Health Carnival Joint Project at Sungai Buloh

Date  :  15 Dec(Sunday)

Time  :  8.00am to 1.00pm
Venue:  Dewan SJK (C) Sungai Buloh

Blood Donation (Sungai Buloh)

Date  :  4 May(Sunday)
Time  :  9.00am to 1.00pm
Venue:  SJK (C) Sungai Buloh

Charity Movie Show with the Orphanage

Date  :  16 Nov (Saturday)

Time  : 11.00am to 1.00pm
Venue:  TGV Sunway

LCI Peace Poster Contest [PPC] – Our World, Our Future

 
Date: 16 October 2013
Time: 8am - 11pm
Venue: SJKC Sungai Buloh

With a tender age of 13, Jenny Park believes that the United Nation [UN] and the Nobel Prize winners would be the hopeful lots for world peace. She had her belief clearly expressed in her peace poster, which had earned her the
Grand Prize of Lions Club International [LCI] Peace Poster Contest [PPC] 2012-13.

This year the theme for PPC is “Our World, Our Future”. Our club had the contest held at SJKC Sg. Buloh, the only Chinese school in Sg Buloh Village. There were 38 participants, one of them from SK Assunta.

Children from various social economic backgrounds would naturally see the world differently, and therefore have different dreams for their future. For those come from the better off family background may think of their future world with advance technology, better environment and peaceful world. For those from the other end, all these could be luxurious; eliminating poverty and making famine a history may be on top of their list.

Could we ‘lead’ the children to think of “Our World, Our Future” ? Or shall we just leave it to them to explore their very own version of   
“Our World, Our Future” ? 

Blood Donation at SJKC Sg Buloh

Date: 29 September 2013
Time: 9am - 12.30pm
Venue: SJKC, Sungai Buloh

Once again we had successfully collected 105 bags of blood from the public who live around Sungai Buloh village.
The noble event was made possible with collaboration University Malaya Medical Centre’s [UMMC] Transfusion Medicine Unit.

It is never an easy job to get the people around this area for a social awareness event, especially in the Sunday. 

On the September 29 morning, we were on site about 8.30am; the committed UMMC medical crews arrived much earlier for setting up.
To our surprise the people were coming in just before 9am. The donors seemed pre-arranged among themselves; there were no crowd
seen on site, they were hardly waited for their turn. What’s a happy and smooth noble event being held!

In spite of the success, we shall not be contented.

Even though the blood donation awareness in Malaysia is improving since 2008, as per 2012, it is only 2.2% of the Malaysians aged
between 18 and 60 were blood donors. With this figure, we must acknowledge that there is so much to be done.

According to Mayo Clinic in US, a healthy blood donor could donate his/her blood as frequent as every 84 days. Our club is holding
this event at the same site half annually, with the aims to create awareness among the people in the area and saving lives!

Donating blood would not cause obesity, but in fact reduce one’s weight by about 450 grams – the same figure that
blood donated – about 450 ml.

Regular blood donors are 4 times less likely to suffer from heart attack. Besides blood donors would subject to certain health screening;
it is to prevent unhealthy blood from reaching or transfusing into needy patients. The regular donors are having their health screened
regularly. Isn’t it an obvious advantage!

Our regular blood donation events are very important, because mobile blood donation drives like ours are in fact contributing more
than 90% of the total blood collection in the country.

With 105 bags blood collected, let’s congratulate the great donors, and of course do not forget the 13 Lions and 11 Omega Leos
who put aside their precious Sunday morning for the noble event.

We serve! ROAR!

Health Talk at SJKC Sg Buloh

Date: 8th August 2013

Time: 9am - 12.30pm
Venue: Health Talk at SJKC Buloh

Organizing health talks in a community where health awareness is relatively low could always be a challenge. Lions Club of Sg. Buloh has decided to take up the challenge last year. It is not easy to get audiences, turnout rate is always discouraging, and it is challenging to get committed doctors to spare their precious time to talk a relatively small crowd. However, we are not deterred by the discouraging situation. We are determined to do more.

On August 18^th, in collaboration with the iHEAL Medical Centre Kuala Lumpur, we had get Interventional Cardiologist, Dr Wong Teck Wee to give a talk on heart care.

Besides the health talk, the medical centre was providing free health screening for those who present. The screening service included providing BMI [Body Mass Index], Blood sugar and cholesterol text. Many of the village folks came in just for the screening.

Dr Wong was not discouraged by low turnout, about 20 of them. Dr Wong told us about the various symptoms of heart problems, various diagnosis methods and treatment. In spite of the low turnout, the interaction was encouraging.

We managed to get another guest speaker, Dr Goh Pik Pin to tell us more about the Hospice. As the head of the Clinical Research Centre of Hospital Kuala Lumpur, she is also volunteering in Kasih Hospice in Petaling Jaya.

