduct a collaborative carnival with another agency where certain areas gives people with different abilities the opportunity to take part as vendors and tour guides. With a mission to normalize special needs' involvement & contribution to the community, the next group Brave, plans to produce series of a promotional videos to showcase various talents and achievements of individual with different abilities. Finally, STARS group focuses on 3 series of videos to show the different perspectives of an individual with different abilities and an online one stop platform for local volunteers.

Team BRAVE, who won best action plan, with the leaders of Youth-Setter Community and Minister of Culture, Youth and sports Team Brave won best action plan and a grant from Youth-Setter Community to implement their project this year on YSEALI Younified Day in December. The final session of the convention were presentation of completion certificates to all participants, special mention awards such as The First Participant, The Most Active, The Best Speaker and The Best Team as well as certificate of appreciation to volunteers.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

We were chosen as Indiewire's Project of the Month! 

http://www.indiewire.com/article/congrats-to-california-dreaming-septembers-project-of-the-month-20141006

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