Designed & Sponsored by:

Yellow House provides an equal opportunity for children from diverse backgrounds, cultures and capacities, including children with disabilities and those from children's homes, to come together to learn, to have fun and to share through art.

Yellow House currently has a free-arts program for children from homes where each selected group gets to enjoy and benefit from our 4 monthly creative sessions conducted by our trained volunteer art facilitator and led by our "Saturday Fun with Art" working committee. At the end of every year we will bring the various groups of children together in a joint themed event cum exhibition. Since Yellow House officially opened its doors in September 2001, our free-arts programs have benefited more than 900 children, most of them from children's homes.

The Malaysian Friends of UNICEF created Yellow House for children and it is also our vision that Yellow House not only becomes a "playground" for children but also one by children, a place for them not only to come together, have fun and express themselves, but also for them to lead, to reach out, to inspire and to make a difference.

At the heart of everything we do there are always children and for most of our projects, we include children (we refer them as "young people") on our committee as equal "partners", not just "beneficiaries". Often, the adults will take a "facilitative" and "supportive" role (as opposed to a "directive" role), and act as mentors and sounding boards to the young people who have come forth to lead. Towards this initiative, we have invited young people to be part of our Yellow House / Friends of UNICEF committee.

Summary of Yellow House Current Programs:

(1) Regular monthly programs with selected children from Disabled or Children Homes (4-month program for each group of children) with the goal of providing participating children with opportunities to express themselves, receive emotional shelter, improve self confidence, obtain exposure and friendship which a lot of them lack in their current environment. There will be continuity for these children even after the 4-month program because we will have programs bringing different groups of children together.

(2) International Program Partnership with International Child Art Foundation (ICAF), the organizer of the Creativity Olympics, the biggest children's "edutainment" event in the world. Yellow House is ICAF's program partner in Malaysia and responsible for the Malaysia Art Olympiad and select a Child Representative to represent Malaysia for the Creativity Olympics to be held in Washington DC this September 6-13, 2003. It will be the first time Malaysia is represented in the Creativity Olympics.

(3) Adhoc events for Children included Chinese New Year Celebration, McDonald's Anniversary Celebration, Visit by Belgian Crown Princess, UN Day Celebration, Visit by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, etc.

(4) Annual Child Art Exhibition, which will include programs for participating children to work together in a collective art, thereby encouraging teamwork and cooperation.

(5) A new initiative to include youths as our partners (as opposed to beneficiaries) and provide mentorship (as opposed to direction) and encouragement for them to initiate and execute community programs that they themselves have developed.

(6) Yellow House reach out program in collaboration with our partners including CyberCare of Lions Club, Hati.org, various Non-Governmental Organisations, Ministries and Corporate Partners.