Interviewed By: Dora Wang
Student Gaze interviews Matthew Murlidar who is currently a junior in Taipei European School, and a leading member of Guardians of The Stars, a service project which teaches children with autism to learn basic basketball skills. He explains how a mandatory service project can turn out to be more meaningful than expected, as he connects with children on the spectrum. Through this interview, Matthew hopes to inspire and allow more students to learn about autism and encourage more youth to join Guardians Of The Stars.
Can you give a brief description of your organization?
Guardians of the Stars was created by Ryan Hong - a junior from Taipei European School and I , to help promote the autism integration exploit as part of our mandatory IB service project. We hold events around the school, such as charity events and Saturday sessions where we would meet different people on the spectrum by teaching them how to play basketball.
Why did you decide to join guardians of the stars?
We decided upon Guardians of the Stars because of Ryan's past history with the organization, as he worked deeply with them the previous year outside school. With his experience and my experience of running multiple events within the school, such as bake sales to raise for autism charities , and playing movies related to autism during lunch in order to educate students more about autism. We decided to collaborate and introduce this organization to the TES community and open up opportunities for students to also participate in volunteering.
Can you explain a little bit about autism, and how every person diagnosed might have different symptoms or behaviors?
Autism is a very complex mental learning disorder that people don’t fully understand. It is typically diagnosed in the early years, roughly about the age of two to ten is where signs of autism can easily be spotted. Some symptoms that might be present would be things such as echolalia, which means repeating words and phrases that they hear quite frequently.
What is your most memorable experiences with the children there?
One time, I was collaborating with another volunteer within the organization group, who really helped me communicate with the child I was taking care of, explaining the individual's back story, allowing me to learn more about him, which created a greater incentive for me to help him with the activities as I felt a deeper bond. To this day, I still feel a special bond with that particular kid. It's quite interesting because even though he is quite high on the autism spectrum, it showed me that they are just like us, they act and think just like us, they just express themselves in their own ways.
Describe the process of the Saturday Event Programs, and what is required from volunteers.
Usually for the Saturday events, we sign students up the week before when our meeting is held. This is done because there are limited spaces, to avoid overcrowding as it stresses out individuals on the spectrum. The event plan is led by an instructor, and we typically start with some stretches, where we guide them physically and visually through each exercise, followed by a short jog and some simple dribbling skills to train their hand-eye coordination and mainly their communication skills which is the main challenge kids with autism struggle with.
What are some of the qualities and traits as well as responsibility a volunteer needs?
Volunteers require a great amount of patience as the individuals in Saturday sessions are not as obedient. They tend to go off task, wander around or lose focus, so the main thing is to keep them on track. It is also better if volunteers can speak Chinese, because most of the children don’t understand English so it makes the communication a lot easier.
After joining this club how do you think it allowed you to grow as a person?
After joining this club and participating in a lot of Saturday sessions, I think I have really built up my patience, becoming more tolerant with aspects of my own life such as with my friends or brother. Furthermore, it helped me see certain situations calmly, learning not to overreact. From the events we hold in school, I have also learnt a lot of skills such as budgeting, communication with teachers, poster design, and sales strategies. Lastly, my Chinese has improved from having to communicate with the children.
What would you say to people who might be interested in joining?
If you’re interested in joining the club, definitely be prepared as there are some challenges since children on the spectrum can have some predictable behaviors. Most importantly, you also need to be committed and consistent, since the sessions are held on Saturdays, which requires your own personal time outside of school.
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