Submitted by Dez Stephens, ACC
Malaysia

RISE: Refugees provides leadership coaching to impoverished teenagers living in Malaysia along with their adult mentors who live outside of Malaysia. RISE stands for Radiant Initiatives for Sustainable Education. They coach and provide professional coach certification training to these teenagers (and their adult mentors). These teenagers are originally from The Middle East and currently have asylum in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur). Included in this initiative were 15 student recipients, 10 adult mentor recipients, and 10 pro bono coaches and coach trainers.

The project began in October 2020, and still continues to this day. RISE has provided 580 hours of coaching and coach training hours so far. The impact of the pro bono coaching and coach training includes providing hope to young students whose parents aren’t allowed to earn money in Malaysia where they gained asylum, but no other rights. These students are empowered to live their best life and to see a future for themselves. They can earn money as a professional coach to put food on their family’s tables.

“RISE: Refugees has helped me to complete my dream job of serving others to take action to change their lives. Coming from a multicultural and career background, I know I can impact lives; but learning how to coach effectively by partnering with clients in a non-directive way is something new to me. Radiant gives me the gift that I can keep on giving to change lives. If you want to impact lives, I highly recommend this coaching program!”

— Lea Tran, Vietnam refugee/student participant