01 Oct 2008

October 2008 - From Social Concerns Project to Persatuan

The Evolution of Pusat Berdikari Seremban into a Society

Trainees at the Centre Dressed for work Learning to clock in
Ten years ago Wesley Methodist Church Seremban started a community project to train learning disabled people for the job market, called Pusat Berdikari Seremban (PBS). This year as we celebrated its tenth anniversary we also celebrated its ‘promotion’ to being a registered society, the Persatuan Berdikari Seremban.

Adding to our joy this year was the employment of seven of our trainees by Giant Supermarket and Guardian Pharmacy. In July, we were pleasantly surprised when Giant management sent some officers to interview our trainees. 10 trainees were interviewed and 7 passed the test. After their successful medical check up on 22 July, Mei Ling began work at Guardian Pharmacy, Poh Leong, Chong and Yoga at Giant Supermarket Seremban Terminal One, and Khairi and Shiraz at the Giant Ampangan.

This employment opportunity was indeed a giant step for PBS. For a long time both the trainers and volunteers at PBS were hoping that someone would come and offer our trainees jobs and our prayers were answered. This mass recruitment by GCH Retail has certainly encouraged us tremendously. We understand that this is the first group of disabled trainees they employed outside of the Klang Valley. We hope to be able to provide more trained people into the open job market to employers like Giant.
 
‘Berdikari’ means to be able to ‘berdiri dengan kaki sendiri’, i.e. to be self reliant. This is part of their vision statement: to ‘teach our trainees to be self-reliant, giving them the right to live meaningful and full lives, with a hope to move towards independent living and to be competent members of society’.

The centre has a capacity to train up to 25 trainees. They started with the job of packing straws, definitely not an awe-inspiring task! However, they learned to count, learned coordination and other skills, which we “normal” people take for granted. Other activities were slowly added, with volunteers teaching simple maths, reading, writing their names, identifying their home addresses and hopefully, their phone numbers. Perseverance has paid off and many now look forward to their reading and writing sessions and proudly display their written work.
 
As the years progressed, new vocational skills were introduced. Making greeting cards for sale took off slowly and is now a major source of revenue with the more artistic trainees working on them. The fact that they are paid is an added incentive for them.

Baking is another area in which we have progressed by leaps and bounds. From not being able to differentiate between a spoon and a fork, a number of them can now bake a variety of cakes and bread and even do simple icing. Sale of cakes brings profit for the centre and income for the trainees. Even the “slowest of the slow” can now make cupcakes. Baking is not just about making cakes but also about the importance of cleanliness, use of various utensils, washing up and putting them back in their proper place.

Card-making and baking have been very helpful in teaching discipline and cooperation. Volunteers also teach simple basic cooking skills like making fried rice, soups and other simple dishes. Some of the trainees have even tried out these dishes on their own at home!

The lighter side of PBS training is the dancing. Every week they learn to dance to music and their success in this area was obvious at our anniversary fund raising dinner when they danced their way into everybody’s heart.

We thank God for granting us this change that will enable the Persatuan to grow and expand beyond its present scope. Two years ago no one would have predicted what would take place this year. It is indeed God’s wisdom that directed how PBS has evolved into what she is today. Our prayer is for all Christians in Seremban and nationwide to support this meaningful work.
 
Anne Cherian & Peter Yew
Wesley Methodist Church Seremban
 
(Mr Peter Yew is the Chairman of Persatuan Berdikari Seremban Negeri Sembilan.)