Sound Bite:
"Clap Your Hands"
English version
Chinese version
This soundbite is a production of
David Communications Group
MDAS is the adopted
charity of
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Nov 2006 (Vol. 1 No. 10)
EXCERPTS:
Editorial
The article in this issue on MDAS's collaboration with Damai Secondary School highlights one avenue whereby MDAS interacts with society at large. This is only the latest in a series of projects that MDAS has undertaken with educational institutions in Singapore. There are or have been projects with students and staff from Raffles Institution, Hwa Chong Institution, Temasek Junior College and Singapore Polytechnic among others. Not only does MDAS value and depend on the support offered, we believe that MDAS also contributes something useful in return. We appreciate the volunteers' efforts in raising funds through their projects, tutoring our members in computer skills or art, organizing outings and producing educational posters. For our volunteers, we offer service learning and community service projects, or put simply, an opportunity to interact with and understand the needs of people with muscular dystrophy, and to exercise their talents, creativity and energy towards helping them, often young people like themselves. Hence, to all past, present and future alumni of our mutual enterprises, we say thank you, great work and hope you've gained something useful! And keep up the good work!
Collaboration With Damai
MDAS has been the adopted charity of Damai Secondary School since April 2006. This 3-year adoption programme is a window of opportunity for both the school and association. It aims to create opportunities for nurturing their students into caring persons, and for our youths to develop their self-confidence.
Damai had been active in promoting community services to its students for many years and thus, we are confident that they will achieve the objectives of this adoption plan. In fact prior to the adoption, discussions were made to explore on how the Damai students could bring about community service to the people we serve, that is, the MDAS youths. It is not only about the partnership between the two organizations, but also the process of nurturing the people in our midst.
Having identified our common strength, that is, the artistic talents in Damai and MDAS, the idea of CARDS on the RUN was piece of cake for all involved. Both partners came out with fantastic paintings, which were printed into greeting cards. The students and teachers were subsequently assigned to sell the cards to raise funds for MDAS. Of course the emphasis of the project was not solely fund-raising, but also creating awareness about Muscular Dystrophy to their friends and relatives. We believe that more people will come to know about the disease and the association with the help of these dedicated 1500 students and teachers.
CARDS on the RUN was initiated as a project for students to run-for-a-cause, to be held in conjunction with the school's annual Cross-Country Run. Unfortunately due to a heavy downpour on the early morning of 31st August, the Run has to be cancelled. Nevertheless, the students were already on the run prior to 31st August as they had gone knocking at every household for the collection of old newspapers. They spent their 8th August, National Day celebration collecting old newspapers from Bedok residents to add to the fund-raising effort. The students not only learned about hard selling but also pulled up their sleeves for hard labour. Through the efforts of the Damaians, they raised more than $12,500 within a short span of 2 months. The success of this 1st fund-raising project was clearly evident to all Damaians when their Principal, Mr Loh Cheung Ming presented the cheque to MDAS President, Dr Yee Woon Chee on 16th Oct.
To help students learn more about muscular dystrophy, MDAS staff became the school's regular visitor. At each visit, the MDAS staff met up with a Sec 3 class to share about the challenges faced by people with muscular dystrophy through a one-hour interactive discussion and picture slides. The topic entitled "I am No Different from Others" had allowed the attentive students to realize that people with disabilities should be empowered to live a life like others, i.e. to be able to go out, to work and be happy like them. Each time, we would also highlight how individuals could make a difference in the society to encourage the people with special needs to be fully integrated. At the end of each talk, students would pen down their thoughts and reflections. We received many positive feedbacks about their new knowledge in addition to many encouraging words for MDAS and its members. It was thus most fulfilling to help these youngsters become more sensitive to others.
The MDAS-Damai partnership has opened many doors for the young generation. It allows the teachers to widen their students' potential. The first project for both sides of the youths to work together was our newsletter, M-Power. A team from the Damai IT Club worked with our youths in our Editorial Board. After a couple of meetings and email correspondences, the 1st publication of M-Power with the Damai assistance was released in June 2006 successfully. Now, the copy you are reading is the 2nd collaboration of these youths again. In the process, the team members learned about working together and meeting expectations.
Another team from Damai that is actively engaged with MDAS is the Photography Club. Their role came in handy when they joined the association for social events. Their first assignment was to cover the Fun Walk by the Land Transport Authority, which was held in March. Many candid shots were captured and put into good use. Subsequently, the group also assisted MDAS for other events, such as planning games when our members met the Taiwan artistes, Fan Yi Chen and Rebecca Tong En on 3rd Sep. Planning games require some imagination and sensitivity especially since many of our members had some physical limitations. It was truly rewarding when the games they planned turned out to be fun and enjoyable for everyone.
Reflecting on this partnership with Damai, we are glad that together, we have made a reasonably good achievement. We have met our goal of "partnering for a purpose" by engaging and involving different groups of students. We have also met the association's objective in providing public education about muscular dystrophy at the school level. From a charitable organization's point of view, we believe that charity is not only about receiving but also giving. This makes community involvement more meaningful and fulfilling for all.
