Visit to Persatuan Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Klang Selangor

A Piece Of Hope (APOH) kicks off this year with a visit to a disabled children home in Klang, Selangor on 6 April 2013. This home is Persatuan Penjagaan Kanak-Kanak Cacat Klang Selangor which is located in Port Klang area. The home was founded by Mr. N. Morgun in 1994 using his own savings of RM20,000. Having a disabled brother of his own also spurred him on to do more for these special needs children.

With hard work and will power through the 19 years, the home now house 77 multiracial special children diagnosed with DOWN SYNDROME, CEREBRAL PALSY, AUTISTIC, SPASTIC, MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY, MILD MENTAL RETARDATION, VISION IMPAIRED, SPEECH IMPAIRED and HEARING IMPAIRED. With so many children and many more that they could help, the home is staffed with 13 employees of which 1 is a physiotherapist from India.

On our (APOH committee members: Jimmy Lim, Engu, Wendy Cheong, Foo Jong Wee and myself Ted) arrival at the home, we were greeted by Mr. Morgun and his colleague Mr. Simon. At that time they were busy entertaining guest from a corporate company doing a CSR visit in which donated plenty of food stuffs. While they were busy, we had an opportunity to walk about the home. The place is pretty clean and tidy. This bungalow complex has a large patio for the children to exercise and conduct various activities. On the open grounds there are 2 vessel containers used for classrooms. Inside we are greeted by a hall lined with mattresses and baby cots for the severely disabled children (10% of the total number of children) cared mostly by maids. As we walked further in there is an office where we had our meeting with Mr. Morgun and across it a staircase that goes up to the bedrooms. Just beside the office is situated the kitchen.

On the 1^st floor, the bedrooms are divided up into boys and girls section. In all the bedrooms are bunker type beds and portable mattresses tucked away to corners. This sleeping configuration made to see that the home is really, really cramped and tight of space. During our visit, the bedrooms were being cleaned and disinfect as one could smell strong disinfectant being used. This goes to show that the home is well taken care of and hygiene is top priorty. I was told that disinfecting is done every morning. All bed frames seems to be dated and old.

We were informed that they are embarking on a building fund project. Presently they have 2 vacant lands (approximately 6,000 sq ft each) available in Klang to build the new home but now lack funds. So every donation that comes in, 75% is allocated for the building fund and rest for monthly expenses. This is a rule of thumb but can be adjusted based on monthly expenditure need.

Mr. Morgun informed us that recently they had a 2 year old baby whom passed away (pictured below). He came to the home as a baby brought by his parents. They pleaded to Mr. Morgun to care for him as they could not do it due to his severely handicapped condition although he was a bubbly baby. With un-questionable compassion this baby was cared for till the day he died at the home. This goes to show that there are still good Samaritans in Malaysia unpreturbed by race or religion

Leaving the home that morning after finishing our visit does not mean saying goodbye to them but instead saying hello and embracing the work we have ahead of us, A Piece Of Hope for Charity: Chapter 7. Please join us in helping them this year.

History has been created

This blog is way overdue but has to be written.

The past year has seen our efforts taken to new historical heights. As of end of last year, our elusive target of RM1,000,000 (for total donation collection from 2007 - 2012) has been achieved. Rumah Kids, the NGO that we helped last year, collected a final total donation collection of RM254,000 (as of end-December 2012). This is the highest record so far in our 6 years effort.

An appreciation ceremony was held on the 17th November 2012 at Rumah Kids in Klang to mark this historical occasion. At that time donation collection was RM245,000 but we surpassed that at end-December as mentioned in the earlier paragraph.

Our journey to the RM1,000,000 mark was not even thought of when the A Piece Of Hope charity climb was conceived back in 2007. Our only goal was to help children NGOs to raise cash to fund their daily operations. What we saw also was a NEED and we chose to fill that need by doing something. We thank God that we had and still have a team of dedicated and willing APOH committee members that can work seamlessly together. All of our committee members are busy people but have managed to squeeze in time to do some form of charity, my hats off to ALL of them!

I can't remember who said this, 'a journey of a thousand miles begin with a single step'. This is what I see happened in our journey. To end this blog, I have this to say to ALL people who wants to do charity. You can't do it yourself, rally some friends who can synergise together and form a purpose-driven goal. As for us, our journey continues .....

The RM1,000,000 mark in sight

APOH Chapter 6 charity climb for Rumah Kids has since been completed 3 1/2 months ago. A quick check on the amount raised for Rumah Kids with Mr. Roy Tan last week gave us a pleasing surprise, RM 224,000. This amount is shy of the RM 240,000 we have set which means we are only RM 16,000 short.

We are confident that the RM 1,000,000 mark

can be breached at anytime!

(FYI: the RM 1 million is a collective donation amount for various NGOs since 2007 when we started APOH charity climb)

The donation collection drive is still ongoing till year end as we want to leverage as much time as possible so that un-aware friends, colleague and family members can still donate. Especially we are approaching the season of giving and sharing in December.

Cheers to all!