SHELTER - Home For Children (Part 1/4)

HELLO!

Before I start, many thanks to Miss C for designing the blog header! RAWR! Only thing now is to get Jimmy to start blogging and the blog will be OFFICIALLY up and running. Once again, thank you Miss C! :)

Okay as mentioned above, this entry will be about My Cause in the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009's Run For A Cause - SHELTER Home for Children! I thought that there was a need to know more about SHELTER and it's cause, and at the same time, spread this information to the people around me, including - YOU!

From what I got from SHELTER's website, SHELTER is a non-government welfare organisation which provides a safe haven for abused, abandoned and neglected children, from all walks of life. When I mean safe haven, it literally means the provision of a suitable living environment for growing up, character building and spiritual nourishment. For this means, they have 4 different homes, each addressing a separate agenda of the organisation's initiatives. Each home is simply named Shelter 1, Shelter 2, Shelter 3 and Shelter 4. Besides, they aim to raise awareness among members of the public on child abuse and child protection, plus a whole lot of other causes.

Well, that is what they say. And I thought to myself, why not see it for myself!

And that is exactly what I did, on this lovely Saturday morning. From SHELTER's website, only Shelter 1's phone number was listed, which I took down and called. I was greeted by a middle-aged Indian women, who graciously invited me over to Shelter 1 to have a look at their home. Although they were already having some visitors, she said the visit of just 1 person wouldn't be a problem. After taking down their address, I was on my way.

The first thing that hit me about Shelter 1 was the house itself, just off Jalan Gasing. The home was a double-story bungalow, with ample space around it. They had a van parked in the driveway, which was probably used to ferry the children from place to place. And remarkably, the place was extremely well kept, unlike other homes which I've visited in the past.





I was met at the front door by Shelter 1's manager - Mr. Nelson. I introduced myself, careful not to mention anything about the Standard Chartered KL Marathon to him. I was, "a University student who wanted to have a look around". That was what I told him.

Mr. Nelson

Mr. Nelson was informative and helpful. He began explaining to me about the history of SHELTER, on how it first started off as a single home in 1981, with only 3 children in it. As it slowly expanded, another 3 homes were built to accommodate the increasing number of children brought in, with each home handling different age categories. Right now, Shelter 1 houses 13 children, of which all of them are below the age of 13. Shelter 2 houses teenage girls, from 13 to 18 years of age while Shelter 3 houses teenage boys of the same age group. Shelter 4 is slightly different, where the children there are nurtured full time by staff who acts as the children's 'parents'. It's almost as if they're living with foster parents.

The children at Shelter 1

Back to Shelter 1! The children here consists of both boys and girls, of which all of them are schooling in different schools around the Petaling Jaya district. Some of them attend Chinese schools, one attends home schooling while a few more attend Mission Schools. As Mr. Nelson explains this to me, he brings me around the home, showing me the kitchen, toy library, male and female dormitory and the dining area along the way.

Some of the children's drawings

The upkeep of the home was good, with most of the furniture, books and toys arranged neatly. The dormitory was very well kept as well, the beds were neat and I didn't see any clothes lying on the floor. Even their shoes were arranged orderly in the shelves provided. Moving on to a financial point of view, it costs RM2000 to maintain the home monthly. This money comes from contributions from the public, and is used to pay the water and electricity bills, monthly provisions and such. They are truly blessed, as they also receive food contributions from the neighboring churches and from Gardenia, who sponsors them with bread 3 times a week.

Their makan roster!

Mr. Nelson explains to me that every child in this home helps out with maintaining the cleanliness of the house. They take turns cleaning the garden, clearing the drains, wiping the windows and such, which provides a good means of instilling independence and discipline.

I didn't get to meet many of the children, as a group of Red Crescent Society members from, of all places SMK Damansara Utama (!) were there conducting a community outreach programme. Sheeze man, what a coincidence! However, as I was exploring the garden I met up with this little boy, Vincent.

Today, his job was to help clear the clogged drains which surrounded the home. He had two Red Crescent members to assist him with his errand and I helped in as well. At first, he was a bit shy and passive. He preferred to talk to himself as he started scrapping off the moss from the drain. I tried all sorts of things to start a conversation, from introducing myself to helping with the moss, but...he was still a bit reluctant to speak?

That's Vincent, in orange

I guess it's this field where I'm weak at. I fail to understand that Vincent, who was probably a victim of neglect or abuse, is different from most children. As what Mr. Nelson mentioned, because of their past these children are quite reclusive when it comes to trust on people, moreover a perfect stranger like me.

After a little cajoling, we started talking. Bit by bit, he introduced himself and started talking more and more about himself. He was 12 years old, and wants to be a pianist when he grows up! After cleaning up the drain, he offered to get me a drink of water and asked me to play basketball with him, which I duly agreed. And he wasn't too bad at all! This 12 year old kid duly out-shot, out-dribbled and out-played his 21 year old opponent. I feel like an uncle =p.

Vincent

I think that was the one moment that really made my day, seeing Vincent running around with the ball, trying a shot over and over again whenever he misses, to hear him laugh and see him smile. Ok la, got motivation to run already.





I left the home a while later, as the Red Crescent members proceeded to conduct activities with the children. I thanked Mr. Nelson and bid goodbye, only to realize that I did not say my farewells to Vincent when I was on my way home!!! Argh! That sucked so badly...

But I'll be back, that's a promise!

ps: my apologies for the photos, or rather lack of them. i was advised against taking too many photos by Mr. Nelson.

ps2: this will the first out of 4 entries about SHELTER - Home For Children. i will be visiting Shelter 2, 3 and 4 in the next few weeks, as a build up to the Standard Chartered KL Marathon 2009.