PERTAPISMay - August 2014

Norasimah Sujai (Editor)Osman V P Mohamed (Asst. Editor)Siti Rahmah ShamsudinSoraya BegumNur Dina AmalinaNur Faizah Hairil Basar

AdvisorsAbdul Wahab HusseinMohd Jufri Haron

Khairunnisa RusliMustika AlyssaRashidah RashidSyahir Iskandar Rosli (Designer)

Editorial Team:

Charity Carnival @ PCHJune Holiday Activities @ Our Homes

Major Activites - Mother’s Day, Golf, Care & Share, Iftar

Mdm Halimah Yacob receiving a handmade souvenir from our resident

Mdm Halimah giving away goodie bags provided by the PGJC to our Pioneer Generation residents.

Presentation on the Pioneer Generation package

The Pioneer Generation Joint Committee (PGJC) made a pitstop at the PERTAPIS Senior Citizens’ Fellowship Home for an Iftar session on the 16th July 2014.

As part of its outreach initiatives, Speaker of Parliament Madam Halimah Yacob who chairs the PGJC, together with members from MUIS, REACH and Yayasan MENDAKI took chance to explain the main components, details of medical subsidies scheme and messages of the Pioneer Generation Package to the elderly residents, volunteers and staff of the Home before the fast-breaking session.

Helping the elderly understand how they will benefit from the Pioneer Generation Package is a top challenge for the government, said Madam Halimah. She added many of those who benefit were still not aware or understood the benefits of the package.

The session ended with residents, staffs and guests breaking their fast together with a hearty feast and Madm Halimah Yacob distributing goodie bags to all residents.

16 July 2014 PGJC Visit

Pertapis Senior Citizens’

Fellowship Home

The Pioneer Generation residents were entertained by special performances by musician Mr Zubir Abdullah and his daughter, Ms Fatin alongside Mdm Norsiah, a veteran artiste.

By Nur Faizah Hairil Basar

Special Hari Raya Celebrations

As the Malay/Muslim community welcomed Hari Raya Aidilfitri joyfully with their loved ones, the senior citizens at Pertapis Senior Citizens Fellowship Home have only each other to turn to.

To cheer up the residents, our regular volunteer, Mr Calvin Chee, organized a feast for our residents during the first day of Hari Raya.

The Home is also heartened by the generosity and goodwill from our donors, who have been contributing; be it through the conduction of Hari Raya programmes at the Home premises, donating goods or invitations to various events. The fun-filled activities during this festive period have certainly lifted the spirits of the residents.

A special Hari Raya treat from a team of volunteers cheering the residents28 July 2014

Social interaction with volunteers from ITE-Simei students,15 Aug 2014

Fun activities with volunteers from Pioneer Secondary School

15 Aug 2014

Popiah-making session with students from Pioneer Secondary School

Hari Raya Lunch Treat by Singapore Power Volunteers 31 July 2014

PertapisChildren’sHome By Mustika Alyssa

PERTAPIS had its Charity Carnival this year at the home ground of PERTAPIS Children’s Home (PCH). The purpose of organizing this carnival is to specially raise funds in aid of the Pertapis Children Home.

This PERTAPIS Charity Carnival was attended by friends, volunteers, donors, supporters and members of the public. This event was also organized to create a platform in reaching out to various people in the society so they could get to know more about PERTAPIS and its services. Malay veteran artistes and celebrities came down to spice up the event with their special performances and support.

This Charity Carnival would not have been made possible without the great support and hardwork of PERTAPIS staff, volunteers, donors and supporters.

PERTAPIS is deeply grateful to many of its volunteers who came forward to contribute to make this event a success and meaningful one. We wish to record our sincere gratitude to all who supported us on this PERTAPIS Charity Carnival 2014.

