After Mia got admitted into her boarding school in Kota Bharu, that leaves Hana alone as the sole survivor of SMK Jalan 2. Although she does not show it, I know she must be feeling a little bit left out since all her siblings are studying in a boarding school at the moment. Both her MRSM and SBP applications were denied and while we could not do anything more for MRSM, we did file an appeal for the SBP - both online and offline.
A few weeks after appealing online, we got the same rejection notice that we saw earlier. Not willing to give up, my wife and I researched for other methods of appealing and getting into the boarding school. We collected all of Hana's certificates of achievements, wrote a nice, enthusiastic appeal letter and submitted them by hand to the SBP offices in Cyberjaya. We even emailed the officers in charge in person just to be sure.
We did not give it much thought or hope after that. A few weeks later, to our surprise, we received the good news that Hana was offered a place in one of the boarding schools down south. I guess those letter and emails did made a difference. You can see the sample letter that I wrote here.
We only got a week from the date of the email to registration day to prepare. Thankfully, the school is only an hour drive away so we can always come visit if she needs anything. Hana was in the third intake for the first formers in the school so there were only a dozen other students registering that hot Monday afternoon. I must say the school and facilities are not as good as Mia's but the important thing is, it will provide a condusive and proper learning environment, better than what she's got at her old school.
We helped to load Hana's things up to the 3rd floor of her dormitory and then helped her to unpack and organize. This is her first time away from home so naturally we feel kind of nervous of letting her go. That said, I know Hana wanted this for so long herself so I trust she will take all the challenges of boarding school in her stride. After imparting to her some words of wisdom and general advice, we exchanged hugs and goodbyes and left her to be on her own for the first time ever.
The next few weeks, we received a few phone calls from Hana asking for more money. Apparently she prefers to buy food for the co-op rather than the dining hall for breakfast. She also complained about having to get up early - at 5:00 AM every morning so that the seniors can wake up at 5:30 instead to use the toilets. Apart from that, she lost her debit card and phone card on the second week of her stay there. She never found the debit card but her phone card was actually in one of her pockets all along.
A month later, she started to call less and less. I assume she's started to get used to the routine there. I know being away in a boarding school could be tough for some children. Her mother and I had been to one too and we know very well the challenges we all faced back then. Hopefully she can manage just as well as we did and we will always be there to help her out in whatever way we can (such as coming to visit every other week).
