It all started on Friday evening, where I just got the car from hubby of which I used it to the max. Went to so many places to get so many things and I was tired, but I think the adrenaline of getting everything done to perfection got me going.
I just got the idea of celebrating the July babies a few days ago, so here I am trying to figure out what to buy for them. I got the most basic toys, some nice socks (inspiration from Cindy) and a beautiful simple bracelet for a 34 year old lady. I bought two 1 kg cakes, one was a fruit cake and the other was a cheese cake from King's Confectionary. I went to Giant and got 2 bottles of Pantene shampoo and 2 tins of Gain Kid milk powder. After that rushed back home to eat (that was already 10pm) and continued doing the remaining 60 over party packs for the children. I had to hide the cakes from hubby as I planned for him and 2 other July babies to celebrate together with the residents. Thank goodness for the 2nd fridge upstairs. My Friday ended at 4am Saturday morning.
Saturday morning - 1pm. Family and had lunch first before going to Dominoes Sunway to pick up our 20 large pizzas. I have this Express Card of which if you order 10 large pizzas, you get 10 large ones for free. Waited for 2 more cars full of friends to come and at around 2.40pm, we reached the gate's home.
We were greeted by curious on-lookers and then when they realised we were the people whom their caretakers had briefed on earlier, they opened the gate and 4 or 5 boys and grown men came to help us to carry the things we bought for them. My goodness. That was fast. The boys were so thoughtful as they dilligently carried the pizzas, gifts, supplies, drinks and plastic bags all at once.
The next thing we did was to find the person whom had patiently answered and catered to our every needs. Mr Baskin, the home's Operations Manager. True enough as obliging as he is in the phone, he is also very warm and friendly in person. Truly the home is indeed lucky to have him as their guardian, as there is a certain aura around him which attracts people to come and help. During his briefing he talked about almost all of the residents so passionately, and I have to give him two thumbs up for his ability to remember their names and histories.
In my recent post I highlighted a boy who is blind and has celebral palsy, and was also abandoned by his parents. Today we managed to meet with little Patrick in person. He was so attached to one of the caretakers so much so he wanted her to carry him all the time. He is 2 years old this year and he just underwent a minor surgery on his neck and head. That is why his head has to be supported all the time. More like a 1 month old baby. As I sat with him and talked to him, his skin was fair and smooth. He had a very pleasant face and I could not help but to caress his cheek all the time. If he is a normal baby he would have been a very handsome one. I was just a little bit dissapointed because he could not see me. Mr Baskin mentioned to us that his father comes by often to see him, whereas the mother would call once in a while to check up on him. I pray for the family to have strength and courage to bring up little Patrick well.
I thank God for the staff and caretakers of the home for their help. They assisted in organising the distribution of the pizzas and drinks almost flawlessly. The residents were very obedient and they were as if in perfect motion whenever the main caretaker (Ms Raj) rang the bell. Almost in unison, the knew that it was time for tea, separated into groups, arranged the tables and chairs, and took their places accordingly. I was impressed, and so were my friends. Hubby managed to squeeze himself through some children, sat and talked with them. Glad to know he is having fun. Kenny, Kit and a few of the boys helped in blowing up the balloons and shaping them into animals. CK and her gang were busy mingling with the kids, and there was this one lady who wanted her picture to be taken so many times. Nita, Vicky Ate and Janet Ate were making their rounds around the home, while stopping once in a while to talk to a small kid, chit chatting with the caretakers and Mr Baskin. The boys, Adam and son were running around from one the girls and almost at once they made friends with a boy name Kah Hoe, who was intrigued with Transformers and Tokyo Drift. One of the boys, who is actually a Malay was speaking fluent Tamil to Selva. I was flabbergasted and now determined more than ever to have son master Tamil.
Another boy told a very very cheeky joke to Yoges. It went like this:
There was this man driving a lorry which was full of things to be delivered to Mr. A. Once he arrived at Mr A's house, Mr A opened the back of the lorry and found out that all the things were missing. So what do you think happened to the things in the lorry?
Yoges and hubby were confused. So they admit defeat.
The boy cheekily said, " the things were missing because the man was carrying ICE!!"
Yoges and hubby laughed. Good one.
After that Ms Raj got them all in a queue to receive the party packs. I got CK's friends - Mages, Latha, Yoges and the others to help out in this. I want to sincerely thank them for coming and making this visit a more merrier and meaningful one. Actually they were not in my confirmed list as CK did not inform me earlier. But I was moved nevertheless for their effort and time sacrificed to help me in this event. Thank you to all of you.
