Caged and Bound
Thursday, April 17th, 2008Caged
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&sec=nation
