as some of you may know, my car’s head gasket blew..
and that was when i realised, we are so dependent on ‘technology’ these days.
if a person’s mobile gets stolen, goes missing or spoils, they go cuckoo because a cellphone is the connection to our ‘life’.
if a computer/laptop crashes, a lot of important information goes missing in a blink of an eye and to retrieve the information, well, you understand~
so when my car went kaput, life had it that those few days were filled with travelling, be it for work or for MWM.
and as how every other human being would, i complained.
last week i attended Tasputra Perkim’s Buka Puasa night out at Lecka Lecka Bukit Bintang.
i had to share a cab there during rush hour and was starting to get cranky thinking about the rest of the week and how i was going to get around with everything lined up.
when i got there, i admit i was still a little bothered and pre-occupied.
now when i think back on that moment, i feel terribly ashamed!
but after fifteen minutes of being there and settling down, i started going around to say ‘hi’ to the kids, stopping to talk to some and to give them a hug or two.
i stopped to play with little Hafiz.
and i looked around me for a minute, and realised that nearly every child/teen was in a prem or wheelchair.
at that moment, it was like a cloud cleared before my eyes and i started to feel guilty.
i have forgotten, momentarily, that being car-less was not the end of the world.
there were other forms of immobility that were far worse than mine.
that really gave me a wake up call that i desperately needed.
see, the children and teens who attend Tasputra are those whom were born with severe mental handicap.
their limbs were either bent out of shape, or their head were of a disproportionate size, or they could not speak or show any form of emotion/understanding.
most of them have to move around daily in a prem or wheelchair.
Tasputra is like a day care cum training centre.
they have professionally trained and qualified nurses to help with these children’s physical and mental growth.
they also sponsor wheelchairs to any child who needs one
and they never expect anything in return.
no fees, no charges.
a lot of parents, upon realization of their child’s condition, do not know what to do.
so some lock their child up at home,
give them away,
throw them somewhere,
or dump them at any day care centre which result to their child being mistreated, for example, being tied to a chair or pillar just because they cannot sit straight or vocalize what they are feeling or need.
it is very sad that a lot of people are not educated in this matter.
but then again, who is ever ready to face such things.
so Tasputra locates these children and bring them in for daily training and exercises to strengthen and straighten their bones with proper techniques and teach these kids how to speak or understand the things around them.
okay back to the Buka Puasa outing.
i realised how difficult it was for ONE child to move about.
and there were 30 odd of them there that day.
i had a new found respect for the ladies who run the home as well as the parents of these children whom are getting educated by the day.
these children hardly get to go out.
they hardly get to see the world outside simply because it takes a lot just to bring them out.
and to be able to be there to share their joy and excitement from the simplest of things, it really put things into perspective.
have you ever witness a deprived child’s face light up when they see the abundance of lights at Bukit Bintang?
have you ever felt the joy emitting from a child, whom cannot speak, when he/she receives a cup of ice cream?
have you ever been touched by the simplicity of a child’s love as he shares it with the world by smiling and hugging you?
the experience of love was boundless.
pure.
beautiful.
there was a child called Kunglo.
he was born with down-syndrom.
yet he was a cheerful and joyous child.
at the end of the night, while i was crouching by Maya’s prem playing with her,
i was suddenly knocked over by a force!
then i realised it was Kunglo.
he ran over to hug me (knocking me to the ground) with a huge contented smile on his face,
and then ever so lightly, he gave me a kiss on my cheek.
that was all it took to wash all my worries away.
sitting there on the floor outside Starhill, i was nearly moved to tears.
a simple form of gratitude from a simple loving mind.
how wonderful is that?
makes us wonder what ever happened to ‘pure love’ in the fast moving world that we live in.
here are some of the pictures from that night:
it usually takes an adult to a child
lecka lecka stuff helping the kids and giving them the attention they need
showing me that he ’sayangs’ me by pressing his forehead to my cheek
facinated by the lights
