This was actually quite unexpected, during recess on Tuesday, C suddenly asked me, '' Want to do kerja amal together or not? we r all going'' i wasn't sure whether i should go, cause i was actually planing to do my moral's kerja amal ( a really stupid, useless project by the way, but i have to admit, if it wasn't because of this project, i probably would never have know what was happening outside my small tiny fantasy world) with interact or prs club, but, well, who know what might happen right? for all u know, the teacher will suddenly ask us to pass up our project the next day....well, then i'm done for. So....i agreed.
i told my mom about this, she agreed too, and so, i found myself at this..i dont know wat place, which was for children with mental problem....( i thought this was suppose to b a trip to an orphanage?)
i went there, and was shocked to find out that....the things i do, the things WE ALL do everyday, which we think is based on common sense is actually NOT based on common sense to a child with those kind of problems. Firstly, i was shocked to find a boy eating rice...rice that isn't boiled( which i managed to stop), then i saw another boy, who went around with a bottle n hitting people with the bottle after pouring the water on people....ect....( i dont really want to continue)
Back to the main purpose we came here...we asked the 'kakak' in charged if there was anything we could do, she told us another group of ppl came a week ago, so the house is still quite clean....WHAT TO DO???? wat's going to happen to our kerja amal??? there's about 30 ppl here, wat photo's r we going to put in? so, we took photo's of us fakingly sweep the floor, wipe the gates...i didn't realy like the idea, so i took only 1 photo, just for the project's sake. (probably will do another REAL one later)
Later, after the photo taking, we tried comunicating with the kids. i managed to understand what one of them were trying to tell me. ( he was 19, but i thought he was younger than me ><) i asked him a few questions n heard a heart-breaking story. the way he told it, was like it was the most normal thing in the world...yet, it's....
he spoke to me in cantonese, i was curious as to where did he learn how to speak that language as the rest of the kids( erm, actually most r older than me but... ) there only understands malay. after a few attempts, i finally understood what he said. he goes home once a week..........what? he has a family, so why is he here?? i mean, y isn't his family member looking after him? y is he left here?? though i was speechless, i continued my conversation with him. he then continued, most of the kids here have families, but r left here till no-idea-when. though i understand that it could b hard for the parents of these kids to accept the fact that thier child turned out like that, but, the child is still thiers, even if they do sent thier child to places like this, thinking it would b for the best, the least they could do is to visit thier child more often....
some time later, as i was wandering around, i saw another little girl sitting near a table. i talked to her, but she only smilled sweetly at me without a word. when some of the boys informed me that they brought some colour pencils n papers for them to draw, i tried to get the little girl to go out with me outside, where all the other kids gathered to do colouring. i managed to get her to stand up, but she couldn't move, i didn't understand. suddenly, i saw what was holding her back. she was tied to the table by a rope on her right leg.
the 'kakak' explained that she'de run away if her legs were not tied up. the girl continue smilling at me....she had a sweet smile. i was reluctant to leave her behind alone even when everyone was asked to gather outside. WELL...something embarassing happened n my first reaction was to turn my head n immediately ran out. my face was flushed, n i thought i even had fever, i was so shocked i was actually crying.[i've never been that shock or embarrased in my life before to make my face so red ] my frens were laughing away when they knew wat happened ( so bad == ). later, after everyone gathered outside, one of the girls explained that we weren't suppose to go into the other part of the house (where i went just now)
as there was actually a girl there with hits anybody who goes near.
i was shocked to hear that. but becaused of what happened earlier, i sweared i was not going in there again. then the smilling face of the little girl floated past my mind again. i was so tempted to bring the little girl a pencil n paper to draw on, but....i didn't want to go back there. in the end, i managed to pull a friend to come along with me(who later ran off). the 'kakak' told me more bout the little girl while i drew pictures with her. it seems that her other few siblings has the same problem. except for the eldest sister, all of them has problems. but they r sent to different centres in the country. her parents are divorced. the father looks after the eldest sister n come to visit his child every year.......the little girl smiles at me again....at least, she looks happy......
i heard some noise, picked up my courage n walked further into the house. i saw the room, where the sound came from. it was a terrible sight...a girl was chained in metal chains n locked to the wall at the corner of the empty room. she spotted me, n did somthing i never immagined. she sang to me...i was tongue-tied. so i sat at the other corner of the room and listened. when i came back to my senses, i tried talking to her in every language i knew. she continued singing. i was actually shocked at the poor room conditions, i mean, if i was tied here n was asked to live the life she lived, even i would have gone crazy....the kakak heard her singing.
she came into the room and talked to me. apparently, tis girl was here for quite some time, meaning few years. she'd break the windows with nothing but her bare hand when she's in a bad mood. sometimes, she even breaks the metal chains on her legs and attack people. then the girl stopped singing. i tried to go a little nearer. the kakak didn't stop me, she only ask me to be careful.
i moved slowly. Suddenly, without warning, she pounced at me. i had no idea what happened, but i somehow managed to dodged the 'attack'. i was kinda shock myself, before i knew it, the second round of pounding came. this time, i not only dodged the 'attack', i raced to the door. still stunned, about what happened. ( i was quite shocked that i dodged that instead of my usual got attack oso dunno what happened situation, so....round of applause please =D )
the kakak actually laughed. she told me that it's ok edi, she cant go that far with the chain on her legs. (are u kidding me? she jumped from one end of the room to another, thats like 2 meters, and she could have jumped another 2 meters if it wasn't because of the chain. ><) so how'd u bring food for her, or where does she sleep, she can't sleep on the floor her whole life? i asked, masa makan, saya letak pinggan tu kat sana, dia mau makan, dia makan lah, masa tidur pun sama, saya letak tilam kat sana, dia akan tidur lepas letih... she answered calmly.
......shock.......
after everything's over, there was a mix feeling. i felt lucky that i'm born fine n considered healthy? but, i did feel sad for the unfortunate ones. i'm sure they didn't want things the way it is too, but they had no choice. i pity thier parents too. i mean, who wont b upset if thier child turn out like that? but even if it's difficult, they still have to take up some kind of responsible right? if they think by sending thier child here, they are doing all they can, fine...but at least come visit them or bring them home once in a while...they really need it....even if it doesn't look like they even know what's happening............
P/S..this blog was in draft since 28th of feb. ><
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