This is the second time we work with Kasih Hospice for hospice awareness programme. Kasih Hospice has been proving free service to patients with terminal illness in this community. It provides them with the necessary equipment, like patient bed, ripple mattress, wheelchair and so on. Nurses and volunteer doctors would visit the terminally ill patients regularly, provide them with palliative care. Besides, Kasih Hospice also providing courses and information to family members of the terminally ill patients and members of public on effective ways of taking care of the said patients.

As the Organizing Chairperson, Ln KP called some folks in the community, and being told that they were out for shopping mall or engaged with other matters. They were all aware of the programme, just that they had had other priorities.

As said earlier, Lions Club of Sg Buloh would not deterred by the low turnout, in fact, it is the main reason, we shall do more to create health awareness just for the betterment of the said community.

 
We Serve, ROAR!

Visit to National Leprosy Control Centre

Date: 4th August 2013
Time: 9am - 12.30pm
Venue: National Leprosy Control Centre (NLCC) , Sungai Buloh

     We have heard enough discrimination and marginalization. There are discrimination based on sex, gender, racial, and various social groupings and classes. The minorities are being squeezed to corner. Some of us may even feel that they are somehow being discriminated at time. However, how many of us witness or experience the actual serious consequences of these social phenomena? Perhaps the visitation to the National Leprosy Control Centre [NLCC] would enable us to learn that ignorance could make us humankind being extremely unkind to our fellow human, even within a similar social group.

      Talking to a few inmates and Ms. Joyce Wong, the author of the book “The Valley of Hope – National Leprosy Control Centre, Sg. Buloh”, we decided to organize small group visit to the forbidden ‘Leprosy settlement’, NLCC.

    On the August 4^th,  Sunday morning, 36 of us, Lions, Leos, our family members and friends were punctually gathered at a hall in the NLCC, welcome by dedicated Sister Kamariah. Sister Kamariah has been servicing in NLCC since 1980. She could have opted to serve in other hospital; she was touched and moved by the inmates’ stories and their sincerity. Sacrificed her precious family time in the holy month of Ramadan, Sister Kamariah volunteered to be one of the speaker. Her presentation to introduce NLCC could reflect her passion and dedication. She sought our support to convert a little empty land next to the hall to a resting garden for the inmates. We are positive to her request.

    The centre was established in 1929, named The Federal Leper Settlement at Sungai Buloh or Sg. Buloh Settlement. In 1965 it was renamed as Sungai Buloh Leprosarium, and changed to its current name in 1969.

    The settlement was like a self-contained township, it had its own council [Patient Council in 1946, then renamed to Sg Buloh Settlement Council.] that membered by the inmates to assist in administering the settlement. The inmates were trained to be nursing and enforcement personnel; as few were willing to work in the settlement. It had its own valid currency for goods and services transaction. There were places of worship for different faiths, provision shops, school, and land for food cultivation.

    The inmates were allowed to get married. Many of their children were arranged to be adopted due to the limitation of resources to cope with the child care activities. It was another sad story.

    Joyce Wong was sharing on her very own experience in the settlement. Being a daughter of inmates in the settlement or NLCC, she was advised and reminded by parents since her childhood not to reveal her background as a child of the ex-leprosy patients. She kept the secret until 2002 when she decided to write a book jointly with her friend, Peng Qiu Xia.

    It was abnormally quiet in the hall; all were paying their full attention as Joyce Wong sharing her story. As nobody aware of her background, she had got the ‘privilege’ to be advised by the ‘normal healthy’ adults, “Do not get near to the Leprosy Settlement, and do not mix with the children from the settlement …”

    The Malaysia government has done great job to make NLCC one of the best administered Leprosy settlement in the world. From providing a peaceful settlement that enabled the inmates to live with pride, to administer the illness with effective drugs, Dapsone in 1948, Multi-Drug-Therapy [MDT] in 1988.

    There are inmates staying in the settlement for the pass 60 to 80 years. They are all recovered from Leprosy. But they would never recovered from the injuries that caused by discrimination and marginalisation. A 91-year old inmate who was being sent to the settlement at the age of 9, she was allowed to leave the settlement at 18. However the supposing good time with her father was rather disappointing and hurt. She was ostracized by the community where she and her father were in; she could not even use the toilet! She had to go far deep in the forest, dig a hole for that. It was a long 6 months, she then opted back to the settlement, NLCC.

    After an active interaction with the two speakers, with the help of Joyce Wong, we were then leading our youthful and dedicated Leos to the wards.

    We talked to the inmates, listened to their stories; the Leos were singing and playing some music to cheer them up. Some of them even sang along with us.

    Joyce Wong led us to tour this heritage, with some real live stories. We found the visit meaningful, informative and educational. Together with Joyce Wong we hope that more visits of this kind shall be organized. Engage with our future leaders, the youth, show them the effect of discrimination. Hopefully we may do a little to lower down discrimination of all sorts, a social phenomenon among humankind.

    A feedback from the inmates via Joyce Wong, all of them were very happy to our close interaction with them, they were well entertained by songs and music. So it was only the beginning; more youth shall be arranged to visit NLCC.

It was a wonderful and rewarding 4 hours social activity! We Serve! Roar!