Donate to Fund Our Kitchen Renovations!

The Story

I am Ayu, an orang Asli youth from Kelantan. My passion is teaching, and I currently work as a teacher at SOLS Academy of Innovation (SOLS.ai). I was previously a student at the Academy, and I decided to volunteer as a teacher here because I want to give back to the youth with the knowledge that I myself learnt here. SOLS.ai provides good education, training, and practice. I know this because I grew and improved myself a lot through the programs here.

The students come from different areas, backgrounds, and races. They come far from rural areas just to receive the education here, where they live together with us full-time. They cook, study, clean, and do so many things here. At the Academy, meals are provided 3 times a day for free and the students take turns to cook for their fellow classmates.

This is the main reason that I am fundraising: To raise money for kitchen renovations at the Academy so that it can be better and useful for the students and everyone who benefits from it. 

SOLS.ai is housed in an old building, and we have been facing many problems with our kitchen for 3 years now.

When it rains, it leaks into the kitchen so we have to move our stoves and cooking equipment. There are also holes in our plywood walls, all around the kitchen. We try very hard to clean the space every day, but it gets dirty very easily when people walk through the wet floor caused by the leakage. Having a narrow kitchen space means it is hard for us to keep the food organized, especially since we receive a large volume of food donations. This is not a good environment for keeping the food fresh.

Honestly, this situation makes me uncomfortable and unhappy. I feel guilt and pity for our students- we provide them a place to stay with us, but the state of the kitchen causes problems for them daily. I am sad to see the students struggle to move the stove to avoid the leaking water. It also takes up a lot of their time to rearrange food and kitchen items due to lack of space.

My hope is that we can raise funds to renovate the kitchen. I don’t feel good using the space, but we have no choice. We need to cook for our students as it lifts a huge financial burden off of them and allows them to continue studying at the Academy. Being able to renovate the kitchen would help us a lot, especially the youth here. They would be so happy, and feel comfortable using the kitchen to cook.

Our food will be better organized

The students can be more focused on their studies

They won’t have to worry about the current kitchen problems

They will not have to spend money on food

They will have healthier food coming from our kitchen

I believe we all want to see young students living comfortably and in healthy condition. Thank you for donating, and may God pay you back with blessings. We appreciate your help very much!