[1]

January- February

2014

EDITORIAL TEAM:

PERTAPIS

!

Douglas “O”

donating on our

Flag Day 4 January 2014

NCSS CEO, MR Sim Gim Guan

visit to PCH8 January 2014

Yayasan Mendaki CEO,

Mdm Tuminah Sapawi visit to PCWG5 February 2014

Gathering @ Masjid AlKhair

for

”Maulidur Rasul” Forum

22 February 2014

Team MembersZainal Abidin Omar (Editor)Norasimah SujaiSiti Rahmah ShamsudinNurul Ain Mohd KassimSoraya BegumMuhd Sufian Mohd Salim

Nur Faiza

Khairunnisa RusliMustika Alyssa

Rashidah RashidSyahir Iskandar Rosli

AdvisorsAbdul Wahab HusseinMohd Jufri Haron

t

[2]

( taff of Pertapis Children’s

Home attended trainings to

ensure readiness to face the

different situations of managing

the children. The Home staff are

equipped with skills such as

Child First Aid Training and

conducting Facilitation Group

Skills. The ultimate aim is to

provide the best for the children

here.

S

PERTAPIS Children’s Home

tories of Their Lives...Kids who call the green-fenced building at Kovan Road “Home”

S

“Staff improvement”

By Khairunisa Rusli & Mustika Alyssa

Training Our

STAFF

Most children here share the c o m m o n n a r r a t i v e o f abandonment, helplessness a n d b e i n g h e re d u e t o circumstances rather than by choice. It is within this building that the children find that ray of light at the end of the dark tunnel with the help of PCH

staff and the public. Only through us, would they understand that ‘family’ is really those who care and love for each other.

Vo lunteers come forward to spare their p rec ious t ime and energy for the children. They provide services such as art/sand/play therapy as wel l as provide maintenance f o r t h e H o m e . Vo l u n t e e r s f r o m institutions such as NUS Muslim Society and Hwa Chong Institution provide services towards the children’s education and well-being. These programmes help add on to the core programmes in the Home that includes tuition and Moral Education. These go a long way to provide the children with the feeling of being with family.

“Celebrating Holidays”

“In-house Tuition”

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0 residents attended the Home Economics class at PCWG which is held every Wednesday morning. The residents are being taught to cook delicious recipes and bake various cakes and desserts by an experienced teacher, Mdm Julia Haji Ramli. Mdm Julia has been teaching culinary skills to the residents at

PCWG since the year 2009. Mdm Julia prior to this, had taught cooking and baking at the comfort of her own home to the members of the public who were interested to learn cooking and baking. Most of the residents have reported that they have benefitted from attending Mdm Julia’s lessons. Most of them have cooked the dishes which they had learnt when they were on home leaves for their families.

!

PERTAPIS Centre for Women & Girls

Class for Culinary Skills

0 residents at PERTAPIS centre For Women and Girls have benefitted from attending a 4 days programme on Youth Sexuality in December last year. The programme was carried out by a renowned Trainer, Mdm Suriati Abdullah from

Suchi Success Consultants.

ost of the participants reported that t h e y h a v e l e a r n t m o r e o n t h e consequences of pre-marital sex, and are more aware of what constitutes a healthy relationship. It was reported that the residents enjoyed the energizers and activities during the programme.

2

5

M

!

H

nderstanding SexualityU

By Nurul Ain Mohd Kassim

omeEconomics

C

b

[4]

JOURNEY OF HARD WORK, CHALLENGE AND EMPATHY

January was an exciting month for our Boys at BBH. Our boys were engaged in Leadership Camp, Canoe Marathon and PERTAPIS Flag Day.

Upon completion of the Sembawang Experiential Learning Camp in December 2013, a selected few attended the Leadership Camp to equip them with Kayaking Star 1 Proficiency Certification.

The 3 day Leadership camp was a joint collaboration with BBH and Sembawang Water Venture with the support of indiv idual donors and People’s Association who believes in the rehabilitative process of our Boys.

