Trainees packing salt at the sheltered workplace of Agape Centre.
EVERY morning from Monday to Friday, Ling Chor Ann and five of his buddies wash an average of six cars from 7.30am to noon.
Ling’s parents drop him off every day since June last year and although he does not get a handsome salary, he is one of the hardest workers around.
Ling’s supervisor, Wong Kee Wei described him as a “high-performance” individual.
The thing is: Ling is a slow learner.
He lacks social skills and shies away when people talk to him but he makes up for it with his good work.
He works at Agape Centre in Sibu, a place where children and adults with special needs can call their homes.
For 17 years now, the centre at Jalan Alan has provided support services for special needs individuals.
In October last year, a new wing was opened which houses the car wash area.
Association for Children with Special Needs, Sibu, secretary Dr Toh Teck Hock said: “At Agape, it’s all about the opportunity given to Sibu people by the Sarawak government and also the opportunity provided by our entrepreneurs.”
Ling Chor Ann washing a customer’s car at Agape Centre. He is considered a high-performance worker.
He said about 150 young adults are trained to be independent instead of relying on their parents for survival.
At its new building, the adults’ vocational training is run by Sibu Methodist Care Centre and Association for Children with Special Needs Sibu.
The young adults are job-trained to run programmes like a cafe, car wash, resource mart, laundry, recycling centre, hostel and bench top jobs.
Dr Toh added that the services Agape Centre provide also include healthcare.
“We are working with various health clinics in central Sarawak such as Lau King Howe Memorial Children Clinic @ Agape to provide early detection, assessment and diagnosis, early intervention, specialised medical care, home ventilation and oxygen support and therapy for children with disabilities by various specialists and allied health professionals,” he said.
Dr Toh said the clinic registers more than 10,000 visitors every year. The early intervention programme benefits about 200 children annually.
The programme, managed by Methodist Care Centre, Sibu Autistic Association and Community-Based Rehabilitation (PDK), is for toddlers and preschoolers.
The association also runs a dyslexia teaching programme at the centre for school-age children, benefiting about 50 students annually.
Fatimah showing packets of mixed spices from Agape Centre while Dr Toh (right) looks on.
At Tatsumi Kondo Memorial Workshop in Agape, young adults produce between three to 50 units of custom-made rehabilitation and mobility aids every year at a reduced cost for children with cerebral palsy and severe global development delay.
These aids would have cost the families RM50,000 if purchased from the market.
In terms of sports, the Special Olympics Sibu chapter regularly conducts training in tenpin bowling, bocce, floor hockey, athletics, aquatics, football and badminton for special needs individuals.
“Besides that, the NGOs and the clinic provide family counselling and support, help with funding for needy families and social activities for hundreds of families annually,” said Dr Toh, a paediatrician.
State Women, Childhood and Community Wellbeing Development Minister Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah congratulated Agape Centre for being the pioneer as an early intervention provider in Sarawak.
“I personally feel that Agape has been the pioneer in this area in terms of the training that is provided especially to people in the central region and the access to therapy and diagnosis for individuals with special needs. People from Dalat, Matu and Igan all come here.
“The government is looking at Agape as a good model. We try to use it for the Special Needs Community Centre (SNCC) in Kuching and Miri so that similar facilities could be accessed by parents with children with special needs,” she said.
Thanks to Agape Centre, she said, parents are no longer embarrassed that they have children with special needs.
“It is good that due to their awareness, they are coming forward for early intervention for their special needs children,” she stressed.
Likewise, she added, the public is also more aware that individuals with special needs who are categorised as autistic and dyslexic can seek assistance at Agape.