MDAS looks forward to next year with greater collaboration.
By Sherena Loh
Courage & Compassion
Being disabled, there are incidents that cause one to feel down or make one lack confidence over one's condition. There are two things I will always remember that never fail to motivate me during such situations. It is Courage and Compassion. Let me share with you.
When someone on a wheelchair travels by MRT to Bishan Station, he or she will encounter a special situation. At the Bishan Station, the lift is not ready for use yet. In order to exit the station, we need to go up a long flight of stairs from the platform to concourse level. To facilitate people on wheelchair, a staircrawl is used.
It was a pretty shocking experience when I first took the staircrawl. It was a big "bombastic" piece of machine! Basically it is a machine with track wheels like a tanker, and my wheelchair and I need to be maneuver up the staircrawl, be strapped with 3 safety belts before the staircrawl would slowly "climb" up the flight of stairs with the help of the station assistant. And throughout the whole process, I was the "spectacular" sight of the day for everyone!
This gets even more exciting during peak hour with lots of commuters going in and out of the station and I was a helpless fellow tied to a machine and showing the world how cool it is to use the staircrawl.
The first few time going to Bishan MRT Station was a stressful experience. I always try to avoid a big crowd, perhaps choosing a golden timing or by luck. But it is just too hard to avoid it. It just seemed so stupid and funny to rely on a "bombastic" large piece of machine to conquer the stairs.
Fortunately, one day I had a big awakening to this awful feeling. I thought to myself, if there is one person, who had a bad day at work, felt lousy and down, and on his way home he suddenly saw me - the rare sight, traveling up the stairs in such a unique way. He may be thinking "Wow, even this disabled guy here is still actively living his life. I may have had a bad day, but after all, there are so many things I can do". Wow! This thought brought forth lots of courage from within me. If because of me this person is slightly encouraged and felt better for the rest of his day, then I feel it is alright for me to use the staircrawl. There is value and purpose in my actions.
Another different situation is when I encounter with young kids, especially those around 3-4 years old. When young children first see me, they may stare at me without blinking for the next 5 seconds. Some kids may comment things like "papa, why this uncle is so thin and he sits on a wheelchair that can move on its own?" Ok, I'm not really that old that i can be labeled as an uncle!
Jokes aside, I am not at all put off by such remarks. Actually these are very innocent remarks. Although initially the children may find me an unusual sight, after awhile they will start to open up and accept me as a human being into their circle. It is also a great opportunity for parents to teach their children. Perhaps this is the first time this kid ever saw a disabled person. Perhaps this is a chance for the child to learn that there are different kinds of people in this world. Now, I just became the "education ambassador".
This two instances show how a change of mindset, a different perspective can help to turn the situation towards a positive one. Both courage and compassion are like 2 sides of a coin. Compassion arise courage, and courage bring fore compassion from one's heart. Anyone and everyone can apply this to their lives. No matter how serious or how bad one's situation is, as long as one views it positively, I'm sure one can derive the best possible result out of every situation.
Lastly, here's a wonderful quote to conclude my sharing: "Live in a way that is full of life… for yourself, for your loved ones, for your friends. People who do so will find the courage to transform sufferings into hopes. Not only that, but they will be able to light the lamp of hope in the hearts of many others, as well."
By Liquan
Genetics on Duchene Muscular Dystrophy
I attended this genetics talk together with my sister and daughter. In this discussion, we learnt a lot about Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD); how the disease is passed down and how can we prevent the birth of another child with DMD in the family.
When my son, Jia Yong, was diagnosed with DMD at the age of three years old, the doctor had told me that DMD is an inherited disease. My nieces and daughter may be genetic carriers of the disease. A carrier means that they themselves have the possibility of giving birth to a child with DMD.
In order to find out if they are carriers, they will need to go for special blood test. I've told my sister about this, and my nieces and daughter are all aware of this test. We often talked about this blood test during our family gathering. I had repeatedly reminded them of this test that they were supposed to go for. However, they did not find the test necessary at this point in their life as they are not planning to start a family yet. We always thought that this test could be delayed till the day they are confirmed to be pregnant.
It was during this genetic discussion that we understood that this carrier's test should be done before the detection of pregnancy. In order to find out if the fetus has the genes resulting in DMD, the doctor will need to know the specific DMD gene defect of the affected person in the family, in this case my son Jia Yong. The test on the fetus will must be done between 11-12 weeks of pregnancy. If my nieces and daughter did not go through the carrier's blood test, it will be too late to determine their carrier state by the time they realise that they are pregnant, to allow the genetic test on the fetus to be analysed in time. So after this genetic discussion, we decided to fix an appointment with Jia Yong's doctor for this blood test to be conducted as soon as possible.
We find this genetic discussion to be very informative. It helped us understand how DMD can be passed down from a carrier to a male child. In this discussion, we also learnt how the advances in genetic diagnosis can prevent the birth of another child with Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy within the family.
By Mdm Quek Lee Joo
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