Comic book artist Christophe Alliel and visiting volunteer teaches the children to draw.
CHRISTMAS is usually a time when people shop for presents to give to friends, children or loved ones. The festive season also brings with it the opportunity to be charitable — bringing cheers to the less fortunate in keeping with the Yuletide spirit.
And to do Christmas shopping for charity, there is one place to be in Kuching at this time of the year — Perkata Gallery of Persatuan Bagi Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Terencat Akal Sarawak (Perkata Sarawak or the Sarawak Association for the Welfare of Intellectually Disadvantaged Children.
Here, there are plenty of gifts to choose from — specially-designed tee-shirts, souvenirs, cards with various messages, postcards and the season’s greeting cards.
It certainly feels more meaningful to exchange greeting cards in the good old fashion way — signed, sealed and delivered in envelopes — rather than by electronic gadgets as is commonly practised nowadays.
The environmentally conscious will have a variety of beautiful recycled cards to choose from at Perkata Gallery which welcomes donations of used cards — or even used stamps — so that these throwaways can be made into saleable items.
According to Perkata Sarawak (school) principal Doreen Tie, the Gallery provides an avenue to generate a subsidiary income for the school.
Perkata Sarawak has to work very hard, raising funds to run the school. Although it does get an annual government grant, a substantial amount of its funds comes from public donations.
Tie said Perkata depends a lot on public generosity to provide good and affordable education to ‘special’ children, adding that these children should be given the best possible opportunity to lead a normal life.
Thanking donors and supporters, she said without their help, the school might not have been as successfully run. She appealed for their continued support.
“Perkata Gallery is open all year round to the public and anyone can shop here as a form of support and charity,” Tie said, adding that the Gallery also sells its products through selected shops in the city and all the proceeds will be used to benefit the students.
Both the Gallery and the school are located at Lot 1652, Block 10, Jalan Ong Tiang Swee.
The children put handprints on a banner to show their patriotic spirit.
Background
Perkata Gallery was set up in 1985 by Datin Judith Satem and Mrs Shelley Woollam as a subsidiary income support for the Sarawak Association For The Welfare of Intellectually Disabled Children.
Initially, it only sold cards with scenes of Kuching and a recipe book titled ‘Made in Sarawak’.
In 1988, it came under Persatuan Bagi Kebajikan Kanak-Kanak Terencat Akal Sarawak (Perkata Sarawak).
From 1988 to 1992, Mrs Christine Davis started designing T-shirts for sale in aid of the school. Mr John Darmody offered beautiful photographs of Sarawak for producing photocards. The items were also sold in Sibu, Bintulu and Miri.
Perkata Gallery was opened at Taman Sri Sarawak Mall in 1992 with two assistants to manage the stocks and sales under the supervision of Datin Judith Satem.
In 1992-3, Perkata offered a wider range of goods. New additions included Sarawak postcards, Sarawak desk calenders, note cards and seasonal greeting cards. For the designs on the greeting cards, Perkata is indebted to Australian artist, Marian O’Brien.
The official opening of Perkata Gallery by Datuk Amar Puan Sri (Dr) Hajah Laila Taib took place Aug 19, 1998.
Various disabled groups
Children attending Perkata school come from various intellectually disabled groups, including those with down syndrome, autism and various types of brain damage. There are also children with physical handicaps, hearing or speech impairments and behavioural problems.
Tie believed there might be children with similar problems who have not been introduced to the school. However, she said it was heartening to note many more parents had come forward to enroll their ‘special children’ at Perkata School.
“That’s a very good decision because the children will have a chance to learn to be more independent and acquire a certain level of social skills,” she said.
The various items on sale at the Perkata Gallery.
Training to be independent
Perkata students range from four to 17 years old.
They are trained to be as independent as possible. Usually, when they reach 17, a lot of their parents will come to see Tie, asking if their children could be retained to continue their schooling.
The children who have come of age would normally be referred to more appropriate places such as PDKs or Community-Based Rehabilitation centres for further education and training.
Tie said as the number of students who needed to attend PDKs, is always increasing, she hoped the government would look into the matter and provide pre-vocational training to enable the students to at least have a simple job after their training.
“With the right training, they can get a job that is suitable to them. So, if anyone knows of any jobs which are not too complicated, do let these special people have a try. Besides, allowing them to earn some income will help them build up their self-esteem — and who knows they may blossom.”
She pointed out that Perkata school did not have the capacity to cater for students over 17.
“For one, the school is already financially stretched to the limit. So let parents make a choice whether or not to allow their children to continue training at PDKs — and it’s also up to the PDKs to see if they can be accepted.
“This year, we have over 10 students aged 17. On average, about 15 children will pass out each year. And every year, we have about 10 to 20 new applicants and the number has been more or less the same for quite a while.
“Lately, we noticed there has been more applications for children with autism. Presently, we have 124 students with down syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy — and a few with some rare syndromes.”
Children are taught to do various tasks at the school.
Language development
Students start by mimicking sounds and learning words, stringing them together to make sensible sentences. In the process, they learn to understand the meaning of the words as well as instructions and questions.
They will also practise conversing. Those with speech impairment will learn to use simple sign language such as the Malaysian Makaton Sign Language. The Malaysian Language Assessment is used to assess language skill levels.
Cognitive development
Students are prompted and taught to think and decide for themselves. They learn to reason and recognise colours, shapes and sizes which also involve identifying similar objects and classifying them. And of course, they learn some simple things as well like counting, measuring, estimating, weighing, telling the time, reading timetables, shopping, and the like. The so-called Step by Small Step Mathematics Scheme is used for individual teaching programmes.
Fine motor skills
This is teaching the hand to do what the eyes can see. The students practise picking up small objects, building towers using blocks and doing colouring, needle-threading and crafting work, requiring the use of pencils, paints, and scissors.
Gross motor
This involves what is basically known as Physical Education or PE. Students practise co-ordination of body movements, learn to know their body parts such as what they are and do. In this area, games are extensively held while physiotherapy sessions conducted for those in need of it.
Students are taught writing and reading to help them write simple notes or read stories about themselves and other simple stories — and eventually some books or magazines.
Self help
Students learn to be as independent as they can, starting with more advance toilet-training. They also learn to eat and drink without help and thereafter, to wash dishes and cook simple dishes. Other daily tasks they are taught include dressing and undressing, simple cleaning or housekeeping chores — plus a bit of planning or shopping. By the time they learned to use public transport (buses), some can be considered independent enough to get a job outside.
Perkata school also teaches and guides students to behave properly in all sorts of social situations, relate to people in acceptable ways, share and play alongside others, look and listen, and even learn to take notice of unspoken social clues.