Workshop on SMA

We recently attended a workshop about Living with SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy). The workshop was conducted by Sook Yee, her husband Edmund and her dear son Branden. Though I've heard of ALS, I've never heard of SMA, and it was certainly an eye opening workshop worth attending. It helped us understand the challenges of living with a disability, and it gave us a glimpse of parental courage, love and hope.  I'm amazed at the courage and zeal of Branden's parents, how they continually bring awareness to the public, and how they continuously find ways to help Branden, never giving up and always hopeful.

Here children were asked to scratch their ear while pulling a tight elastic band. It was certainly difficult to bring their hands up to the ear. Understanding how difficult it is for people living with SMA to use their hands effectively.

Branden going round tickling the children who were not allowed to move, scratch or fidget. It was to help them understand how it would be, being in the "shoes"of Branden. He has such an infectious laughter and smile. Children warmed up to him immediately.

Several weeks later, we were invited by Branden's mum to help out at their Arts for Grabs booth. The sale was to raise funds for We Care Journey an organization to help bring awareness and help other people with SMA.

Jo did her part by helping to paint a bag which would then be sold to raise funds, while Nel helped to hand out leaflets containing information about SMA.

To find out more about how you could help Branden, or to understand more about what it's like, living with SMA, you can find them on their facebook page Branden -Growing up with SMA.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2016
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Painting Murals

We were invited recently to help out with a green project at our community. It involved painting mural for a recycling center. We always jump at the chance to do art, any sort of art!! Most of the painting was done at night and we really had fun doing it.

Nel painting a deer

Jo's Fairy bird

Surprise surprise, I found out that hubby can paint!!!!

I thought I'd add a hornbill

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2016
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More art work

Mine merging batik pieces and acrylic with some broken shells

Jo's a mermaid face t o face with a turtle

Nel's stack of hand made cards

Jo wondering how it feels like to move like a turtle :p

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2016

Volunteering so far 2016

We've been volunteering...because volunteering is rewarding and a nice change from our schedule.

1)We helped out recently at the Turtle Conservation Society Booth during the Raptor Watch. Girls made a little Turtle and Ladder game for the public, in hopes that those who played it would realize how hard it is for a turtle hatchling to survive, thus we all have to help in conservation.

                             Quite a lot of children came by and took the challenge. :)

2) Twice a month we travel about an hour and a half to go teach English to a group of children who can barely understand English. Nel especially is really into it and looks forward to each trip. Jo is more of my assistant, helping when I require additional help with kids who are weak in pronunciation, and she also helps out with conversational English. It's an awesome experience that we plan to continue with faithfully.

Part of our journey, by boat.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2016

Volunteering with MNS Green Living-

We saw an ad on MNS Green Living looking for volunteers to help clean up turtle tanks, the hatchery and the beach at the Melaka Turtle Conservation. I asked my children if they were keen, and very eagerly they said Yes.

It was quite a wait before the briefing began, because we had to wait for late comers. During briefing children were asked to be very careful, because the tank would be VERY slippery! Their job for the day would involve scrubbing the tanks, as well as gently scrubbing turtle shells too.

 The Melaka Turtle Conservation is mainly home to Hawksbill Turtle...and we spotted only one Green Turtle.
"The Critically Endangered hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) has been exploited for thousands of years as the sole source of commercial tortoiseshell. The beautiful carapace is generally streaked and marbled with amber, yellow or brown and often has a strongly serrated edge (5). The strongly hooked beak on the narrow head gives rise to the hawksbill turtle's common name (6). Unlike other marine turtles, the scales (scutes) of the hawksbill turtle’s carapace are imbricate, or overlapping, hence the scientific name 'imbricata' (7)."(Arkive.org) 

Children gently scrubbing the top of a turtle's shell. They were told to only scrub in one direction, downwards, away from the head.

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Scrubbing done, we headed to the hatchery.

