Twenty years ago, no school in Johor Bahru catered to older children with special needs. Parents had to send their children to Singapore – their nearest but rather expensive option. The daily commute in and out of Singapore was not feasible as well. With a “why not do it ourselves?” attitude, a group of ten parents with children of various learning needs came together to form a special school in Johor Bahru.
Every great and inspirational story begins with an idea and people willing to execute it even without any external support or funds. This group of parents, whose children are classified as slow learners, autistic, ADHD and even diagnosed with Down syndrome, registered their idea under the Kiwanis umbrella as Kiwanis Taman Sentosa and built the special vocational training school. Kiwanis Careheart Centre is their main adopted project that now operates from a building in Taman Danga Sutera. It currently attends to about 70 students and has a total of 18 staff members.
Dr. Lim Kock Hwa, Charter President of Kiwanis Taman Sentosa, is one of the founding members and current Chairman of Kiwanis Careheart Centre. Being a parent of an autistic child himself, he saw the importance of establishing a centre for adult children to develop skills and receive training for jobs with simple tasks.
As a full-time general paediatrician, his time is limited. Yet, his dedication outweighs his lack of time from fulfilling responsibilities at the centre. He attends meetings at night, during the weekends, or on his day off. Running an NGO is not an easy task – fundraising is always a hurdle, but he always finds ways to raise some contributions, and he is thankful to have support from the people around him.
Dr. Lim is also interested in doing other charity work, especially in environmental efforts. Retirement to him means being involved in more charitable causes and doing organic farming – something Kiwanis Careheart Centre has already been practicing. After twenty years of running a school, he definitely deserves the retirement of his dreams.