The ultimate goal was achieved when the Boys passed their certification and the glory brought them to an auspicious event ... 2014 Canoe Marathon.

Some of the Boys made themselves proud by coming in as the first few to complete the Marathon held at Punggol Waterway.

The event was honoured by the attendance of our Minister of State for Ministry of National Development, Mr Desmond Lee who paddled along with our Boys.

Bukit Batok Hostel

By Muhd Sufian Muhd Salim

[5]

B s of December 2013, The Pertapis Senior Citizen

Fellowship Home has added two new activities to its

physical and wellness activity line-up. The Walking

Therapy Programme was initiated to encourage active

physical participation amongst the seniors. Conducted

on Fridays, residents will go out for a short morning walk

in the Home’s vicinity under the supervision of the staff

on duty. The seniors will then have some fun by taking

part in simple exercises and games. After the session

ends, they are given the opportunity to spend some time

outside to rest before returning back to the Home.

ot only do the residents reap the health benefit of

keeping fit, they can also enjoy the therapeutic process of

stress-relief through social interaction and solitary self-

reflection. The Walking therapy programme has proven to

be well-received by the residents. Alia (not her real name)

said, “I like being outside. I can breathe the fresh air and

get active. It helps me to clear my mind”.

P

PERTAPIS Senior

Citizens’ Fellowship

Homerogrammes to improve physical health and wellness

A esides that, the Home introduced coloring to its

list of in-house activities. It is harder for residents with

mental challenges like dementia or mild intellectual

disabilities to take part in mind-stimulating activities

such as Bingo and puzzle-solving with the others. They

find it difficult to grasp the concept of these activities

and sometimes get frustrated by their inability to do so.

Coloring provides an outlet for these seniors to get

involved in self-expression and tap on their creativity. It

is simple and yet, serves as a good mental workout to

help them retain cognitive associations.

he two new activities are a testament of the

Home’s health and recreation programme that stresses

the importance for residents to remain physically,

mentally and socially engaged. It is the Home’s objective

that all residents remain fit as well as stay stimulated

and entertained regardless of their health conditions so

that they can experience a good quality of life.

N

B

T

By Nur Faizah

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n January and February 2014 we collaborated with Masjid Mujahidin, Singapore Prisons Service and Score.

n 4 Jan 2014, we participated in PERTAPIS Flag Day. Our challenges then were the small number of residents that were available and limited number of volunteers that were able to assist in this charity event. However, at the end of the day almost all the residents were happy because they had never done street sales selling flags and the experience gain was beneficial to them.

e collaborated with Masjid Mujahidin on mosque collection on 14 Feb 2014. It was a good and m e m o r a b l e experience for our n e w l y a d m i t t e d residents who also

participated in the mosque collection. The highlight of the event was the congregation of taxi drivers who came to help.

n 19 February 2014, we received a visit from about 30 befrienders from Singapore Prisons Services. This is part of the awareness programme for the befrienders to get to know

more about halfway houses.

s part of the efforts to improve the s e r v i c e s o f t h e h a l f w a y h o u s e s , SCORE initiated a networking session for Social Workers to share and learn from each other. For the first session this year, the social workers’ networking was held at PHH on 20 Feb 2014. It was uncommon, a complex case from PHH was discussed during the session. The participants were impressed by the warmth and set-up of the training rooms.

n 22 Feb 2014, 15 of our residents and 7 of our staff participated in the Maulidur Rasul at Masjid Al-Khair - a Forum Perdana discussed on the i s s u e o f f a m i l y a n d children upbringing. The residents shared that they benefited from the event very much because many of them disclosed that it was their first time attending such event.

Collaboration Efforts

O

By Siti Rahmah

O

I

Trust the environment.. It works!

W

A

Mosque Collection

Prisons Befrienders

Social Workers’ Networking

PERTAPISHalfwayHouse

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