National Day

I am not talking about the non existent picnic in Botanic Gardens (in Miak's own words) in this posting. I am going to talk about something I did before that.

GC, a self confessed oddball straight man has been going to a home for children with special needs (let's call it HH) in JB for eons. On National Day, I decided to join him and some 19 others.

To name this place as a home for children is no longer fitting. Some of the kids who are abandoned and sheltered in the home almost 20 yrs are grown up now. And as GC told me, the adults are getting too big for the safety of the children so they are building a new wing.

I spent the late morning feeding one girl. As I fed the girl, I realised how worried and careful I was because I dunno if I held the milk bottle at the right angle. Using my limited Malay, I checked with staff, who promptly took over and literally forced the remaining milk down her throat. I can tell the staff are simply overwhelmed with the number of residents and decided to observe carefully so that during my next trip, I can do better. Somehow, the girl is very shy (or uncomfortable) with me watching her play so I decided to move away. I checked her occasionally and she is smiling at some colourful balls on her baby chair.

What happened next was something I did not expect. I must admit that I am not very prepared to manage a child with special need. Bji, a 5 yr old boy has small but bright eyes. He is suffering from a medical condition which his skull stopped growing and preventing his brain from developing normally. We quickly bond and he giggled to me when he dropped his rubber giraffe from a height. Occasionally, he would adjust and lean on my chest while playing with the giraffe. He drool all over my arms and I am surprised that I did not mind. It is like he hardly get that kind of attention from anyone.

He is quite a challenge to manage, especially when I let him down from his bed. He would race across the room and I have to run after him, wanting to stop him but worried that I would hurt him in the process. The male staff got a little upset with me and Bji and locked him in his cradle.

At some point, I had to stop looking at him but out of the window because I know I am close to tears. Bji was so upset that he was placed back into the cradle and banged his head repeatedly against the metal frames. All I can do is to look at him quietly and shield his head from the metal part. He must have done it so often that the bruise on the back of his head look layered and the male staff told us the best thing we can do, is to not look at him when he throw his tantrum.

The later part of the afternoon was playing a pink plastic ball with another boy, after which, I realised he is quite capable in strateging his moves so that I will continue to play in the playground with him. I must say I am impresseed. :)

I shall not talk about the usual bullshit about how fortunate I am being a fairly healthy person. I am just being emotional that these kids are probably deny the chance to learn to take better care of themselves. But they are really beautiful children.

P.S. I decided not to take any picture of anything during this trip, especially the kids because I feel they deserved all the respect and not treated as some exhibits.