Rotary Installation Night

Trainees performed at the Rotary Club of Seremban 87th Installation Night on 24th July 2016.

Students Visit

Students from New Era College visited our centre on 22nd June 2016.

Courtesy Visit

The Senior Citizens Fellowship from Bountiful Grace Methodist Church, Seremban made a courtesy visit to the centre on 8th March 2016.  The group of 22 members was led by Pastors Rev Mathew Choong and  Rev Ng KS.  Our Chairman Mr. Albert Wong was on hand to welcome them.

A Christmas Gift from the Rotary Club of Seputeh

We are honored to be selected by the Rotary Club of Seputeh to be the recipient of their charity award of RM13,900 during their Charter Installation of the President and Board of Directors on December 1, 2013 at the Bukit Jalil Golf and Country Resort, Kuala Lumpur. The Seputeh Rotary Club was earlier chartered on August 31, 2013 under the Kuala Lumpur Rotary International District 3300, Malaysia. We want to take this opportunity to congratulate the newly installed President, Rotarian Raymond Chin, and to thank him for the generous and kind gesture towards our community service, as well as to his fellow Board members for their faith in the work we are doing to help those with learning disabilities in Seremban. Special thanks also goes to Rotarian Christina Chai for her active support and recommendation. On the evening of December 1, those staff, volunteers and trainees who were present at the installation service cum dinner enjoyed the program and were thankful for the opportunity to put up a dance presentation. It was indeed a very memorable evening that ended around midnight. We are pleased to share a few pictures of this occasion with our readers.

Francissca Peter Setia (New Arrangement 2012)

I wonder how many remember the 10th anniversary thanksgiving dinner we had in 2008 celebrating the 10th year of Pusat Berdikari Seremban? In that event we had Francissca Peter sing to the guests and we all enjoyed the songs very much. The closing song was Setia which was very popular then as it sang of the need to be loyal and patriotic to a nation that is multi-racial, multi-religious and multi-cultural and to strive for the common prosperity of all. Frans re-sang this evergreen song last year with a slower tempo and picked up many pictures depicting the colorful and harmonious Malaysia we aspire to achieve. In this videoclip I am happy to note that she has chosen a photo of she with Poh Leong, one of our trainees who has gone out to work, taken during the dinner. This picture appear in the 1:32 frame.

Welcome - Malaysian Care

A team of 8 staff including interns from Malaysian Care visited us on 11^th September 2012.  The purpose of this visit was to expose the new staff to the work done in various centres that cater for people with learning disability.  

Seeing our Art/Craft products

Sharing notes on caring at our "Chedang Cafe'"

Enjoying the Nasi Lemak made by our trainees.

We are happy to share a common vision -

Caring & Training Young Adults with Learning Disabilities.

PBSNS Sunday - 2012

Wesley Methodist Church Seremban, our founding church, designated 19^th Aug 2012 as PBSNS Sunday.  Our guest speaker Rev Dr Joseph Komar, STM Lecturer & Pastor, Methodist Church spoke on “Transforming Lives”.  He pointed out that transforming involves spiritual & social dimension as such it is imperative that Christian communities translate God’s love into the lives of the socially marginalized people.

Peter Yew, PBSNS Chairman and liturgist for the day updated the congregation on the work/activities of PBSNS.  He thanked the congregation for their loyal support and invited both existing as well as new partners to support this community service. 

Following the service,  products made by PBSNS trainees were sold.  Our thanks to WMC Seremban congregation, for the overwhelming support.

Four More Days ...

The countdown has started to the official opening of our new training centre on September 13. My staff and I with the vice chairman just ended a very detailed walk through on what need to be done on the event proper, from setting up the canopies, backdrop and other equipment on September 12 itself and 13 morning, to briefing the volunteers on their specific roles from ushering to traffic control, security and food management. Besides the guest of honor we expect president and directors of a few agencies to come for this event which we have invited the press to cover. Almost a year from its dedication we will now have its official opening. We pray for a good turnout and good weather as we commit our work to help the learning disabled. If you are unable to join us please remember our work in your prayers. Thank you.

Upcoming Event of the Year

Most of you who followed our blog are aware that our new centre was dedicated and open for service in September 2010. We are glad to announce that we will have a simple opening ceremony on September 13, 2011. More updates will be announced as they become available.