7 JUNE 2014PERTAPIS CHARITY CARNIVAL @ PCH

PERTAPIS Children’s Home held its inaugural Awards Day on the 10th May 2014 to celebrate the academic achievements of its residents. The Award and momentous event was kindly sponsored by the Tanglin Rotary Club, Singapore with the presence of our generous supporters, Rotary Club members, parents of residents and the PERTAPIS Executive Committee members. PERTAPIS children put up an amazing performance for the audience while impressing them with their outstanding improvements and academic achievements for the Year 2013. Congratulations to the Award Winners!

10 MAY 2014PCH AWARDS DAY

Hwa Chong Institution students have been a constant regular volunteer at our PERTAPIS Children Home. This year, they invited the PERTAPIS Children’s Home residents to attend a 2-day/1-night Camp at the Hwa Chong Boarding School, with 2 accompanying staff, during the June Holidays. This Camp is not just for leisure but also focuses on instilling values such as enhancing teamwork abilities, building self-resilience and inculcates independence skills to the Children. Hwa Chong had also incorporated a short learning activity by introducing their Mathematics portal program to the PCH Children. This was done on the iPad from Hwa Chong library. This interactive way of learning absolutely engaged the children’s engrossed attention. At the end of the camp, the Children had a special movie screening and also prize presentation. It was certainly a fruitful and joyful camp!

10-11 JUNE 2014HWA CHONG CAMP

14 June 2014River safari Visit

PERTAPIS Children Home residents, accompanied by staff had an enjoyable time at the River Safari, a trip kindly sponsored by CityCare. During this trip, the children had a real great time in a challenging way. This is because they had to be competitive among themselves as they had to complete activity sheets which allow them to redeem prizes. It was also a platform for them to enhance their learning adventure. The Children were treated for a ride on a motorized animal puppet which they enjoyed very much. The trip gave them experiential learning with lots of fun elements in it, which were extremely beneficial for these children.

Hari Raya 2014

For this year’s Aidilfitri cele-bration, all PCH children were able to enjoy the festive sea-sons with their loved ones back at home. They were very excit-ed for this rare opportunity!The children came back to PCH with good memories and experience. They shared their joy that they had and expressed that they want more of such opportunities. Not only can they celebrate Aidilfitri with their own families, but also, invitation from organi-zations such as the Singapore Civil Defence Force, just to name a few, contributed to the children’s happiness too.

Breathworks – Stress Management SkillsPertapis volunteers, Mdm Fatimah Gous and her partner, Ms Faizah Jamal, conduct simple breathing exercises for the residents on every Wednesday mornings. Ms Faizah has experience in exercises for natural healing of stress and removing negative thoughts from oneself. The programme aims to help residents cope with problems relating to negative attitudes such as anger and resentment. It is hoped that the participants would learn to eventually purge their anger, and develop self-esteem and self-efficacy by embracing more positivities in their lives.

Reading Program by Pwee Foundation On every Thursdays, facilitators from Pwee Foundation conduct an engaging reading program for residents who are currently suspended or have dropped out from school. A total of ten residents attend the sessions. They were provided with a series of reading books for discussion, and are assigned to read certain chapters before the next session.

Pertapis Centre for Women & Girls

By Soraya Begum & Nur Dina Amalina

16-18 June 2014STAR (Sisters Towards Allah & Rasulullah) A program by NUS

A three-day programme was held during the June holidays for the residents, by volunteers from the National University of Singapore (NUS). STAR programme aimed to strengthen the bond amongst residents through activities as well as do reflective exercises that bring to attention on the importance and relevance of Allah and his Prophet (pbuh) in our daily lives with the hope of guiding the residents towards having a better relationship with Him and His Messenger (pbuh). Some of the fun activities employed included Zumba, origami, station games, and the making of friendship bands.

23-24 June 2014‘a.L.I.V.E’ Program Haji Yusoff mosque and Al-Istiqamah mosque organized a two-day outreach programme at PCWG on the 4th week of June. The programme benefited our residents as majority of them had not attended religious classes or any a.L.I.V.E programmes before. The residents shared that they learnt more about moral and spiritual values in an interactive and engaging way, and had enjoyed their sessions with the facilitators!

