Three Years with PPKKCTM

This article is contributed by Jenny Mah, co-founder of VOICE.

Picking up from where the founder left off…...

After the passing of our dad, Mr. Mah Kok Wah, on June 2, 2009, nothing substantial was done to nurture or nourish the seed that the founder of Vision of International Children Endeavours (VOICE) had planted.

On Thursday, 17th August 2017, together with my brother, we made a decision to address VOICE with a trip to Pusat Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Taman Megah (PPKKCTM), an institutionalised orphanage for handicapped and under-privileged children.

We were given an orientation tour of the centre by two jovial and energetic 7-years old kids i.e. Tarun and Jia Ying. We were amazed by the size of this purpose-built centre i.e. 2 upper levels of residents’ dormitory, a large lobby housing the reception, administration office and a huge canteen/kitchen. This centre even boast of a basement swimming/therapy pool and an auditorium at the highest floor, not to mention a library.

However, what moved us was the sight of many abled young adults and children idling and sitting on the floor staring at the ceiling zoned out in their own world, while some lying on the floor waiting for meal time. It also came to our attention that many younger children are deprived of education, either due to lack of birth documents or having some form of learning challenges or disabilities.

Spurred on by our dad’s wish to provide hope, education and a meaningful life to children in need, we took up the challenge to do what we could to provide some form of direction and hope, to these children. Upon assessing the matrix of situations the children are facing in relation to our own capabilities and capacities, we decided to assist by providing basic holistic education that fit each of the children’s cognitive level until they obtain formal education placement or vocational training.

With this decision, we started to retire from our full-time job and make preparation to embark on helping PPKKTCM children. The centre caregiver, Ms K. Rajathi aka Ms Raj, assigned 3 children for us to start with. They are Winlee, a 13-years old wheel-chair bound girl diagnosed with spina bifida; Arun, a 7-years old boy with ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder); and Tarun, a 7-years old bubbly boy, waiting for his birth documents to be sorted out to get the chance to receive formal education.

It took us almost 7 months tying-up loose ends; researching ways and means to help the children; creating and collating teaching aids; brainstorming activities; and structuring an informal program to give the children a ray of hope and to keep ourselves focused.

In May 2018, together with Sophia, a family friend, VOICE initiated its first endeavour of delivering hope and education to Winlee, Arun and Tarun. A short while later, convinced by the class consistency and the dedication, Ms. Raj got Kavari, a 20 years-old down-syndrome young lady; Sai Man, a 20 years old down-syndrome young man; and Danial Ng, a 14 years old a 14 years old diagnosed with learning disability, and Jia Ying, a 7 years old girl with a rebellious trait, to joined VOICE too.

With the increased of children, we roped in additional help. We were blessed with Md. Kew, our mother, a retired teacher and Md. Gerri Fong, a good friend who loves children.

As all six children are of different age and learning capability, we adopted the one-on-one teaching approach, instead of teaching as a class. We started with basic level i.e. alphabets, numbers and writing, except for Winlee.

Winlee had the opportunity to attend school until primary 6 in Sabah, East Malaysia. She had to stop her formal education when her family moved to Kuala Lumpur. She is still waiting to get into a proper special school for her condition.

As we can only afford to meet the children once a week, due to the time needed to prepare for the class and the lack of volunteers to share the workload, the progress of the children was slow. Nevertheless, it was most comforting and encouraging that the children always looked forward to our sessions every Thursday from 10.00am to 12.00pm.

As time goes by, the number of students increased to eight with Riski and Zusan joining VOICE class. It was getting quite challenging with each of us handling 2 children with different learning capacity. Nevertheless, we soldiered on and do whatever we could to assist them in their learning journey e.g. brainstorming and researching best methods and approaches, creating and preparing additional teaching aids to support the children’s different cognitive levels.

A year past by and finally Tarun, got into a national primary school. Arun, was accepted into an intervention centre, while Riski and Zusan managed to join a private home school program. We were very happy and pleased to see these children moving forward and having the opportunity to be educated.

As for Jia Ying, it was not so positive. Jia Ying came from a broken family and being an unwanted child, she carries a heavy psychological baggage. She responds to anger, hatred and frustration by inflicting injuries onto herself. After trying all available ways and means to help her, and fearing any further measures might aggravate her situation, we proposed and encouraged the management of PPKKTCM to take appropriate professional treatment to address Jia Ying’s case before her situation deteriorates further.

At this juncture, VOICE has achieved its objective of journeying with the children until they got into formal education. Left with Kavari, Sai Man, and Danial continuing with VOICE, Wong Chin Sien aka Abi, age 18, presented with an unconfirmed dyslexic condition, joined us. As Abi has never attended school, we started him at preschool level. Although Abi’s comprehension level is average and he is weak in English language, but his determination and cooperation to learn is most encouraging.

As we reflect on the future of Kavari, Sai Man, Danial and Abi, and considering their age and education level, we proposed to PPKKTCM that they should be equipped with living skills to have the opportunity to be independent.

After 3 years with Winlee, Kavari, Sai Man, Danial and Abi, apart from our weekly program with them, their future as a productive adult remains status-quo. Winlee is still deprived of a proper school to attend, while Kavari, Sai Man, Danial and Chin Sien have yet to get enrolled into a vocational school. According to PPKKCTM management, there are many obstacles ahead, which left more questions than answers in our mind. However, with the lack of resources, we are not in position to push-forward our proposals or demand actions. It is quite frustrating to know there are available avenues to make life better for the children, but somewhat thwarted.

Although frustrated, but we did not give up until the Covid-19 pandemic and the movement control order, forced us to suspend our endeavours at PPKKCTM on March 17, 2020. This pandemic has forced us to rethink how best VOICE can move forward.