Promotion at 34th Session TRAC

Last Sunday, November 22, I was at the 34th session of the Trinity Annual Conference or TRAC at Everly Resort Hotel in Melaka to promote the work of the association to the churches represented. I distributed 200 sets of flyers and notes to the delegates and observers while David and Dorothy set up stall outside the conference hall to sell handmade cards and bookmarks.

The promotion is timely as we are preparing to launch a bigger fund raising to finance our building purchase as well as a larger operating budget. We are planning to organize a fund raising dinner next year. Assistance in all forms will be appreciated.

Malaysian Care’s 30th Anniversary Celebration

In conjunction with the above, we are setting up a booth at the venue, Damansara Utama Methodist Church in Section 13, Petaling Jaya. Click HERE for more details and location map. The exhibition will be from the evening of August 14 until lunchtime August 16.

We welcome you to our booth no. 12. It is situated outside the main auditorium's side entrance and opposite the security office.

See you there.

Dealing with A H1N1 Virus

3 months after the dreaded A H1N1 virus surfaced in Mexico and begun infecting humans, the sourge has made almost 200,000 people worldwide ill and killing over 1,300 of its victims. Although it is pandemic it is not a killer but we have not paid sufficient and serious attention to stop its multiplication. In Malaysia we have recorded almost 1,500 cases of imported and locally transmitted infections, over half of which are now locally transmitted. Of these we have already read of 11 deaths, 3 of which are within the past 24 hours. It is a worrisome trend. Any gathering of people in close proximity can give rise to cross infection and must be grounds for preventive actions. PBSNS has 25 trainees and up to 4 adult trainers and volunteers at any one time. Until today we have had little concern as none of our members have reported sick. Today we have a trainer who was ill, not seriously but he has been advised to self-quarantine and seek medical treatment if he does not recover in a day or two. Some trainees are coughing and the instruction given out is that parents with trainees who are unwell (cough, sneeze, fever) must not send them to the centre. If they do come they will be sent home to minimize exposing the other trainees. Trainers and volunteers who are unwell should inform the centre and be excused. In the worse case scenario, if a large number of the trainees and caregivers are unwell, be it from normal flu or H1N1 virus, the centre will have to be closed temporarily to mitigate the situation. We will watch for further developments and act accordingly.

We pray for the Malaysian Care 30th Anniversary Exhibition next weekend in Petaling Jaya in which we plan to participate, that our staff will be well to attend, that the various participants in the various events will not be afflicted with flu of any sort.

A Multi-National Visit

We had a surprise visit from a very interesting group today. 9 members from the All Souls (Anglican) Church, London, dropped by for a visit to understand our work. They were in Malaysia as part of their mission work to help a local church carry out some local mission and local church works. They helped build a house for a Sengoi pastor, led in worship and taught English to the Vietnamese community here in Seremban. Coming to PBSNS is a 'bonus' as it was not part of their itinerary. We gave our visitors a briefing and showing them how the trainees carry out their work.

In case you are curious, the multi-national group comprise members from England, Northern Ireland, Germany, United States, Brazil, S. Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

China Press Report

It was a long wait, over a month or 33 days to be exact but it was worth it. Today we received the good news that China Press has published the article written about us in the N. Sembilan section of the local news. If you can read Mandarin but missed out buying the paper, please click on the picture to enlarge and download it.

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Wheel Power by Anthony Thanasayan

This article by Anthony in yesterday's StarTwo makes interesting read. He wrote:

... On the subject of the basic right to education for PLDs, I am shocked to learn of the existence of learning centres that claim to teach children with special needs but in actual fact provide little or no proper facilities for them. In some centres, there is no specific curriculum to cater to these kids.

At a recent official meeting, I heard someone discredit the role of special education teachers. What a shame! The individual concerned should have sung praises for such teachers who play a crucial role in the lives of every learning-disabled child. The person seemed to think that parents of PLDs were “better authorities and professionals” than the teachers themselves.

Such ignorance is hardly helpful if our goal is to improve the quality of life of disabled persons in Malaysia.

To read the entire article, go HERE.

In PBSNS we don't focus on special education but on skills training. Teaching them to read and write as well as identifying objects and associating them are more towards helping them survive in open society should they be left on their own.

The MSF Awareness Talk

Yesterday I was privileged to be invited by the TRAC Methodist Seniors Fellowship to give a talk to them at their annual camp at the Bayu Beach Resort, Port Dickson. I shared how we grew from just a centre under the church into a registered society and the many issues we face in making our work more interesting, productive and in line with our aspirations to make it a centre of excellence.