PHH Family Support Group organised Hari Ibu for Residents and their family on 10 May 2014 from 3pm to 6pm. This is our annual event with the objective of instilling family values into our residents by showing their appreciation to their mothers and wives.

Some residents shared that it was their first time expressing their love towards their mothers and their first time giving flowers to their moms and wives. All present were touched when residents sang “Kasihnya Ibu” during the “Pulut Kuning” cutting ceremony.

One of the mothers shared that this was the first time she could feel the warmth and forgiving towards her son while cutting the “pulut” cake. It was a memorable occasion for all that were present on that day.

10 May 2014Mother’s Day Celebration @ PHH

Pertapis Halfway

HouseBy Siti Rahmah Shamsudin

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The Home Administrator, Mdm Siti Rahmah was interviewed by Channel News Asia on a TV Series SG+ “Kicking the Drug Habits” that was telecasted on 27 May 2014, In her interview, Mdm Siti Rahmah satated that “rehabilitation is the key to helping repeated offenders kick the drug habits”. The video can be viewed at: http://goo.gl/0CB1GJ

On 7 May 2014 delegates from the UAE National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC) visited PHH. The team was headed by Mr Mohamed Al Hosani, Director of Operations, NRC, together with Mr Khaled Al Adwan, Manager of Halfway House. They came with 2 personnel from MHA and Mr Andy Lee from SCORE. Pertapis President Mr Hussaini Abdullah hosted the visit.

During the visit, the visitors were briefed about PHH operations and various programmes. A drawing of orchids, by one of the residents was presented to the visitors as memento.

Interview by Channel News Asia

7 May 2014Visit by UAE NRC

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18 JC students and 2 teachers visited PHH as a part of the Ministry of Education Pre-University Seminar programme for the year 2014. The students were required to interview residents and staff to explore on “How Singaporeans can prepare for life’s uncertainties, ensure early investments and explore what more can be done to support Singaporeans in the event of unfortunate circumstances” with the objectives of allowing the students to experience the residents’, staff and organisation’s experiences.

It was a good experience and an eye opener for the residents as they see how enthusiastic our young Singaporeans are.

Kiddy Campus Sports Day was held at PHH auditorium on 5 June 2014.

Pre-University Seminar Programme Visit by JC Students

Kiddy Campus Sports Day @ PHH

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7 residents volunteered in the Lotus Light Charity Society (Singapore) 2014 Rice Donation Day at Teck Ghee Community Club. The residents were involved in carrying sacks of rice, together with other volunteers, to be uploaded into the vehicles of the recipient organisations. Pertapis received 2000kg of rice on that day. We received a Certificate of Appreciation.

10 Jun 2014, PHH in-house residents did community Service at the Malay Muslim Cemetery in Lim Chu Kang Road with the objectives to instill the importance of family bonding and to remind residents that everyone will have death as a rite of passage in life. This is part of PHH annual event to create awareness and spiritual awakening.

Residents cleaned and neatened the graves and also prayed for the deceased.

8 June 2014Rice Donation Day

10 June 2014Community Service @ Malay Muslim Cemetery

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Fathers’ Day was successfully celebrated on 14 Jun 2014 and was organised and funded by the Yellow Ribbon and assisted by SCORE. 20 residents had their spouses and children coming to celebrate the event. 2 of the residents requested for their fathers to come and be with them at the event. It was a fun and meaningful day as the children of residents shared how they feel about their fathers, were asked to pick a pair of quality leather shoes for their dad as a symbolic act of love. Many residents were touched by what the children thought about them and felt heartening to hear that the children still respect and love them. Families that came participated in a group game called “ Don’t break the Egg”. The game was fun as every group needed to ensure that when their egg is dropped from a certain height the egg must remain whole. Everyone was thankful to the organizer and expressed their appreication for these valuable moments on their special “Father’s Day” Celebrations.

