Equip deafblind children with skills for life!

“My biggest dream is to see my child become independent and able to take care of himself”. With these hopeful words, Chee’s father registered his son in the DBMH program in St. Nicholas’ Home.

If you think the name sounds familiar, you would not be wrong.

Back in 2014 little Chee already appeared on our Global Giving Page. Now he returns as a 14 year old teenager with his spirit undiminished.

Due to his premature birth, Chee, the eldest of twin brother, was diagnosed with Retina Pigmentosa leading to total blindness and a learning deficiency. Apart from that he was also diagnosed with hyperactivity (ADHD).

Arriving at St. Nicholas Home in 2009 Chee was only able to understand and follow simple instructions in mandarin or malay. Chee had difficulties with gross and fine motor skills, making it tough for him to climb staircase, identify objects, walking from the classroom to dormitory. With speech impediments, even calling out the names of his friends during group activities is a challenge for him. He required full assistance for daily living skills such as  feeding, drinking and dressing himself.

Now approximately 8 years later Chee has made tremendous improvements. He has developed a keen sense for orientation inside the home and can walk freely from one place to the other. His fine motor skills have also improved significantly through threading exercises. But most importantly Chee has become completely independent when it comes to self-management tasks such as eating, dressing and drinking. In retrospective, we can note that Chee learned a lot through our DBMH program.

On the other hand, his presence has enriched  all of us the teachers and the students alike. As a volunteer from Germany staying for 11 months at St. Nicholas’ Home, I personally appreciate Chee’s presence in particular.

His curiosity about the small things in life and his enthusiasm are so wonderful to behold. Especially in a time when most people are chasing after materialistic enjoyment, Chee’s joy about simple things such as the feel of water, the sound of music or just playing with rubber balls, has been a motivation and encouragement for all of us.

“Shared happiness is doubled happiness” this also goes for Chee, just by watching him laughing, brings happiness to everyone around him.

He is a hero and role model for all of us.