Testing, engaging and celebrating.
The Chinese New Year festivity is slowly mellowing down enabling us to visit Gift Foundation in Klang, Malaysia. The children have warmed up to Shane by now and jostled each other to be the first to “salam” him. “Salam” is a Malay word for hand gesture to show respect and politeness to an elder.
We introduced the Chinese New Year tradition of the elder giving ‘ang pow’ (red packet with money) to the children. Oh how happy they were, smiling from ear to ear, each waiting patiently for their turn at getting this ang pow. They whispered plans to buy ice creams and candies. This is the first time they experienced a new cultural tradition. Well…I supposed they were more excited for the money. LOL
Later, Shane took vitals in order to get a baseline so we know what services they needed. Majority have high blood pressure and other health challenges due to childhood trauma. Some of the Rohingya children have seen their parents and relatives killed in front of them. The Champas were under a lot of stress trying to stay afloat with minimum income and avoiding the authorities at the same time.
GIFT Foundation is a sanctuary for the community.
Dr. Firdaus acts as a buffer between the Champas and police officers. She often has to bail them out from being imprisoned by producing the immigration application forms she had helped filed. She pays for hospitalization bills and is the person the community calls for help in emergency situations. There is a huge responsibility on her shoulders for a single mother of four to carry alone. We hope we could help ease some of them while we are here.
