Caged and bound.
Is this how life is going to be? All that he knows?
The headlines of a local Malay Daily caught my eyes today, it brought me to a stop from the morning madness. It has a picture of a boy and the title reads “Sebelas tahun kena kurung” - “Eleven years being caged”.
I looked at it, I felt the urge to shout the importance to create awareness of people with special needs and how much more important it is to help the families involved.
Reading the boy's story, i know things can change for better. It can change for better when people do not fear. It can change for better when people are aware and knowledgeable about it. It can change for better when people take an interest and have the know hows. It can change for better when people can see the hope and potential to the things they can do. It can change for better, i know it can change for better.
Reading story like this, it always brings me back to the visit of a welfare home in a distant small town. I was very very new in this work then, it shocked me to see people in cages. I couldn't believe that such thing exist in Malaysia. There were cluster of people in different confined area with grilled gates, in another room three young men were in their individual 'cells'. It wasn't really big, prolly four feet wide, and six feet long. I remember thinking a rotteweiler or bull mastiffs would fit nicely into the cage. That was when i realized, i forgot the faces i was looking at were human. Human.
Another shelther home that i visited was none the less depressing. Not only did i saw children tied to chairs, but also pillars within its compound. I remember giving a child a hug, he was tied to the pillar upright, eyes bright, hands which held mine tight, beneath the 'look' i knew he craved to be loved. I wished I could do more, I knew there has to be a better way.
You know how sometimes you hear sermons of making a change for better? How sometimes you are challenged to change for better be it in your own life or another person's life? Being the blessing, knowing that what you give can never be returned? Want to make a change? Come be a direct change agent for children with special needs. How much you sow in today not only influence the child for better, but also the parents, siblings, relatives, neighbours, friends, and the whole community. Best of all, it changes you.
Where i work, i realized it is important to encourage, educate, empower and put in the right tools for parents to care for their children with special need. A home is where these children belong to, with their parents. They deserve every right to be loved and cared for by their parents. It always encourages me when i see parents working diligently with their children, and the success stories of how their children are learning and making progress from strength to strength.
Back to the welfare homes, those children were in that conditions because their care-takers did not know how to handle them. They only knew that the children were too dangerous to be let loose, for fear that they might hurt themselve or other people. They may bite, hit, scratch, kick or stranggle. The boy's parent too have the same fears.
Now for a short moment..... just try to imagine...... i open my eyes.... i see the bars..... its right in front of my face again. I try to move, something stoped me at my waist, at my wrist. I look out. I paced around in my confined area. I look out, i shout just so somebody could hear me to give me some response. I try banging the cage, maybe it'll come loose. I gnawed at the clothe at my waist and my wrist, its giving me itches and i hate it turning red. I try screaming maybe somebody will hear me. I paced around again..... i lay down. I look out again, i shout again just so somebody could hear me and give me some response. I try banging the cage again, maybe it'll come loose. I gnawed again at the clothe at my waist and my wrist, its giving me itches again and i hate it turning redder. I try screaming again maybe somebody will hear me.I paced around again and again..... i lay down again. I look out again and again, i shout again and again just so somebody could hear me and give me some response. I try banging the cage again and again, maybe it'll come loose. I gnawed again and again at the clothe at my waist and my wrist, its giving me itches again and again and i hate it turning redder again and again. I try screaming again and again maybe somebody will hear me....... day in, day out, sun rise sun set, day in day out, sun rise, sun set, day in day out, sun rise sun set, day in day out sun rise sun set, day in say out sun rise sun set........364 days, and many more years to come.....i open my eyes.... i see the bars..... its right in front of my face again. I try to move, something stoped me at my waist, at my wrist. I look out. I paced around in my confined area. I look out, i shout just so somebody could hear me to give me some response. I try banging the cage, maybe it'll come loose. I gnawed at the clothe at my waist and my wrist, its giving me itches and i hate it turning red. I try screaming maybe somebody will hear me. I paced around again..... i lay down.
Can you imagine?..... how did it feel like? Wanna break free? I was just trying to imagine what could it been like being in the boy's shoe. What i wrote was just a fiction.
To the boy's story, here's what the dad say “Jika dia keluar rumah, dia akan lari jika lihat kami mahu mendapatkannya”. Now imagine you are the boy. Wouldn't you wanna break free?
I believe there is a better way. I believe when people are educated about special needs, living in cages will be things of the past. Parents play an extremely important role in caring and upbringing of their children with special need. They are however not to be alone in this important task, we the member of society ought to encourage and cheer them on. With the right heart, the right mind set, the right attitude, and the right tools, all things are possible. There is no mountain too high to climb. The climb may be hard and tough, but once you reach the peak and enjoying the scenery, you know all of the challenges were worth every bit.
I believe caged and bound will be changed to free and living to the fullest!
http://www.hmetro.com.my/Thursday/BeritaUtama/20080417092455/Article
http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/4/17/nation/20977266&