IPOH, Dec 20 — Thirteen-year-old Isaac Foong stuck closely to his eldest sister Clarissa when he arrived at a holiday camp organised by non-government organisation Ray of Hope (ROH).
He held on to a plastic figurine toy and insisted that Clarissa initially sit next to him during the two-day programme.
As the day went on, Issac’s confidence grew slowly and he started joining the activities but would still steal glances at Clarissa to ensure that she was not far from him.
Clarissa said Issac, who has Down Syndrome and is the third child out of five siblings, was attached to her.
“At home, he spends most of his time with me as my parents are out working,” said Clarissa.
Clarissa added that it takes time for Isaac to get used to his surroundings.
“He is very shy but once he is comfortable with the people around him, he will be fine,” she said.
The 17-year-old said her mother learned about the programme after the family registered Issac to undergo training at ROH from next year.
“My mother feels it will be good to let my brother learn more about the centre since he will start learning here soon,” said Clarissa, adding that Issac was formerly home schooled before the teacher decided to stop teaching this year.
Another participant of the programme was S.M. Seenthagan Shaun, who was accompanied by his mother Jasintha Alfonso Victor.
Jasintha, 47, said she learned about the programme through a friend.
“The programme is good to expose my 12-year-old son to the outside world,” said Jasintha of Seenthagan, who is diagnosed as autistic and a slow learner.
The businesswoman said the society was still not used to having special children around them.
“Even my own relatives were not comfortable with my son’s condition initially but thankfully they are now fine with him,” said the business woman.
Besides volcano and pizza making sessions, first day of the programme saw participants taking part in indoor obstacle courses.
On the second day, there were group challenges such as tug of war and water bomb. To end the camp, the participants took part in creative fashion show.
ROH chairman Datin Mary Yeoh said this was the first time the organisation was having the programme.
“We want to encourage integration between normal and special children,” she said, adding that of the 26 participants, seven are normal children.
Yeoh said by getting normal children to join in the programme, it would help to create awareness about special children, adding that the organisation hoped to have the event annually.
Yeoh also said ROH would be offering art lessons for normal and special needs children next February.
It will be held every Saturday from 2.30pm to 4pm where the children will be taught to colour or paint on paper, tiles, t-shirts, canvas shoes and bags.
For details, contact ROH at 05-5488796 or email: [email protected] or visit its Facebook page Ray of Hope Ipoh.
