We SWEPT!!!

I am not someone with good memory. So I better do this fast before I forget... =) But sorry that I have not taken the photos from Hooi Keng.

Where do I start? Few weeks before SWEEP, I did think of quitting it.. Reason being.. I wasn't quite sure... Haha.. But somehow, a series of things happened and I cannot wait to go SWEEP. Besides, I have one interview scheduled few days before SWEEP. So even if I am not going to SWEEP also I will need to go KL. I take it as God's plan to unable me from escaping... Haha...

On the first day of SWEEP, the opening gave us a really good introduction and preparation of how SWEEP is going to be like. Thanks Esmond and Adrene for their efforts! Each station and each thing we did has its own meaning. Though the things may not be the same for next SWEEP, but tak seronok also for those who have not gone and planning to go to know everything right? Haha....

We started off the first full day with a big challenge. We were being disabled, sent out to get certain materials and back to HQ to accomplish another tough mission. In the process, we have learnt a lot. For me, the most important thing is never to underestimate the abilities of others especially the less fortunate ones. "Not to just look at their disabilities but look at their capabilities... " quoted from one of the SWEEPers... Haha... During the process, I tended to assume that they cannot do certain things so I took the initiative to help. But when it happened to me, then only I know the feelings weren't so good to be helped all the time. Instead of having sympathy towards them, why not have empathy towards them? =) After few long hours, we managed to accomplish our mission and the fruits of our hard works were so good... *peace*

We had talks every night by different heroes in social works, sharing with us their experiences, stories, feelings, thoughts, dreams and hopes.... Sometimes we were very inspired after the talk, sometimes felt too little we can contribute, sometimes felt angry & sad towards the society, sometimes filled with lots of questions like "WHY?"... I feel that from each of the talks I was given a small part of the whole picture of social works. At least now that I can see a bigger picture of social works and it is not something as easy as I thought it will be. One of the talks about Recognising Our World by Sister Soo Choo was one the talks that hit me really hard to realize that there's another "world" within this happy world that we live in and how ignorant I am towards what's going on around us... Other talks have different massage that touched my heart but I cannot list all out... Find me if you want to know more. =)

For attachments, I went to two different places for the two weeks. On the first week, I went to MAB, Malaysian Association for the Blind together with Esmond, Yew Kong, Huan Ching, Clara, Hannah and Sze-Lyn. MAB is not a home but a service centre where the blinds will go and learn up some skills for them to fit in to the "normal" world. Click here for more info about MAB. Note that I used "normal" rather than normal because being with them, I do not think that I am normal or better because there are a lot of things that I need to learn from them. On the first day, we met the elderly blind who come to MAB once a week to have time together simply for some fellowship or games like dominos. They taught us to play dominos. Trust me, they can play a lot more faster than us even though they just depend on their sense of touch and hearing. Some of us tried playing without using our eyes, and we just cannot remember what tiles do we have and took a long time to just figure out what tiles we have by touching. They told us a lot of inspiring and touching stories. The little time that we managed to spend with them really touched me. The way they support, help and take care of each other. I have seen a lot of positiveness in them that sometimes we cannot even find it in the so-called "normal" people. They may have lost their sight but they managed to see the world by their hearts. The next two days were spent with kids. Some of them are blind and some have low vision. Besides, several of them actually have multiple disablilities. It would definitely be easier to teach them if they are just blind, but for cases where the kids are blind yet have other learning disabilities, it would surely make the teaching process harder. I was amazed at the patience of the teachers, especially Kak Rosnah. Those kids were really adorable and they were just as cute as the other kids. Now I kinda miss Haris who somehow got quite attached to him on the last day. He followed me wherever I go but forgot me when his mum came. =) He was naughty but cute. He can play one same toy over and over again, but that might be his favorite one la. Besides, we learnt braille, but just grade 1. We tried typing a letter using braille for the elderly blind to thank them for their hospitality. One short letter with not more than 50 words actually took us about 45 minutes to type it. =P We were really happy that Mr. Taslim can actually understand what we typed because we just simply put in the punctuation marks since we have not learnt yet. The second week, I went to United Voice (UV) with another bunch of people. UV is a self-advocacy society of people with learning disabilities. For more info about UV, click here. I was truly blessed being there too. Even though I might not help much but I have learnt so much from everyone. Too often we treat them differently because of their disabilities, but all they want is to live a simple life like we all do. Each of them has something different in them that we will always remember about even when we have come back to the reality. I enjoyed making bookmarks, cooking konnyaku jelly, making Omochi, having grooming session, chatting and having fun with them. So many friends I have made there, hope that I will meet them again. =)

For the understanding series, one word "wow!"A lot of surprises. Like we always say, expect the unexpected... We have Understanding Disabled, Poverty, Abused, Refugees and Vulnerable Communities. For some, I have heard too many about them but finally met in person. For some other, I knew too little about them that the truth actually gave me a shock of my life. =) Now that I have seen, heard and knew, what else can I do??? I believe this is the question that many of us brought back with us after SWEEP. Let's pray that these things that we experienced will not fade away so that we will not forget to pray for them and do something for them.

What else do I miss about SWEEP?? Actually there were a lot more interesting experiences because besides meeting up people with different conditions, we also came to know each other better through these two weeks. I shall post about them in another post because I need to sleep earlier tonight as I need to drive my bro and mum to Penang tomorrow early morning. Please pray for safe journey yea... =) I know those I have written still kinda brief... But no fun if I tell everything here also right? Night, people...