The talk drew much interest and many questions were fielded to me. The MSF director, Rev. Hwa Jen , who coincidentally was involved in the setting up of this work more than 10 years ago, encouraged the delegates to participate in our work by becoming a PBSNS partner (just RM120 a year) and buying the greeting cards on sale outside the conference hall.

This awareness talk helped generate publicity for us beyond Seremban as the MSF delegates come from various parts of Malaysia as well as from Singapore. Yesterday we gave out our new brochure for the first time.

Charting Our Future

Yesterday, the management committee with its advisors held the first of four meetings scheduled for this year. We were pleased with the smooth transition from PBS to PBSNS and the enlarged partnership support base. Although all financial supports are not yet in, we are not worried as it is still early in the year and by faith we believe our pleas will be heard, notwithstanding the current dampened economic climate.

We are like a learner driver being released from a country road into a highway, into uncharted waters. Ordinarily we should be apprehensive but we had none of that emotion. Rather we all felt elated at the vast opportunities and challenges before us. Yes, we have to work hard but we also realise the rewards and satisfaction are great. In a true sense, all of us are pioneering the future of PBSNS and we pray that God will helm every meeting, guide every decision, plan every step and provide every need. I suppose this has been our source of comfort, our faith in God that He will provide every need we ask. As what Pastor Paul Christie, our spiritual advisor shared in his sermon yesterday, we need to have the faith like Abraham to trust God that He will provide all the resources - financial, people, knowledge and leadership, to take PBSNS from one level to the next.

Partnership: Our appeals have begun to bear fruits. Individuals and churches have started donating to our work, so far more than RM10,000 have been received. We expect more in the pipeline.

Staffing: We have peaked in our enrolment. We are trying to create more rooms to take beyond 25 to even 30, but stretching the limit means our staff's ability to run the centre will be similarly stretched. Soon we will be seeking a committed, dedicated, passionate, patient, loving and caring new staff to join our fantastic team of 2 staff and 20 volunteers. The new staff must be a team player with excellent socialising and communication skills. We were also challenged to start looking for a Trainer to oversee every aspect of our training as well as to eventually offering training to new centres being set up.

Expansion: We need more room to grow and it is unhealthy to cram too many people and too much activities into the same space. I believe God will answer our prayer for the new space we need.

Sponsorship: This and the coming years will be ones we will introduce our work to new sponsors. We never believe that recession will cut social responsibility out of many good corporations and foundations. We believe charity work is recession proof, although some donors will give less as a natural reaction.

Membership: We are also seeking new members to join us, Christian adults in Seremban who share the same desire to help the learning disabled, to give time, talents and connections to grow our work.

We are grateful to Pastor Paul and our advisor Neil for suggesting ways to help raise new funds for PBSNS. We have to reach out (to new sponsors, new trainees, new members, new leaders) and reach up (for God's grace and mercy in His ministry).

China Press Came A-Calling

We cannot deny that media people want to know about our work. So far we have had Star, NSTP and Utusan Melayu publicising our community service. RTM1 and 2 have also filmed our activities for broadcast. Community service work are newsy although some may consider it boring. They serve to counter-balance the many negative reports we read about politics, tragedies, financial woes and crimes. Happy news may not draw much attention but they certainly encourage readers to the fact that there are better sides to the human race. News about helping the disadvantaged people are definitely good news and I am happy that China Press had sent its reporter to our premise this morning to interview the caregivers as well as trainees. For one hour she soaked in the spirit of our work and learned why we were so passionate. At the end she went away buying some of our greeting cards because, she said in her own words, 'she like to help the needy'. I believe we have touched her heart.

In the coming days we look forward to see this report in the China Press paper. It will add further awareness to the Mandarin-reading subscribers. And prayfully give them another avenue to show their charitable hearts.

Another Supporter for PBSNS

This morning the Chairman was at the Mawar Renal Centre to receive a donation from the N.Sembilan Tai Chi Qi Gong 18 Gaya Association which also gave out donations to 7 other beneficiaries. Although the donation was for RM500 it represents a recognition of our work by the Chinese social clubs in Seremban. Last month we had received another donation from the Chin Woo Association. On hand were reporters from the Chinese presses. Hopefully news of our work will continue to dissipate throughout the state and nationwide.

Pelita Methodist Vol 33, No. 10/October 2008

The following article was published on our work. Double click for the enlarged size.