The Star Online: Metro: Central
The Star Online: Metro: Central |
| Parents of persons with learning difficulties hope to build a new vocational centre Posted: 17 Aug 2011 06:33 AM PDT CHNG Kuan Hua picks up a plastic spoon, tissue paper and chilli and tomato sauce sachets. He puts them together and then packs them into a KFC plastic bag. He is closely supervised by staff at the sheltered workshop run by Perkobp in Taman Puncak Jalil in Seri Kembangan, Selangor. "My son is one of 36 persons with learning difficulties (PLDs) at this centre. He is 24 years old this year. Some of the trainees here have been with us since 1995. Our oldest trainee is aged 55 this year, and the youngest is aged 22," said Chng Cheng Hui, executive secretary of Perkobp (Persatuan Keluarga Orang-Orang Bermasalah Pembelajaran). The 57-year-old father of two, who quit his job in 1999 as a customer service manager with an international shipping company to work with other parents in Perkobp, is currently working hard to help raise funds for a new building, through a Dance For Fund (In Aid of Perkobp)-cum-dinner concert. "We were compelled to move to this current building because our previous centre had to be closed when the land on which it stood was sold in early 2010. The new purpose-built centre, located in Kg Tengah, adjacent to Putra Heights, in Puchong, is much bigger and can cater up to 100 PLDs. According to Cheng Hui, they had 52 trainees at their previous factory-like premises located at 6½ Miles, Jalan Puchong, in Puchong, Selangor, but the number was reduced to 36 when they moved to the Puncak Jalil two-storey shoplot. • Full story in Metro Central today. • If you have a similar story to share e-mail us at inspired@thestar.com.my Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
| Let’s give our parents a holiday before they are too old to enjoy it Posted: 17 Aug 2011 04:25 AM PDT MY DAD'S friend is a brilliant doctor who has been running his own practice for close to 30 years. For the past three decades, he has been working from Mondays to Saturdays, with the exception of Chinese New Year, where he takes a two-week break to spend time with his family. His profession has enabled him to provide well for his family and send both his children for overseas education. Although he takes his family on a holiday abroad now and then, they rarely spend on themselves and would rather invest and save. Not long ago, he bought a beautiful sports car. Much like many men I know, he is very much enamoured with cars (and watches!). He didn't need another car, but it wasn't a matter of need as much it was a desire to own a sports car. This was what he explained over dinner one night: "We've already invested and saved, and that's a very good thing; but one day I'm not going to be here and all the money saved will go to my boys. And then do you know what they're going to do?" I started laughing as I gestured for him to continue. "They're going to buy a sports car and enjoy it!!", he finished with feigned indignant. His wife could only roll her eyes at him but she too (after the initial disapproval) couldn't disagree with that logic. I too, agree wholeheartedly, yet I can see why many adults of my parents' generation would rather choose a security blanket they might never use over a purchase of something they will definitely enjoy. No matter how our parents recall stories of their childhood — how they walked for more than an hour to school, how they shared a tiny room with more than five people or how they saved to enjoy a luxurious meal at KFC — we will never truly fathom the feeling of despair or desperation that must have plagued our parents as they were growing up. I have never known my mother to be without worry about money. Even when she has enough, she worries about what will happen if it runs out. I have told her more than a million times not to worry unncessarily, and how it doesn't make sense to rather have money in the bank as opposed to using some of it to enjoy the little luxuries in life. For the past few years, I have been saying that I understand my mother's worry about money, but lately, I realised that I don't even come close to grasping her mentality of it. "I don't know the feeling of desperation," I told my husband one night. When my mother had trouble getting a job when she first came to KL at the age of 19, she was desperate. She came to the city on faith and optimism, but she couldn't survive on that when her money started running out and she had to give up the bed and small cupboard she was renting. Her only options were to either go back to Malacca, where my grandmother was struggling to feed the family, or continue going from interview to interview. My mother's friend took her in, and mom slept in a makeshift room that was the balcony and eventually got a job. "You slept in the BALCONY?!" I remember asking her in disbelief, thinking of all the mosquitoes and other bugs that must have shared the bed with her. The way my mom tells the stories of her past, it was more matter-of-fact, with lots of humour thrown in, than sad or desolate. Perhaps that is why it is always easy for me to dismiss her worries or get impatient with her "we shouldn't spend unnecessarily" advice. I live in a world where, at five years old, I get more than a dozen wrapped presents of Barbies and pretty accessories for my birthday. I live in a world where going to the cinema is a casual occurence, and having a conversation about how good an investment a Chanel bag is, is nothing out of the ordinary. I go through life filled with optimism, good cheer and the belief that we should seize today instead of worrying about tomorrow. I don't worry about tomorrow, because my parents have paved my growing up years free of worries for me. I am 28 years old and I am starting to think that perhaps I've only skimmed the surface of what appreciation really means. I've always been very tickled by how my grandmother would say "thank you" all the time, to everyone, for the tiniest things. She would even say thank you to me when she came to support me at my shows, when I should be the one thanking her. My grandma is getting old, whereby she can't walk without aid and her leg aches after standing for some time. My mother wishes she had taken my grandma on more holidays when she could still travel. "But when grandma was in good health, you couldn't afford to take her overseas, and it's not like you were going on holidays yourself," I told my mom. And this is a frustrating and extremely genuine situation that people face. Sometimes, when we can finally afford to treat our parents, their age and health prevents them from fully enjoying it. My friend Chelsia, who badly needs a car but has decided to spend the money buying a holiday to Taiwan for her parents instead, told me that if she doesn't do it now, there will never "be a right time". If you think about it, there are always more practical or crucial items that we need to spend our money on in our everyday lives, so when do we go "Okay, that's enough, we have everything now. Let's take our parents on a holiday!"? Hopefully not when they are too old to enjoy the good things in life. If my mother is reading this (as she probably will be), I want to let her know that I would like her and my father to take the holiday that I would like to give them. I have always thought that when I give them a holiday, it would be an around-the-world trip where they don't have to worry about hotel rates or food prices, but I realised that I do not know when that is going to happen. So, in the meantime, I would like to tell my parents and all parents reading this, to accept what little we can offer you right now. Don't worry about the money; we will manage, just like you have all these years! Full Feed Generated by Get Full RSS, sponsored by Used Car Search. |
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