PENANG Cheshire Home will send a 40-member team, including 18 special Scout residents, on an excursion to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, from June 25 to 27.
Joy was written all over the faces of these special Scout residents who are in wheelchairs when Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow presented the state flag to their organising chairperson cum contingent leader Veronica Pau at the Penang Cheshire Home in Babington Avenue today.
This was understandable as the home’s Scout sub-committee decided to reinstate the annual scouting activity after the 15th Penang Cheshire Agoonoree to Langkawi was cancelled at the last minute in March 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The others who make up the team to Sabah are 12 staff members, three committee members, five volunteers with medical backgrounds and two volunteers.
Chow, who commended Penang Cheshire Home for having a Special Scout Troop, contributed RM10,000 on behalf of the state government to the home’s fund-raising efforts to support their worthy cause.
He praised the home for organising annual Scout journeys since 2006 for its members, taking them sometimes to far-flung destinations, even in wheelchairs.
This was done, he said, to further enhance the educational and social development of the special Scouts, some of whom later participated in international agoonorees and jamborees in Thailand, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan.
“For this coming excursion, they will be able to view our country’s highest peak – an experience not many wheelchair users will have, as well as exchange ideas and experiences with their counterparts in Sabah Cheshire Home.
“In line with one of the Penang2030 vision’s strategic initiatives to uplift vulnerable communities and reduce inequalities, I sincerely hope that Penang Cheshire Home will continue to be a leading model for all organisations to further promote the educational and social advancement of special Scouts.
“My fervent hope is that more members of the community will step forward to support the disabled among us so that we can all move forward as a more mutually supportive and united community, which will augur well for the state and nation.
“This year’s excursion will undoubtedly enable Penang Cheshire Home scouts to carry the Penang flag with great pride to the Land Below the Wind. I wish them a joyful and memorable journey,” Chow said in his speech at the flag-handing ceremony.
Also present were Malaysian Council of Cheshire Homes and Services president Datuk Rowland Chin, Penang Cheshire Home president Andrew Koay Say Loke, Sabah Cheshire Home and Services president Lawrence Hee Qui Shing, Penang State Scouts Council treasurer cum National Scouts Council member Ong Ewe Keat and George Town (South) district Scouts commissioner Oi Siou Hean.
Koay thanked the state government for its financial contribution, saying that the sum, together with the donation from well-wishers, has been able to make this event possible.
He said as the situation is still volatile, the organising committee decided not to invite the special Scouts from other organisations to participate.
As a result, the event has been designated as “2022 Penang Cheshire Home Scout Excursion” as the home still wants to maintain the tradition of using the words “Penang Cheshire Agoonoree” for activities that include participants from other homes and schools for special needs.
“Although the excursion to Sabah is financially challenging as no participation fee has been collected, the many benefits such an arrangement provides for persons with disabilities far outweigh the cost.
“The excursion will give the participants a break from their usual routine as well as enable them to spend their time in a different environment.
“They will have the time to relax, unwind, and appreciate and enjoy the great outdoors in the Land Below the Wind.
“These participants will meet their counterparts in Sabah Cheshire Home to try out new things and to further develop their potential and interests,” Koay said.
Ong said he had the joy of witnessing the confidence and independence grow among the special Scouts since he has been involved with helping the Penang Cheshire Home 17 years ago.
“The annual activities in Penang Cheshire Home not only benefit the special Scouts but also the other young people who, in our case, the Scouts in secondary schools, understand the needs and the problems of people with disabilities – especially wheelchair users.
“Such understanding enabled us to look at life differently. We, the young ones, became more appreciative of our life and health.
“We also became more respectful and helpful towards our parents and those older than us who were sickly, as we knew how to care for them and understood that one day we too might be in a similar situation,” Ong said.
Pau, who has been instrumental in organising the home’s annual agoonoree – a camp for disabled Scouts since 2006, said the trip for the whole team to Sabah would cost about RM50,000.
She also thanked all the donors and the state government for coming forward to support the event.
Although she has set up a home in New South Wales with her husband, Warren Keith Bates, Pau, a Penangite, occasionally returns to Penang and still serves the Penang Cheshire Home. Keith Bates was also present at the ceremony in Penang today.
Two of the special Scouts – Noreeda Redzwen, 35, and Tan Choon Giap, 60 – said they are looking forward to the trip.
“I am very happy to be selected for the trip. This is the second time I am going to take a flight; my first was in 2018 when I took part in a wheelchair beauty pageant in Kuala Lumpur,” said Noreeda, a 35-year-old factory operator who has spinal bifida (a birth defect when the spine and spinal cord did not form properly).
For Tan, who was so glad when the chief minister spoke to him, said he was also excited about the coming excursion.
“We’re going to the airport next Saturday at 3am. This is the first time I am going to board an aircraft. I am eager and motivated,” said Tan, who has spastic cerebral palsy.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix by Adleena Rahayu Ahmad Radzi
Video by Alissala Thian