Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas Transcends Religion, Race, Colour and Disabilities

My X’mas story (From Free Malaysia Today)

Anthony SB Thanasayan | December 25, 2013
A time for giving and receiving, X'mas for some went beyond religious and disability boundaries and was filled with the true meaning of the season – sharing joy, care and love.
 
COMMENT
By: Anthony SB Thanasayan


It must have been a most glorious sight on earth the night the first Christmas miracle took place.
The Christian Holy Book says that on that night the sky was filled with angels from heaven, surrounded with singing and a most brilliant light, to herald the birth of a special babe born in a manger to lowly and humble shepherds, in the fields of Bethlehem, nearly 2000 years ago

Christmas for me has always somehow been the perfect opportunity for miracles.

And over the years, growing up with a disability, I’m happy to say that I have experienced quite a few.
However, the one I recall the most was during the 1980s when I was in my late twenties.
I had just made a dramatic recovery from a major surgery in Singapore – which was quite a miracle in itself.

Pressure sores on my buttocks which I had been suffering from for over two years in Kuala Lumpur, were totally healed within just a matter of 14 days through a highly advanced surgical procedure.
(Pressure sores for wheelchair bound people like me are caused by prolonged pressure on a certain area of the body. This prolonged pressure stops blood supply to the affected area and causes the skin to break into a wound. If left untreated, these sores can become infected and in extreme cases, lead to death.)

The specialists in KL were baffled as to how to get me well again. It was a wonderful miracle when I met a European couple who willingly sponsored me to seek treatment across the causeway.

Before the operation, I was at the lowest point in my life. I thought that maybe suicide was my best option.

A second chance
However, upon my full recovery, I felt that since God had given me a second chance in life – it was only right that I tried to give back, in kind, to others like what had been generously given to me.
I decided to visit a charity home for the disabled located in the state of Selangor. Most of the residents in the home had been abandoned by their families – a few of them originally came from rich backgrounds.

Many of them were in wheelchairs while others needed to use walking aids to get around. Some were inflicted with multiple disabilities such as developmental handicaps, the Deaf and the blind.

One of the things they all enjoyed most – including the Deaf – was the music sessions. These were held once a week by expatriate volunteers who would come in and teach them to sing or play a musical instrument.

I discovered that the home did not have a large array of musical instruments such as tambourines, bells, bongo drums, recorders and others that could used to accompany the sing alongs and music.

Crossing religious lines with joy and song

I wasted no time in rounding up my able-bodied and disabled friends in my neighbourhood, mostly teenagers and young adults and shared the problem with them.

We decided to go Christmas carolling in order to raise funds for buying musical instruments.

None of us had done anything like this before but we were determined to make the residents happy.

We agreed to go carolling to every home – as long as anyone would like to have us and wanted to support our cause. We were thrilled by the positive responses we got to our idea – even Hindus and Buddhists were eager to have us sing Xmas songs in their homes. The event quickly went beyond religion to become a humanitarian mission of sorts, to add more music into the world of those who had little or none.

Believe it or not, I was appointed as choir leader.

We added a dozen popular Xmas carols into our repertoire and those that knew whatever little about music shared their talents with one another.

Nearly two dozen carollers those with disabilities and those able-bodied, cramped into my room for a period of four weekends, doing vocal work outs that I swear was even more tedious than physical exercises.

We spent hours going into every note and detail just to get it right. The able-bodied sat on the floor while the disabled sat on chairs or in their wheelchairs.

When the local church heard about our efforts, they got worried.

They were afraid that their annual collection from carolling might all be diverted to us from their church members in the neighbourhood.

So much so, the leader of the church group even tried to persuade us to join them saying they were more “professional” and were willing to give us 2% of their overall collections.

But we were adamant and focused on our cause. We were set on giving every single sen we made to the home residents.

When we went out carolling, we were received by everyone warmly and enthusiastically.

The children shrieked with excitement when they saw our authentic Santa Clause. He was one of my disabled friends in a wheelchair, adding an interesting twist to our presentation in comparison to the efforts of the church who had the usual able-bodied person as Santa.

When the children asked why Santa was in a wheelchair, my friend replied, “I fell down the chimney!” to peals of laughter from all.

Our total collection was RM619.17, every sen was used for buying musical instruments for the residents.

The church barely made RM150.00.

That was not the only lesson we learnt from the experience.

We got to understand the true meaning of Christmas gift-giving as the popular saying goes: “You can give without loving but you can’t love without giving.”

Love transcends religion, race, colour and disabilities. Merry Xmas everyone!

PS: We continued our carolling for three consecutive years, with more people joining our group. We visited more homes, churches and even hotels and pubs. We managed to raise more money and gave all that we collected to more charities.

 





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