Having received encouraging feedback from customers since their opening on June 2nd, Project B held a thanksgiving and dedication service on their premises on Monday, June 29.<\/span><\/p>\n Project B is a social enterprise that is also a training place for students learning F&B vocational skills at Dignity for Children Foundation, which is a learning centre started by Ps. Elisha and his wife, Petrina, in efforts to improve the quality of life among the urban poor.<\/span><\/p>\n Now in their seventeenth year as a community center of intervention through quality education, Dignity for Children Foundation has transformed many lives. People who have visited the learning centre can testify that their students exude a kind of boldness, confidence, and clarity that even university graduates sometimes do not demonstrate.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cThis whole project came about in a very interesting way,\u201d Ps. Elisha said. He went on to tell the story of how Dato\u2019 Sri Robin Tan of Berjaya Corporation Berhad, upon visiting their learning centre, had been very impressed by the meal served by the Dignity team. When he saw the little kitchenette they were working out of, however, he said, \u201cThis is not good!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Their hearts sank, thinking that he did not like anything he had seen or tasted, but he went on to say, \u201cIt is not right for you to be cooking out of this small kitchen.\u201d \u201cSo this started with God moving on Dato\u2019 Sri Robin\u2019s heart saying, \u2018Do something more.\u2019\u201d Pastor Elisha related. \u201cWithin the month, they had secured this building, but wanted to keep it a secret before surprising me.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cBerjaya very graciously bought the whole building and actually gave us a grant of almost half a million Ringgit to do the renovations. And then, the whole friendship and partnership with Benjamin from the BIG group of companies came in and they brought their top chefs, baristas, and customer service team to train our students. So you are eating some quality stuff!\u201d Ps. Elisha exclaimed. Indeed, were served with some delicious nasi lemak<\/em> with a choice of Signature Crunch, Spicy Berembah<\/em>, or Korean chicken.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n He then explained the concept of connecting vocational training with the Dignity for Children Foundation. They have started a hair salon, a woodwork center, an embroidery and sewing programme, and in a few weeks, award winning landscape architect, Sek San, and his team, will be coming to teach the students urban gardening and transform their surrounding compound.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about bringing transformation with various expressions of redemption,\u201d Ps. Elisha said. \u201cSometimes we think it\u2019s just four walls in the church, but in our journey, there are so many things with which you can engage.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe may think that we are just giving X<\/em> amount of money when we commit to \u2018empower a child,\u2019 but we often fail to see that we are actually seeding them to succeed\u2014partnering with them in their<\/em> journey. They may never see your face, they may never know your name, but your act of empowerment translates into things like Project B, the hair salon, various programmes, our classrooms, and many other things.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cEverything that happens here is a journey of empowerment, transformation, and helping these children to succeed. I can tell you amazing stories about empowering people to have a different life. Most of them, left to themselves, will not make it. The only intervention they have forces them into different vices.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Many of these children drop out of school very quickly, fall through the cracks, and get caught in a downward spiral. It is very easy to criticize them, but when we understand the dynamics of all that takes place in their lives and community, we realize that it\u2019s not that easy for them to just get a job or go to school.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur whole theme is to inspire churches and the Christian community because we have something God has given us that nobody else has, and that is the power of transformation.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n During their humble beginnings, Petrina started out by simply going into the squatters and playing badminton with the women. They then trusted her with her children, and today, some of these women have actually gone back to school as adults, and some are on staff with Dignity.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe must never belittle or underestimate that power,\u201d Ps. Elisha said. \u201cIt has different expressions, but they are powerful. You are partnering with something wonderful today!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Petrina then gave a brief address. \u201cWe dream about a place where children can come and do well in academics but at the same time build up a vocational skill,\u201d she said. \u201cIf we can somehow model this education differently, perhaps we can introduce a very different type of young people to the workforce\u2014young people of character. We want them to be able to speak well, be articulate, to communicate well, and have a good attitude.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The dedication service ended with prayers over Project B and Dignity led by Ps. Samuel Ang of PJ Evangelical Free Church, Ps. Daniel Ho of Damansara Utama Methodist Church, and Senator Datuk Paul Low. They each prayed God\u2019s blessings over the overarching ministry of Dignity and thanked the Lord for the bountiful provision and faithfulness He has shown to Dignity.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very rewarding!\u201d Tara Brown, a teacher at Dignity said. \u201cThere are obviously times when it\u2019s very challenging and I sometimes feel discouraged, but when I see the students actually have a breakthrough, when I see them smile when they can do something that they couldn\u2019t do before, it\u2019s worth all that hard work!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Yuki Nang, a former student and now teacher at Dignity, said that the secret to the confidence shown by their students stems from the trust and continuous mentoring from the teachers. \u201cAt first I struggled a lot, but I got a lot of support and different types of training and courses, and slowly, I started to enjoy it,\u201d she said.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to get involved, if your churches want to get involved in any way, please, speak to the team.\u201d Ps. Elisha encouraged. \u201cIf you want to come and visit or see how your young people can get involved, come! Because this is more than a school\u2014it is a place of transformation. It is not just about academics, it is empowering; it is transforming. Those are words we often use, but I can say very proudly that at Dignity, it is expressed every day<\/em>. All these wonderful people are a wonderful team that works very hard, so I want to say thank you, team!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Project B is located on 25-G Jalan 11\/48A Sentul Boulevard. Any surplus from the sales goes right back to helping Dignity fund their work with the urban poor. If you would like to learn more about Project B or the Dignity for Children Foundation, visit:<\/span><\/p>\n http:\/\/www.dignityforchildren.org\/<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dignityforchildren?fref=ts<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/projectbkl?fref=ts<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n |Share The Good News|\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Esperanza Ng<\/span><\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cWelcome to Project B!\u201d Pastor Elisha Satvinder stood at the front of the four week old caf\u00e9 that was filled with friends, supporters, and sponsors of the Dignity for Children Foundation. Having received encouraging […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":45953,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[538,951,4397,7596,7593,7594,7597,7595],"class_list":{"0":"post-45947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-christianity-malaysia","9":"tag-christians-in-malaysia","10":"tag-dignity-for-children-foundation","11":"tag-local-outreach","12":"tag-project-b","13":"tag-ps-elisha-satvinder","14":"tag-sentul","15":"tag-urban-poor"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45947"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45947\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65527,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45947\/revisions\/65527"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45953"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Ps.](\"http:\/\/christianitymalaysia.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/IMG_5943-1024x683.jpg\")
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