Quality shoes for the Dads……

“Make sure the egg is protected….”

“I want to say something about my dad!”

14 June 2014Father’s Day Celebrations

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Mr Mohd Sufian Mohd Noor was interviewed for a Suria TV docu-drama series “Percaya Lagi” by DV studio on 12 Jun 2014. "Percaya Lagi" is a docu-drama series about second chances; about people who have caused their own downfalls, but also have enough courage and faith to pick themselves up to give themselves a second chance in life, whether on their own or with the help of others. It is about forgiving one's self for his/her past mistakes and moving on to make amends to himself, to others around him and even giving back to the society.

The objective of "Percaya Lagi" is to create awareness in our society of "fallen people" who are making an effort to turn over a new leaf, to open up their hearts to welcome these people back into the society, and to help ease their efforts to integrate once again into the society and their own family. This series aims to change that mindset and encourage families, friends and society to believe again and support the efforts of those who need their help. It also aims to inspire and motivate those who are trying to change for the better through sharing the interviews and stories of those who have succeeded in turning their lives around. No residents were captured in the filming.

This series is currently telecasted every Wednesday after “Berita”. Episode 7 will be the episode on Sufian. Watch it here: http://goo.gl/SfVctM

Preventive Education

This was held on 8 August 2014. Residents sang the National Anthem and said the Pledge. They were also entertained by Trivia on Singapore.

Attention!!! What is the answer?

8 August 2014National Day Observance Ceremony  

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PHH received a delegation of 40 persons from Prince of Songkla University, Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection and Ministry of Justice, Thailand. The Head of Delegation was Mr Sahakarn Petchanarin, Deputy Director General from the Department of Juvenile Observation and Protection. They were received by our Senior Executive Director, Mr Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahman.

The delegation was brought to the theatrette for a presentation by Mdm Siti Rahmah, Senior Administrator of PHH, and followed by a tour of the facility. There was also exchange of memento. PHH memento is a drawing of Vanda Miss Joquim, drawn by one of the residents.

The visitors were treated to a meal of nasi briyani lunch. The Head of the Delegation indicated his interest to send his staff for training at PHH.

Foreign Delegation

By Khairunnisa Rusli

MAJOREvents

The 2014 annual Mother’s Day Dinner organized by The Pertapis Women’s Wing proved to be a good platform for our seniors to showcase their talents. Two of our female residents, in particular, had diligently handcrafted and arranged assorted flowers over the period of three months to be put up for sale to raise funds for Pertapis. A specially prepared vase of flowers was gifted to Mr Chua Kian Meng, BBM Chairman of Potong Pasir CCC, who graced the event.

The night also saw a few of the Home’s residents making an appearance on stage with their music instructors. They performed a musical piece that they have practiced during their weekly music therapy sessions. Even though the seniors were nervous to perform in front of many, they were moved by the appreciation showed by the guests of the event and had a blast performing. Overall, it was a rewarding experience as the Home managed to show that its residents are not just passive recipients of the community, but also active seniors who are still leading fulfilling lives.

16 May 2014A Mother’s Day

Celebration Dinner

A Mother’s Day celebration was held at PERTAPIS Senior Citizens Fellowship Home on the 16th of May 2014. Graced by Guest of Honour: Mr Chua Kiang Meng, BBM, Chairman of Potong Pasir CCC, we celebrated Mother’s Day by inviting well-known local artistes to entertain them and to remember the mothers that we have. Celebrities include award-winning singer/songwriter Didicazli, Anugerah winner Sarah Aqilah as well as Mahani Mohd. Hosted by AB Shaik, he helped in engaging the audience with his charming humour. All in all, the event was a success seeing that there was a positive response of table sales. More importantly, the senior citizens enjoyed themselves, and their handmade flowers were also purchased.

