Meeting Needs of disadvantaged families

ADZAHAR is sitting, slouched in a unique-looking cushioned wooden chair.

His bright smile greets us the moment we enter his home when he sees his friend Thomas leading us inside.

Adzahar’s little brother eyes us as we make our way in to greet him and his family.

Thirteen-year-old Adzahar’s lanky limbs appear restricted in the chair designed and crafted by his grandmother to help him sit up comfortably on his own.

Without such support, maintaining a healthy sitting posture is near impossible for him, living with athehoid cerebral palsy that results in his limbs being in constant involuntary movement.

The chair used to fit him perfectly but it can no longer help him sit up straight as he has grown too large for it to frame his posture.

Adzahar Qurba Putra is from one of seven financially disadvantaged families receiving aid through Meeting Needs this past week.

Distribution of aids

This community rehabilitation project, spearheaded by therapists Sue Walker and Caroline Adriaanse, has been distributing mobility aids and food parcels to over 350 financially disadvantaged families in Kuching and its surrounding areas since 2006.

Throughout this week, the mobility aids distributed consist of specialised wheelchairs, cosy seats and supportive wraps that were purchased using funds raised from the restaging of Life in the Jungle in August this year.

The ticket sales from the two-day show were divided among Meeting Needs, Sarawak Kidney Association and Lion’s Club of Kuching North.

When coupled with proceeds from sales of the show DVDs, an amount of over RM11,000 has been made available for use by Meeting Needs.

This non-profit effort identifies financially disadvantaged families, mainly those with members requiring specialised mobility aids, and links them to sponsors while operating on a policy of using the donated funds only for purchasing aid for the recipients.

“It has been most rewarding to see a child sitting comfortably in an adapted wheelchair, no longer being confined to lying on the floor or being carried continuously by their parents,” said Adriaanse, a physiotherapist associated with Normah Hospital.

Challenges to overcome

However, she added that it has been difficult to search for the best mobility solution for each person they have assessed, due to financial limitations and lack of mobility aid options available in Malaysia.

One of the project’s aims was also to find organisations or persons willing to ‘adopt’ one or a few special-needs individuals from a particular area so that these individuals will receive regular social visits.

Only a few families have, thus far, been adopted by Breakthrough Ministries and SIB Iris Garden’s Social Ministry.

“I would like to have more opportunities to make presentations, advocating on behalf of the individuals we have met and sourcing more sponsorship for them,” said Walker, citing great admiration for the resourcefulness and courage shown by the families they have come to know through the project.

Running the community rehabilitation effort has not been easy for both Walker and Adriaanse, who manage this project on top of their full-time jobs.

“The greatest challenge for me has been to fit in the time for this project around my own family and my work,” said Walker, a speech therapist who runs the Therapy Playroom at Jalan Dogan.

Walker’s son, Thomas, sometimes joins them on their visitations and helps to carry the bulky mobility aids up onto houses on stilts and through narrow living spaces.

Walker and Adriaanse try to arrange deliveries of yearly food parcels during the respective festive seasons of the diverse cultural backgrounds of the families they help but finding sponsors as well as parties willing to help deliver the items has been challenging.

Need for follow-ups

During these visitations, Meeting Needs also uses the time to reassess the recipient’s condition.

“It’s important we follow up on each individual to ensure they are not having any problems with the aids we have given them and that it’s still suitable,” Walker stressed.

The aid recipients are also reminded and encouraged that once the mobility aids are no longer suitable for their use, such as when children outgrow their supportive seats, to return the devices to Meeting Needs so that other families in need can effectively utilise the items.

Meeting Needs also welcomes donations of any used mobility aids that are still in good condition.

One of the recipients, Zulfiqar, 9, from Pending, was settled comfortably in a second-hand stroller.

This stroller, to be used by Zulfiqar’s family to bring him out to visit relatives, was donated by the vice chairperson of Life in the Jungle as her children no longer had use for it.

“We have a little phrase to describe what Meeting Needs is all about. ‘Linking people who really care, with people who really need,” Walker explained.

The smiles on the faces of the recipients upon receiving visitors as well as the gratitude and relief expressed by their families upon receiving support for their family member indeed testify that Meeting Needs is truly living up to its name.

Those interested in volunteering, sponsoring individuals identified by Meeting Needs or donating mobility aids can contact Walker at (016-873 1376) or at [email protected].