From the outside of the hatchery, we took a peek and saw these babies that were newly hatched and ready to be released! How eager they were to get out of the bucket. :) According to Arkive.org, "probably less than one out of 1,000 eggs will survive and reach adulthood (9)."  :(

~We were not to go near the nests, but clean areas away from the nests. Children were given rakes and bags to clear the area of leaves and whatever trash they found.

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Final job for the day was to clean up the beach by the sanctuary. This was a dirty job that required gloves.

Somebody lent Jo this gadget which really came in handy. We found all sorts of garbage, like diapers, lots of styrofoam, old batteries, plastic containers, underwear and just gross items.

Nel carrying her full bag of garbage back to the meeting point.

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Finally to celebrate the hard work done, volunteers were asked to make a V on the beach to celebrate the release of turtle hatchlings. Nobody was to touch any hatchlings. The bucket of hatchlings was tipped over gently and we stood and watched as the little ones began their journey to the ocean. Some struggled even on sand...and we wondered if they'd survive. We know, the rate of survival is low...we could only pray for them and hope.

Back home, Jo drew these pictures in her travel journal. I asked my children if they thought the trip worth it, they said Yes. They never expected to find so much trash on the beach and they do realize how trash will pollute the ocean when the tide rises, harming sea creatures and the environment. I think they learnt a lot from volunteering.

So yeah, Let's keep our environment CLEAN...and teach our children to protect the environment  through volunteering in such programs, and perhaps even starting little projects in our neighbourhoods to educate others about the importance of keeping mother earth clean.

Next Post: Apa Kaba Homestay where we stayed the night after a long working day.

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2015

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Random Public project

 The kids and I decided on a random public project. Together with some friends, they created lots of bookmarks with encouraging words such as "Your life is precious", "You are worth it!", "Life is beautiful." etc.

Then together with a few friends, we set out to give these bookmarks to random strangers in a mall. We never expected the reactions we received from public. A lot of people waved their hands in rejection when they saw children approaching them. Some, especially people who were well dressed, more dramatically as if the girls had disease.  One even took a bookmark, laughed at the children and returned the bookmark.

This really discouraged some of the children, and even made them very afraid.

They didn't know why people reacted so negatively when all they wanted to do was to give a bookmark.

In the end, the ones who accepted our bookmarks were people who worked as cleaners, waitresses, people behind counters. One waitress accepted the bookmark and said very excitedly...
"For me...you mean for me?????" And she smiled, so big, so wide, and began showing off her bookmark to her workers. Oh, that smile was so precious to us.

A cleaner lady accepted the bookmark, smiled a quiet smile, and said "Thank you so much, this is very special" and kept it in her pocket, taking it out from time to time to look at it.

A lady sitting on the stairs alone, smoking, rejected their bookmarks at first, then suddenly said, "For free? I'll take it." We walked away, and from a distance watched her reading the same bookmark over and over again as she sat there alone, smoking her cigarette. We only hope that bookmark brought her some encouragement.

We realised that day, how cynical and afraid people have become, perhaps because of the high crime rate in our society. Well, we hope little projects like this will make a difference in society. At the same time, my children have learnt to be a little braver, even in accepting rejection.

In the end joy and smiles of the few people who accepted their bookmarks made it all worth it.

If you happened to read this post, why not do a similar project, make a difference! :)

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2014
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Mini Street Theatre Performance

Recently, my children, together with their friends, formed a small street theatre  group under the guidance of Shantini Venugopal and Lorna Henderson.

Initially when a parent initiated the class, my older girl was a very reluctant participant. She being an introvert, prefers spending her time reading books in a quiet corner, or spending time with just a few close friends whom she knows  very well. In a group setting, she'd rather watch, observe or daydream without participating. She tends to back away from group activities fearing several things like being "watched", making mistakes, not fitting in, not knowing what to say etc. I understand these fears, as I'm an introvert too.

I'm just so glad that through this group, Nel was able to set aside and overcome some of that fear, and even performed on stage.   :)   Way to go Nel!

