Visitation to Persatuan Kebajikan Kanak-kanak Terencat Akal

June 27, 2017

On the 27th of June 2017 (Tuesday), 5 of our club members paid a visit to Persatuan Kebajikan Kanak-kanak Terencat Akal which is a home located in Petaling Jaya for the mentally challenged.

At 10a.m. in the morning, 5 of us arrived at Persatuan Kebajikan Kanak-kanak Terencat Akal. When we arrived, the person in charge gave us a brief introduction about the place. To our surprise, not all the patients were kids. There were kids as young as 6 years old, teenagers and even elderlies. There is a television in the house to keep them entertained. There is an activity space in front of the home where most of them spends their time there.

We started our day by playing games with the patients there. Before that, we introduced ourselves to them one by one as some of them have hearing problems. The first game that we played was musical chairs. We arranged the chairs in a circle and got everyone to stand around it with the help of the workers there. The game started; some of them were really excited, running around the place but some of them were still unclear of what was happening. In the end, we could see that everyone had fun.

We were told that the patients also loved dancing so we decided to play a few songs through the speaker and danced along with them. We could see smiles on their faces as they moved their bodies about. We then proceeded with the second game. All of us sat in a circle facing the inside of the circle. When the music starts, we have to pass a ball around. When the music stops, the one with the ball have to start in the middle of the circle and danced. After a few rounds, we said our goodbyes to them and the workers brought us to the back of the home. We were given gloves and rubbish bags. We then started to weed the area with grass. After we were done, we took a picture in front of the home and bid farewell to the workers and the patients there.

We got the privilege to hear some of the patient’s story. It breaks our heart knowing that a lot of them once used to live a normal life. However, some of them caught a high fever at a very young age. One of them was traumatised at a young age and lost the ability to speak from then onwards. Although they were a little slow in what they do, for example dancing and playing games, however, that did not stop them from enjoying themselves and having fun. The smiles on their faces as we danced along with them were priceless. We've learned that a lot of them do not care about what others think of them and that is something we should all learn from them. They were just like little children, always greeting you with a big smile on their faces.

This visit made us realised how grateful we were to be born with no illnesses or diseases. We are grateful for the things that most of us often took for granted. For example, the ability to speak, to think, to live a normal life because to some of the people out there, it is a privilege.