Falling, Rising, and Giving Back: Guang Hao’s Story of Resilience

Just like most students too, he was at the crossroads of choosing the right programme for himself.

While undecided about the path, deep in his heart, he had always loved people. Teaching in Sunday school in his church, his passion was children.

Or so he thought.

Out of interest and through encouragement from his family and church members, he chose the Diploma in Early Childhood at Methodist Pilley Institute (MPI).

Soon, he found out that there was a vast difference between dealing with children in Sunday school and in kindergarten.

After a year of struggling with doubts about his teaching ability — and with his grades slipping — he gave up.

Once again, he was back at the same crossroads wondering which path to take.

Halfway through the first semester, accounting seemed too difficult for him. Afraid that his father might be furious about him changing programme again, he persisted.

He battled through a year and failed all accounting subjects. With grades less than 2.0 and zero interest, he felt it was pointless to continue.

“The school already issued a warning letter. I had to break the news to my father that I could not continue with accounting and had no choice but to change my programme,” he said.

With two failures, Guang Hao again arrived at the place where he started and faced the same question – what programme now?

Fortunately, at MPI, any struggling student would find a support system to guide them and help them excel.

He met with the counsellor to talk about his future directions. An aptitude test showed that he had great passion for the community – a passion he always knew he had deep inside.

He was advised to take up the Diploma in Social Work. However, there was a nagging question.

Was this another impulsive and naïve decision he was about to make? He had no idea what social work was, nor did his parents or any of his relatives.

Programme coordinator Boon Nyuk Phin, who wished nothing but the best for him, suggested that he not enrol first, but try out a few subjects.

Guang Hao did, and when the subjects felt right for him, he enrolled in the programme a week later.

He took five papers from the programme during the first semester; he failed four of them.

Once again, he was summoned to the counsellor’s office. Boon was also there. They discussed what went wrong.

There were two possible problems with two possible solutions.

First problem – his class started during the Covid-19 pandemic. With campus closed, online classes made him lazy and complacent.

Second problem – five papers in a semester seemed too much for him to handle.

With the problems identified and the realisation that he could not waste his parents’ money by failing all the time, he needed to do two things.

First, change his learning attitude and second, only take three papers instead of five.

“I only took three papers from the programme during the second and third semester before I started to take four papers for the next few semesters,” he said.

He was then left with only 10 papers to complete the programme. After consulting his mentor, he took up five papers for the January 2024 semester.

It was difficult and stressful. However, by then, he was a changed person and that helped him to be resilient and pull through that semester.

Despite a lower grade, he passed all the papers, nonetheless. Then, he went for internship at a local church in Sibu.

With five papers remaining to complete the programme and with newfound confidence, he decided to take all the remaining papers in one semester.

However, with advice from his mentor, he took three papers first for one semester and two papers during the final semester.

“Even if I take five papers in one semester, I still need to wait for September 2025 for graduation. Moreover, the remaining five papers are the most important papers in social work.

“So, it is better to take those papers separately instead of putting a lot of pressure on myself. I can say that was the right decision as the papers were exciting and I was able to experience them,” he pointed out.

He believed that the final semester was the most difficult one because it was very heavy.

After six years at MPI, he completed his studies and will receive his diploma in September.

For him, it was a relief because his former course mates in ECE and Accounting had already graduated a long time ago. Some had already joined the workforce and some were already pursuing their degrees.

“I also found out that my ability to learn and to think critically is getting worse,” he explained.

Why is that?

Guang Hao suffered from scoliosis; an abnormal curvature of the spine that affects between two per cent to 3.5 per cent of the population in Malaysia.

Because of this condition, Guang Hao underwent 11 surgeries between 2011 and 2016. That, he believed, could be one of the reasons that affected his learning ability.

“I underwent 11 surgeries which also means I was given 11 injections of anesthesia. I feel like my memory is not as good as before,” he said.

His medical issue was also the reason why he chose to study at MPI. Being closer to home was more convenient, especially when he had a lot of doctor’s appointments at that time.

His journey at MPI might feel like a voyage through uncharted waters – changing programmes, not knowing the right decision – but guidance led him to the transformation he needed to thrive.

He is no longer a person who would jump straight to conclusions or make drastic decisions that would do more harm than good.

He became a person with clearer direction and with the courage to fight his own self-doubt to go for what he believes in.

After his first internship at a local church, he knew that he would learn more and be more competent if he could interact more with clients of different backgrounds and religions.

That meant he had to work in Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). As there were limited NGOs needing social workers in Sibu, he had to leave Sibu.

Boon encouraged him, and his parents – despite being worried about his medical condition – gave him their blessing to leave Sibu.

His second internship was with an NGO in Kuching where his clients consisted of vulnerable groups – low-income families, the elderly, single parents and the disabled.

In the church setting, almost every client had a similar background, but in the NGO, he knew nothing about his clients apart from the papers.

Creating connections, empathy and understanding with his clients proved harder than trying to pass his papers.

His fear – trying not to offend his clients by saying the wrong words.

“With the supervisor with me, I am more comfortable. When the supervisor saw that I got nervous and maybe was at a loss for what to do, the supervisor would usually come and help me,” he said.

The NGO that he worked with had certain criteria to approve aid applications. In this, he was on the same page with his clients.

Everybody wanted to hear good news, but that did not happen all the time. Clients feared rejected applications, but Guang Hao dreaded them even more.

To break the news of a rejected application, he had to take between five and 10 minutes to prepare before making that dreaded call.

“Over time, my communication skills improved. Sometimes, there was a certain awkwardness, but I gained more confidence. I think this is the greatest growth,” he enthused.

Guang Hao is graduating this September and is now working in an NGO in Kuching, making a difference in society.

Asked if he regretted taking the Diploma in ECE and Diploma in Accounting in the first place, he said there was no regret.

He might have chosen the wrong path at first, but at least he made the decision to quit halfway to try different things rather than just giving up.

Whatever it is, he had to take full responsibility for his own actions. In fact, with social work being a very wide field, he did not think that he had wasted a lot of his time.

For example, whatever he learned in ECE also applied in social work.

For now, Guang Hao wants to fulfil his dream and thrive as a social worker.

“I used to be the one who needed a lot of help. As a social worker, I want to use my abilities and knowledge to help society and repay society,” he enthused.