Taman Megah's Handicapped and Disabled Children's Home

i write this with utmost difficulty as i began to dig and dig and dig more on the home that so few of us are going to visit this saturday. i have made my peace in asking and highlighting to all the people that i know to come and help and also to spread the cheer around this particular home, and now it is time for me to concentrate on the home itself.

I was touched by a story of a young blind, celebral palsy 2 year old boy of which what happened to him made me felt angry, betrayed and sad. It made me felt that I wished I was God so that I could scoop those unwanted ones from any near death experience or stop those unscrupulous parents who has too many irresponsible acts up to their sleeves to even think about their children. But here is his story.

This boy was sent to the Home when he was only 11 months old by his father, of which I guess he could not cope up with taking care of the baby anymore as he needed more attention than any normal baby. I am not sure where is the mother back then as she was not mentioned. However a few days later the father and mother came back and expressed their attention to take back the baby as they wanted to take care of him themselves. Of course the Home encourages this, as it is always better to have their own parents to take care of their own children. Not long after that, a worker of the Home wanted to throw a pile of rubbish at the rubbish dump out in front. Suddenly at the corner of her eyes, she saw a box that was moving under a tree nearby the Home. She went closer to take a look , lo and behold the blind, celebral palsy little baby boy was squirming in the box. Lord knows how long he has been there and I am not even sure if the heat had gotten to him, or if there were any ants or stray animals around. Your guess is as good as mine, he was abandoned there by his so-called parents. WHY? The Home is always open, 24 hours a day and accepts anyone and everyone who walks, or crawls or limps into the Home. Why did the parents had to leave their baby son, in a box, under a tree, in the hot sun, with flies, ants, stray animals and rodents probably lurking nearby, hoping that the somebody from the Home will catch a glimpse of the box, and hopefully takes a look inside, and hopefully takes in the baby to safety?? Where in the world did they came from??!!

This are just one of the stories that I managed to find from the Net and it is courtesy from http://babysashanmom.blogspot.com/. I will find out more this Saturday, as it takes stories like this to actually reach to the society and make them learn that a lot of people out there need our help.

As we know the Home is housing more than a 100 people, children and adults alike. Residents around SS24/10 are constantly complaining that there are too many children and too noisy in the Home. I figure that they too need a certain peaceful atmosphere in their neighbourhood, so okay we should not blame them. But what we want is solution. Thus they are eyeing in building on a land nearby in Taman Sea. So far as of today, they have already paid the 10% to secure the land. However according to the manager, Mr Baskin, they are some minor problems which have led to the delay of securing it completely. Well I am not really sure what are the problems, but I hope to find out this Saturday. Mr Baskin also mentioned that the construction of the building will only commence next year, thus it will be a year or more for the children to bear with the current home that they have now.

As far as I know this Home survives fully on donations from NGOs, good samaritans, anonymous donors, daily donation from the public and donation drive or funds. I am not even sure how are they going to raise funds (amounting to half a Million) to complete the construction of their new home. Man it really takes a miracle to help them because donation alone would not even cover that. What more with the daily expenses that they have to incur for the residents?

They need people to take care of the 60-70 odd children below the age of 12, mainly for their sanitary needs, food, massage theraphy for those who cannot move, medicines, constant care for those who cannot care for themselves. I mean to cater for these 70 odd special children, they need at least 1 helper to 5 children, that would be a whopping 14 helpers alltogether (and this is just for the children below 12).

How about for those above 12 and are school going children? There are unfortunately some children who are not handicapped or disabled but was abandoned by their parents. Yes, they need tutors who know how to handle them and to reach out to them as they are completely different from our children. Their learning capabilities will sometimes frustrate those who are not used to it. A simple phrase of "I want to eat" may take them a while to digest or write. Patience is a virtue here, and there are not many volunteers who will do it for free. Special education comes with a price. It includes effort, time and love as well. Do we all have this, even with our children? What more to these special ones?

I just cannot help to wonder if something could have been done earlier on to detect the abnormality of the children from the mother's womb itself, could there be a cure or maybe a medicine to help prevent more damage to the child, thus lead to less suffering on the child now? I know that the parents might be poor or lack of knowledge to take for their unborn baby or just maybe they were destined to have a special child in their midst. But whatever it is, I know of parents who are willing to take up the challenge to nurture, educate, love, care and pamper their special child all on their own. Thank God for the support from their family and friends, as without them they would not be able to do it. I respect this families and my prayers are with them.

As for the children and residents of Taman Megah Handicapped and Disabled Home, I hope that the visit this Saturday will help them to realise that there are a lot of people out there who are really sincere in helping and easing up their burden. I hope that the caretakers and management of this Home, helmed by the passion and love of their founder, the late Mr S.K. Manikumar would endure the hardship and frustration whenever they encounter cases of abandonement, lack of funds or supplies and even lack of volunteers. Pray for those who are going this Saturday so that their presence will cheer up the residents, pray for those who had contributed in cash and kind so that they will receive the blessings that they deserved, and pray for those who will come again and again to help these organisations to achieve their common objective - to just lend a helping hand...