Then came the reps from my home fellowship - Kenny, Marianne and Kit. They helped in ensuring that the balloons were ready, even though the balloons kept on popping. Lol! Marianne was as usual superb with the children. And children are children, because when they saw the balloons, Kenny and Kit were swamped, surrounded, stalked and wrestled to the ground (hee hee, I exaggerated that) for it. Ha ha ha. Thanks again you guys!
That was the end of our agenda. It was now their turn to entertain us. Ms Raj and her troops of dancing princesses and princes put on their dancing shoes and began dancing to various Indian songs. Wow! Very well done. They even danced to the macarena song and (unlike me), they were all syncronised. Double wow! Mages, CK and I wanted to join in the macarena, but nobody dared to jump in first. Aiyo. Wasted la guys. Hey! Next time ok.
Hubby had made a little buddy as well. His name is David and apparently the common passion that bonded them was football. The home does send a couple of the normal boys for football sessions in Brickfields. Hubby saw that the boys looked up to this David chap so hubby was pretty impressed. David is a good looking Indian boy, pretty confident, friendly and smart. Later on hubby confided that he would like to spend more time with David and requested me to find out how can this be done and what was David's background. Sigh.. Never judge a book by its cover. No matter how normal a person looks like or happy he/she is, everybody has an ugly history. David had one. This is what I found out. He is a normal 12 year old boy and will be sitting for his UPSR soon in September. He plays football and is quite active in school. So I was still expecting a sickness or something that might have trigerred the family to place him at the home. Mr Baskin told me otherwise. Apparently the mother did not want him. I asked him again. Yes, the mother DID NOT WANT him. My heart slumped. Period.
In between, I managed to sit down with little Patrick again. He looked a little bit drowsy and was slowly falling asleep. I was not sure why I was drawn to him. Maybe because I knew of his plight earlier on which made me think of him even before coming here. I did tell hubby of his story as well. I cannot imagine how his future will be. In 5 years time, he will be 7. The same age my own son will be next year. Different from my son (who is going to Primary One), Patrick would still be struggling to eat on his own, or walk, or to talk even. Would he even know what is going on with his body. Maybe being blind provides a little bit of solitude because he would not be able to see how his normal friends are - walking, laughing, talking and playing. Maybe it is better for him to not know all this so that he can grow at his own pace and not live up to other people's expectation. Sometimes being trapped in a difficult situation like this is much more easier because he does not have to answer to other people, but only to himself and God.
It was almost 6pm. I saw in the home's agenda, they have another group coming in for dinner. One thing I am glad is that they are well taken care of in terms of human interaction and love. However they still do need the supplies as one big tin of Gain Kid milk powder will be used up in just under two days. The diapers that they use are in huge amount as most of the smaller babies are not toilet trained or completely unable to go to the toilet at all. I will not even mention on the medical treatment that some of them have to go through. Due to their conditions, some of them will be prone to sickness. Or maybe some would need extensive surgery such as little Patrick. Who is going to fund them? What about physio theraphy? Currently they only have one physiotherapist to ensure that 10 special children have their daily massage and exercise. Then there is the construction of their 4 storey facility in Taman SEA. So far they have only secured the land. They have not started constructing the structure yet. Would they have enough money to realise this simple dream of theirs. From what I know, there are a few children and adults in waiting list, waiting to be accepted in the home. The reason of the waiting list could be anything. Lack of fund, not enough space, not enough man power. So what would become of them? Another undetermined future awaits.
I write this on a Friday evening, half expecting to see the solar eclipse (I guess not), watching my son play with his new found friend, and glancing at my hubby at the footbal field. Normal. All is normal. No defects. No deformities. Not one single child without their parent watching over them. Not one of them has abandonement issues. Not one is short of love and care. I felt a little bit guilty sitting here with my laptop, typing away instead of doing something more for the home. What can I do for Patrick? For David? For Kah Hoe? I am no saviour and I cannot save the world. But I can make a difference in the lives of this 3 boys. All with different backgounds, different histories, different expectations. What is my hope for them? Nothing much actually. But I know they deserved more than what life has cruelly given them. All of us went through to some dark moments of our lives, and we lived to have a better ending or for me, a new beginning in the end. I believe that Patrick, David and Kah Hoe deserve this second chance, this new beginning. I will not only pray for it, but I will try my very best to make sure they have it. Till then, let's pray for those who are not accounted for and still lost out there. Let's pray that one day they too will be found and thus be cared for by selfless people like those in this home.