By Nur Faizah Hairal Basar

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21 May 2014“Swing for Hope” Charity Golf

The “Swing for Hope” Charity Golf was held on the 21st of May 2014 at the Singapore Island Country Club. The presence of our Guest of Honour – Mr Hawazi Daipi (Senior Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Manpower) definitely helped in making the event a success. Goodie bags, T-shirts and the Souvenir Magazine were distributed to participants. The Hole in 1 prize was a Lexus ES 250 sponsored by Borneo Motors.

Golf flight with our Guest of Honour, Mr Hawazi Daipi

Golfers waiting for lunch before Tee-off Lining up to be ready for game

The “Swing for Hope” Charity Golf Dinner marked the end of our Charity Golf Fundraising.Mr S. Iswaran (Minister, Prime Minister’s Office; Second Minister for Home Affaris and Second Minister for Trade and Industry) was the Guest of Honour for the event and it was hosted by the affable Mr AB Shaik with guest performer, the well-known Singaporean talent, Rahimah Rahim. The event proved to be a boost with a tremendously positive response of table sales, sponsorship and donations.

21 May 2014“Swing for Hope” Charity Golf Dinner

VIPs dining with the Guest of Honour

Group photo with celebrity Rahimah Rahim Our volunteers enjoying the Charity Golf Dinner

Guest of Honour for Charity Golf Dinner, Minister S Iswaran presenting memento to Mr Hawazi Daipi, Senior Parliamentary Secretary, and advisor to the Pertapis Chariy Golf 2014 Committee. On the left is Mr Hussaini Abdullah, President of Pertapis

Lucky draw winner for 5th Place, he goes home with a golf caddie bag generously donated by our sponsors

Some of the Ladies who participated in our Charity Golf

Snippets of our Charity Golf

“SWING FOR HOPE” CHARITY GOLF COMMITTEE

Front Row (Left to right): Major (Ret) Maser Mansor PBM (Chairman), Mr Hussaini Abdullah(PERTAPIS President), Mr Zainal Samat (Joint Chairman),Mdm Norasimah Sujai (Member), Mdm Rashidah Rashid (Member)

Back Row: Pro Said Abd Latif (Tournament Director), Mr Abd Aziz Abd Rahman (Member), Mr Md Jufri Haron (Member), Mr Md Fairuz Fadiah (Member), Mr Abd Rahim Jaafar (Consultant),

Mr Joe Hamid (Consultant), Mr Abd Wahab Hussein (Secretary), Mr Osman V P Mohamed (Member), Mr Amasha Md Yusof (Member)

21 June 2014Care & Share

Held on the 21st June 2014, the Care and Share is an annual event to disburse rations and financial aid to the Welfare Trust Fund recipients. The Guest of Honor was Mr Lau Swe Heng, the Chairman of Joo Chiat Complex Trader’s Association as the event was aptly held at Joo Chait Complex. A total of 500 recipients were invited for this event as well. PERTAPIS staff was dispatched to man the distribution while the various homes provided much needed logistic support as well as manpower. It was a successful event that was jointly supported by Shinnyo-En Singapore

‘Iftar’ is an annual event that was held for the Welfare Trust Fund recipients, to commemorate the Ramadan spirit of giving to the less fortunate. Mr Heng Swee Keat, the Minister for Education, graced the event as the Guest of Honour along with 2000 recipients of the Welfare Trust Fund. There was a mass break-fasting session at the PERTAPIS Halfway House and distribution of alms and food rations. This event certainly would not have been a success without the volunteers, the residents as well as our supporting partners.

12 July 2014Pertapis Iftar

PHH and staff of various homes were involved in the provision of logistics, manpower, security and traffic controllers.

Chairman of the Family Support Group (FSG), Mr Ali Ahmad and his members.

Guest of honour, Mr Lau Swe Heng, handing out financial aid to our recipients