Internship to Malaysia - Chamal Perera

I decided to go for an internship to Malaysia to gain some valuable experiences to my life. So after the internship now I am really happy because I learn a lot from this tour.

First day, a day to remember

The flight I was about to take has overbooked. So they asked me to take the next flight if I won't mind it. Since the next flight is scheduled to fly 5 minutes after my original flight I decided to take the later one because airlines had to send someone to that. So they were glad that I helped them by taking the next flight and offered me to travel in the business class. I was overjoyed and took their offer.

Landing To Malaysia

After coming to Malaysia I had to take a bus to KL sentral, a town situated 60km away from the airport. Before taking the flight I had contacts with other EP of my project. So I was suppose to reach KL sentral to meet him. But it almost took 3 or 4 hours to find him because that town is really big. We had to travel to batu gajah, a town situated almost 250km from kl sentral. So we had to find the railway station to get a train. Unfortunately we missed our train by 5 minutes. So we had to wait for another 6 hours for the next train. I had a friend of mine in Malaysia, so I traveled with him to pass the time.

Name of other EP of the project is Ester. Me and Ester pick our train around 6 pm. And reached Batu gajah by 8 pm. When we reached the station, the president of non cooperated things in AIESEC UTP was there to pick us. He is Eric. Eric drove us to the UTP (University of technology Petronas)

We were amazed after seeing the university for the first time. I have never seen a university like that.

View of Village 4 from My room

Eric had arranged us a comfortable room there.

First week in UTP

UTP is divided into 5 main villages. So students live in those villages. Students all around the globe are studying here. We got our room in village 5. In our floor there were 12 graduates who are studying for their masters. They were from Spain,Italy,Ireland, UK, Argentina. So during the week I spend in UTP I had the opportunity to share experiences with them.

Graduates from Europe 

UTP Library,Biggest library i have ever seen

During the day time we used to roam in the university. I have never seen a library as big as UTP library. As I remember it’s consist with 6 or 7 floors. So it was a great opportunity for us to use that library.

During the evening time we played with students in UTP. We played soccer, table tennis. It was a new feeling for me to associate with strangers and to play with them.

Chancellor's hall  

We had to stay in the UTP for 6 days until Eric finishes his exams.

Moved to Sanathan Dharma Ashram

Eric and Rathana, two members from AIESEC drove me and Ester to the Sanathan Dharma Ashram. It was the place for me to work under the AIESEC project.

First day at the Ashram

At first when I came to the Ashram I felt like I am alone. I really experienced the culture shock for the first two days. They had a strict time table and all of them worked accordingly. All of them were really friendly and they all treated me as a brother. It was bit difficult for me to adapt for their food in first few days because they only eat vegetarian meals. But later I get used to it.

Sanathan Dharma Ashram is a home for parent less, abused and abandoned children.They all speak Tamil. Mr Aramban is the founder of the organization and he is the current president as well. He is a great human being. He had been involving in social works for almost 30 years. He is a father for all 48 children of the home. All children follow Hinduism as their religion. They worship Gods twice a day. And even they pray to their Gods before eating. I was able to see their culture and it was a great experience for my life.  

In the ashram we were asked to teach children and to help them with their education. So I tried my best to help them and to assist them. In the morning time most of the children go to school. So me and Ester had to teach to small children. All of them were so happy about us. And after all return from school we teach them subjects such as Maths, English, Science etc.

It was really hard to teach them as their English knowledge is poor. But somehow with the help of the Google translator I managed to translate necessary words to Tamil and managed to teach them.

Me and Ester traveled in weekends. Specially trip to lost world tambun, a water park 80 km away from the orphanage was amazing. Sometimes uncle Prem, driver of the Ashram took us around Sitiawan. All of them were very helpful.

Lost World of Thambun Water Park

They were my students 

There was an american lady in the ashram.She is travelling around the world for social works. Everyday she teaches yoga to children. I also learnt a lot from her. Sanathan Dharma Ashram is controlled by a board of senior citizens. Mr. Go also a member of the board. He visit the home very often. He is a retired general of Malaysian Navy. So i was able to learn plenty of stories about his life.

Training session 

Teaching time

Birthday Celebration

Preparing Letters to raise funds for the Organization

Some times it was really difficult to handle them all. They were chattering all the time. But did manage to handle them with the help of  uncle Aramban. Occasionally we had birthday celebrations as well. They had their own way of celebrating birthdays. 

She is special. She has an amazing ability in cooking

I also got the opportunity to participate for few cultural events in Sitiawan. Mr. Aramban always look after us and gave us many opportunities to see different things in the country. Sometimes we had some deep conversations about religious teachings. I am a Buddhist and they all were Hindus. We always respect the things in other cultures. He is a very matured person. So i  learnt a lot from him as well.

At Sitiawan annual Leo club conference 

Onam celebration - celebrate after obtaining the harvest 

Chinese temple

Confucianism

They gave me a great farewell when i leave Malaysia. I will never forget their lovely smiles and their lovely gifts. One day if i ever visit Malaysia i'll definitely go and visit them.

They gave me plenty of beautiful cards. 

Last good bye 

Through this internship I learnt a lot for my life. I got many experiences. I learnt about different people and different cultures. And most importantly now i have the courage to visit any country alone and do my stuff without any guidance.

Chamal Perera

University of Moratuwa