As for Jo, she thoroughly enjoyed the classes. I can't say she was a good performer, sometimes participating, sometimes getting distracted by the happenings around her. Still, this was a wonderful experience. At the end of it all, they performed twice at Publika, once at the Agathians Shelter Home (which was awesome!) and at Phyllis Caring Home.

Warming up with teacher Lorna before the show at Publika.

Shantini V, talking to the audience and introducing the children's group.

Wowing the audience with songs, poetry and drama. Also notice the young stilt walkers.

Colourful flags that the children handpainted themselves.

Using drama to touch the community. Performing at Phyllis Caring Home.  The person who runs the home was so touched. She commented "In 20 years I've been here, this is one of the best moments ever for us. "

Performing at the Agathian Home for Boys. Warming up before performance at the Agathians

The Agathian boys performed for us in return. They are fantastic dancers!! The crowd went wild with their performance! (Photo taken by Alison, but I kinda edited pic by "chopping" off  heads to protect privacy of participants.)

@poundthegarlic.blogspot.com 2013

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March of the Frogs

We signed up with http://www.enoprogramme.org/ to take part in a "Be Climate Smart" campaign. Together with a group of friends, we made paper marche frogs and took to the streets to participate in the March of the Frogs. During this march, our children went round telling people about climate change,  asking them to pledge to make a difference by helping our earth. The pledges suggested by  ENO were as follows:

A)Decrease the temperature at home by 1 Celsius and turn off the lights whenever you don't need them.

B)Don't leave your TV, computer or stereo in a stand-by mode but switch them off when you don't use them.

C)Change your light bulbs into energy-saving bulbs.

D)Change your electricity into one that uses renewable resources.

E)Don't waste in vain - prefer to fix and repair rather than buy new

F)Sort your waste and recycle whenever possible

G)Use products that have as little packaging as possible.

H)Use public transport and walk or bicycle instead of driving a car.

I)Eat local food and less meat.

J)When you buy food I use a bag or an old plastic bag.

K)Favour environmentally labelled products.

L)Plant a tree and ask you friend to do the same.

First people to pledge :)

When we first started, most children were nervous and refused to approach anyone. To act as good role model,  I collected the first pledge by approaching a group of guys seated outside Subway. These guys happily listened and obliged, and they made the first pledges which they fed into Franck our Frog. :)

As the day drew on, almost all the children became very confident, approaching random people, asking them to make pledges to safe the climate.

During the whole campaign, the children met friendly as well as rude people. Some waved them off with excuses such as "Find me later" or "I'm in a hurry."  One lady waved us off as if in fear, opened her handbag and wanted to throw us some money. When we told her we didn't want money, but just a pledge for the environment, she was surprised. There were a few others like that who reacted in surprise,  "Is that all you want? Just my pledge?? " they asked in disbelief.

In total, the children spent about 2 hours on the campaign, and collected close to 400 pledges, pretty good for such a small group of children! As the various people they approached read the pledges and signed them, I believe our children who participated were making a great impact, (as one dad put it), by planting eco seeds in these people.  

In the end, I think the whole campaign gave a new sense of empowerment to the children too. They came away feeling more confident about themselves, proud of their achievement and role they've played in society. :)  Just before we called it a day, Nel my more introverted child, stepped away from the group. I saw her approach a lady all by herself, and asked if this lady would pledge to help the environment. For me, as mum, I felt proud of my gal...that she was able to break away from her usual self by approaching a total stranger to share about climate change. Proud of you Nel!  :)

One of our kids wearing the pledge

As the day went on, our children, more confident began approaching total strangers by themselves, sharing about climate change and asking for pledges.

A student feeding a pledge into our frog.

This guy humored the children because he pledged to do almost everything on the list!

reading the pledges, deciding which they would be able to carry out.

Other members of the group doing their part

Some people made pledges and left encouraging notes for my girls. :)

At home, we sorted out the pledges and Nel will be using the results to make a graph and we'll be analysing the results together.

 Here's some of the frogs that went with us.


Will YOU pledge to make a difference by pledging one of the above to help our earth?