Last weekend, Shorty went for her company’s charity drive that involved a few orphanages in PJ. She came home telling me all about the day and about this cute and very pleasant boy that she met. She told me a bit about the home the boy was from and how they were in need of some help. We’ve been to a number of orphanages around Klang Valley but never this one so this weekend we decided to pay the boy’s home a visit.
The Siddharthan Care Centre is home to some 35 or so children.
It’s been around for 3 years and it’s led by a man named Manimaran. I asked him how he got involved in the home and he told me how he has always been active in orphanages for many many years taking after his late brother. One day the company he was working for gave him the support to start his own home and it all just happened for him.
When I first got to the home, I was on the phone. So I stood outside the home for a while trying to quickly finish my phone call. Suddenly a little girl dressed in white came up to me. She looked up at me and extended her small hand out to greet me. I gently shook her hand and a few more children came up to me to greet me. It was a very warm moment. Many children that age that I see in our every day lives are afraid to even talk to you if they don’t know you, let alone come up and shake your hand. These children though were so warm.
All the children at the home were very very well brought up. They come from different backgrounds. Some of them have never met their parents before and have been abandoned since birth. Some of them have parents who are still around but unable to take care of them because they suffer from drug addiction or they’re really poor. The one thing they all had in common though was they would always give you a big smile whenever you look at them.
It really reminds us what we have in our lives. We have so much more than many of these children but still they manage to find happiness in their daily life. Each day , their lives follow a strict schedule.
And no matter their age, they all played a part in doing house chores. I saw a bunch of them sorting and folding clothes that just had been washed.
I did notice though that some of them did take quite a long time to get it done because they were playing around with the clothes. Like one of them would load everything in the basket, and then pour it all out again just to load it back.
The boys would play around a little but the girls would seriously fold everything themselves. On our way to the home, Shorty and I decided to stop by and buy them some cookies. At the shop I happened to see a good stock of Vitagen in the fridge so I ended up buying 35 small bottles of them.
I remember how growing up, I used to love to drink Vitagen and would beg my parents for it. I thought it would be nice to bring some for the kids. I imagined that just like a children’s birthday party, once I took out the Vitagen everybody would be all over us grabbing the bottles but I was very wrong.
When we announced we had Vitagen to give out, all the children quietly lined up and took a bottle each in an orderly fashion. As each one walked by and took a bottle, they all said “Thank You Uncle” without the need to be reminded.
After giving out everything, Manimaran gave us a tour of the home. This is one of the 4 rooms that the children sleep in.
He told us about how some of them just aren’t able to sleep on double decker beds without falling off because they move around so much in sleep. So what he has to do is organize some of them to sleep on mattresses on the floor. Even then, he would come in the morning and see some of the kids having mysteriously moved in their sleep to go under the bed itself.
We walked across this room that had these 3 little girls sleeping there together on the floor. I thought it was really cute how the little one on the end was sleeping against the one in the middle.
After a while some of them woke up and the older children quickly carried them and cared for them.
This cute little girl was put in her walker.
Every child in that home has a story. This little girl was given up at birth because her mother was only 16 years old at the time.
The mother recently got married this year but has only been able to come back to the home to see her only a few times. I went downstairs to see some of the girls who were helping do the laundry and they willingly took a picture with me and Shorty.
This girl was really cute. When I asked her what her name was, she replied something like “Manogan”. Then I asked her how to spell it and she just looked at my blank. Not sure if she understood what I was saying but I think she was only 3 or 4 years old.
In my few hours at the home, I learned that the home was in dire need of financial help. They were 2-3 months behind in rent. It hadn’t been easy for them to find cash sponsors because after 3 years they’re still waiting for some kind of license from the government. This license would allow anyone who donates money to the home to claim some tax benefits from the donations. Without that, they can’t.
Nevertheless, I left the home promising to send them a cheque next week that will hopefully help them a little.
On my way home I was trying to think of what I could do to help the kids, maybe even involving Nuffnang and ChurpChurp. To raise funds, or even to bring out the kids for some fun. Manimaran told me how they sometimes go on some sponsored trips to Genting or anywhere nearby and they all have fun.
You guys have any ideas?
In the mean time, if you’d like to help them this is their address
No 32, Jalan SS3/46, Taman Universit, 47300 Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
Phone number: +603 7874 7893
You can also call Manimaran at +6019 314 8533.
Timothy Tiah – Co-Founder of Colony, Kuala Lumpur Co-Working Space