An Orphanage's Wish

26 May 2012  -  What brought us back to Pusat Jagaan Beribuan Kasih where we last visited  months ago, was the  Caretaker’s wish to bring its residents for a weekend trip to Port Dickson this coming school holiday.  According to her, the residents of this Home rarely have the privilege of being invited to birthday parties or outings, and not many drop by this Home to hold events there either.  So, about two months ago, Miss Kavitha started planning for this holiday trip and seeked contributions to make this trip possible.  However, with only two more weeks to go, she is still short of half the amount budgetted; RM700 for the bus rental cost and another RM1000 for the food cost.  On hearing their plight, Hubby agreed to take up the bus rental cost, and with that load off, they are another step nearer to realising their dream holiday.

Hence, this visit to Pusat Jagaan Beribuan Kasih – bringing along with us some hardly-worn clothing which our kids outgrew and some fresh groceries.  Little Joshua generously gave up his collection of Silly Bandz (rubber bands formed into fancy shapes like animals, objects, vehicles, musical intruments etc) which the kids simply adore and could not get enough of.  While shopping for the fresh groceries for the Home, little Joshua thoughtfully threw in few packets of Mamee snack n jelly cups which he said will make the kids happy … and true enough, those were snapped by the kids in no time.  For the kids in this Home, snacks such as sweets, chocolates and jellies are a rare treat.

Part of our grocery



Joshua's thoughtfulness

On arrival, we noticed an Indian lady alighting from a taxi with two small kids, and she left few minutes later in the same taxi, this time without the kids.  We learned that she was kicked out by her ex-husband and his new wife and has no choice but to leave her kids, a pair of 4-year-old twins, in temporary care of Miss Kavitha until she finds a job.  Apart from these twins, there were few other addition since our last visit in November last year, mostly kids and an old lady in her 90’s.  The old lady was admitted to the Home about 2 months ago by her children who claim that they are unable to care for her.  Seemingly in good health for her age, her only problem is that her mind tends to get confused at times.  On a sadder note, we also learnt that Madam Lourdes, a dialysis patient, who just joined the Home last year was admitted to Hospital five days ago due to high fever and has since lapsed into a coma.  Doctors treating her are not optimistic about her condition.  She had requested a wooden bead bracelet from me which we took some time to find it, and today we intended to give to her, but sadly we do not know if she will ever recover.  Many a times, when we visit Homes, we do get personal requests from the kids or old folks for small things and we do try to fulfill them, sometimes not soon enough, like in this case.  A lesson learnt today ~ do not delay what you can do for them today for tomorrow they may not be here…

Both these ladies have one thing in common - left there by their children

Hubby's soft spot for kids

Joshua says : If you can't sit up to play with me, I will lie down to play with you

Happy to know that Kavitha has finally managed to secure this house early this year, with contributions from kind donors, relatives and friends.  Even though this place may not be much to look at, but at least it is now their own Home and their days of moving about can be laid to rest.  The condition of this place is still no better than the last time we visited, if not worse.  We noted that it is much more bare than before due to broken furnitures which have been removed but not replaced.  The 10 units of study tables has only 4 chairs to it, all in pathetic condition, they now have only 2 small foldable tables and about 15 plastic chairs for serving meals, the kids eat on the floor.  In the girls' room, the double-decker beds have been taken down to create more space to accommodate the growing number of girls.  Cupboards with doors unable to close properly completed the sad picture.

They are not throwing out this one yet cause they only have 4 chairs left...

Clothes are hand-washed cause washing machine has broken down

In spite of living in such condition, the residents, young and old seem happy, most likely due to the care and warmth they receive here.  A Home with "Thousands of Love Care" as envisaged by Kavitha, who is more of a Mother to the kids or a Sister to the single mothers or a Daughter to the old folks, she goes beyond providing them with shelter and meals … and this coming holiday trip is one example.  In her words, she just want to bring some memorable experience for these people under her care. For some of them, this may be their only holiday trip in this lifetime…

May God grant them this wish ....