Bonnie (second right) and Jong pose with Lim and Youth and Sports Department Sarawak head of OKU Sports Development Unit Joyce Anyie (left) after receiving their certificates of appreciation. — Photo by Ting Tieng Hee
KUCHING (Oct 16): Tokyo Paralympics gold and silver medallists Bonnie Bunyau Gustin and Jong Yee Khie have been appointed ambassadors of Sarawak OKU Skills Development Association (SOSDA).
SOSDA founder Dunstan Lim said the appointment of the national para powerlifters as SOSDA ambassadorship symbolised what an OKU (Orang Kurang Upaya) or person with disability could do if given the opportunity to excel.
“They do not achieve success overnight but through years of sacrifices, hard work, suffering to get to where they are now as not all can achieve their level of success but what is most important for each individual OKU, is to be given an opportunity to be at their own best, whatever level that may be,” he added at SOSDA Introduction To Skills Development Opportunity For OKU programme at the Youth and Sports Complex yesterday.
“Learning to make a good pot of Sarawak Laksa or Chicken Rice and be able to earn a reasonable income is what it is all about. Being the best you can be. That is OKU empowerment or being empowered OKU.
“Even in our earlier discussion with our collaborators, Bonnie’s and Jong’s names were never used to strengthen our proposal but to our real objectives of helping the OKU community through bridging of gaps and issues that OKU individuals face everyday be it in employment, job opportunities, ease of mobility, rights of OKU and so on,” he added.