Day 3: Community Empowerment

Wednesday 06/27/12

 Selamat Pagi (Good Morning)!!

 Today was a great and fascinating day!! The agenda today was to learn about special needs communities and how they also impact public health! I bet the education students today had a blast as well! They went to the other side of the island to visit other educational institutions while we followed the itinerary below:

9am
12:30pm
  • Lunch [Own arrangement]
2pm
Today might seem short but it was fully packed with excitement! (Too bad I do not have any videos or pictures from today). Today we learned about Educational Studies. It was quite fascinating to hear these pioneers speak about their innovative tools they created for the deaf, blind & under-served children/families. 
  • An automated sign language text learning program that sends one static pic a day to caregivers of deaf children.
  • The blind and the deaf are educationable and trainable.
  • Free online braille learning program for all who wish to learn Bahasa Malaysia Braille.
  • Teach four different forms of sign language (American Sign Language, Bahasa Malaysia, British, & Deaf Sign Language) to children for international and local communities. 
  • Bahasa Malaysia Sign Language has be signed while standing because a majority of their signs are around the torso. You cannot clearly see them sitting.
  • One of the pioneers made a clear statement that disabilities does not equate stupidity. They want to and able to learn just as much as “normally developed” children, just are not given the opportunity until caregivers are taught how to teach and interact with alternative learning children.’
  • Learned how to sign “Terimah Kasih” (Thank You) and “Selamat Pagi” (Good Morning).

Eden Handicapped Center was a blessing in disguise. It is a Christian Faith-based non-profit organization. It was started by a local Malaysian  who noticed the lack of care for the physical and intellectual handicapped: children are educated and adults are taught working skills. they (the handicapped workers) bought and run a recycling center, art and crafts shop, and do other work such as making folders with prongs and sorting tile chips for home improvement projects. Children are housed in one house while the adults live in a house across the street (the director’s home he donated to EDEN). The one thing EDEN emphasize to all the people in the center is the importance of faith. There will be times when you will feel alone but as long as you have a relationship with God, you will have a inner joy that nobody can give or take away from you. The Gospel was most definitely given during the lecture. Also, if you remember I mentioned in an earlier post that it is against the law for a Muslim to practice any religious activity other than their own. EDEN does not turn Muslim handicap away but their caregivers leave upon finding out the daily activities of EDEN.

~>EDEN needs a lot of help for they do not get any government assistance. You can donate money or even donate your time. You can fly over to Penang, Malaysia and they can house and maybe feed two people at a time. They can use everything under the sun such as training staff to properly care for the children and adults, program planning, marketing, human resources, etchttp://www.edenhandicap.org/

The importance of it all: Education (all forms) is important for community health. The more educated people are, the more equipped they become to care for themselves, others, and their communities. These two events showcase how empowering people also empowers a community, which benefits everybody’s health and the country.

 It is AMAZING how such little presence of FAITH makes a BIG IMPACT!

Krystal    

Here is a little fun on the way back: