Sandakan Indian community representatives visit home for visually handicapped
SANDAKAN: In conjunction with their Family Day celebrations recently, a joint delegation from Sandakan Indian Association (SIA), Sabah MIC Youth, MIC Libaran and the Manoharan Junior Tennis Academy visited Taman Cahaya Sandakan – the home for the visually handicapped.
Led by Taren Sunil Manoharan, the visitors as usual, brought along some goodies to cheer up the residents.
“We were warmly greeted by the management led by Tuan Haji Ibrahim who took us around for a tour of the facilities and briefed us on the work and services provided by Taman Cahaya. The in-house band also provided some great entertainment for us,” said a happy Taren Sunil who is president of SIA as well as the Sabah MIC Youth chief and MIC Libaran branch chairman.
Taren and his group then jointly held a tree-planting exercise with the residents and together they planted 30 trees to beautify and ‘green up’ the compound. The visitors then organised and sponsored lunch for the Taman Cahaya residents and joined them at the meal. The visit was before the start of fasting month.
“Visiting charity homes is now an established part of our community orientated programmes. Our members happily go around doing this all year round but especially during special or festive days. Sharing happy occasions with others also inevitably bring joy to ourselves. It has a ripple effect,” said Taren Sunil.
“Meanwhile, we also help develop in our kids the attitude of care and concern for others, especially for the less fortunate in society. Through our own example we show them that loving and caring for others should be a way of life,” he added.
Just before the visit to Taman Cahaya, the SIA members comprising 26 adults and 30 of their children, had celebrated Family/Parents Day with an excursion to the Rainforest Discovery Centre (RDC) located some 14 miles from Sandakan city centre.
“Our members wanted their children to learn and appreciate the wonders of nature and this is such a wonderful place to do just that,” said Taren Sunil.
After the nature walks, especially the renowned rainforest canopy walk, the excursion to RDC ended with an al fresco meal before the group made their way to Taman Cahaya.