Telematch kicks off campaign for volunteers

By SUSAN TAM

Shielding the sun from their eyes, some 50 disabled and able-bodied people braved the hot weather to have fun at Taman Jaya on Saturday morning.

Their shared laughter could be heard loud and clear as they paired off to take part in various games.

Able-bodied and disabled participants of the telematch held to kick off Phase Two of the 'Be An Angel Campaign.'

The teams, each made up of one disabled person and an able-bodied person, co-operated well when they played games, one of which required teams to soak sponges in buckets of water before racing to the other end of a platform to fill up a one-litre plastic bottle.

The one-hour telematch was held to kick off Phase Two of the Be an Angel Campaign, organised by the Beautiful Gate Disabled People Caring Centre, HATI.org.my and Methodist Youth Fellowship.

Women, Family and Community Development Ministry parliamentary secretary Chew Mei Fun launched the event and sportingly took part in one of the games.

Chew was blindfolded and took part in a ping-pong ball race, teaming up with her disabled partner, who happened to be Beautiful Gate Disabled People Caring Centre director Sia Siew Chin.

The able-bodied members of the teams had to push their wheelchair-bound partners to other teams at the opposite end of the lane in order to pass on the ping-pong ball.

This phase of the campaign, which was called Angels-at-Work, required volunteers to sign up to work 15 hours for two months in any organisation of their choice.

More than 25 of the volunteers at the telematch were from Phase One of the campaign.

Phase One, which was in the form of a camp at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, was held last month to give able-bodied people insights on volunteerism and tips on how to work with the disabled community.

Upon completion of the 15 hours, the volunteers would be given their “wings” and a certificate to acknowledge their contributions.

Sia said in addition to the 25-odd people who were continuing with Phase Two of the campaign, more than 20 volunteers had showed up at the telematch for the first time, expressing their interest in the campaign.

“This is very encouraging as it shows that support is building up for the campaign,” she said in an interview after the launch.

But, she noted, initial support for any campaign would be good and she hoped that volunteers would carry on their work after gaining their “wings”.

Biotechnology student Tan Chin Peng, 19, said it was her first time attending such as event and she would make time for future activities.

“It was fun and it definitely inspired me. I felt very happy to interact with the disabled community,” said the Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman student.

Her partner for the telematch, M. Manoharan, said activities like these were necessary to bridge the gap between the disabled and able-bodied people, especially the youth.

“Many youngsters are not aware of the disabled community and with such events, we can encourage interaction between the two groups,” said Manoharan, who is vice-president of the Damai Disabled Association of Selangor and Federal Territory.

Manoharan, who is wheelchair-bound, said similar activities should be held for other groups such as the elderly or senior citizens.

Source : http://metro.thestar.com.my/news/2005/5/10902070.html