A helping hand in Malaysia DPR/TV/1064

A crippled children's home in Malacca, Malaysia, has been the scene of a private civic aid programme carried out by wives of Australian soldiers serving in that theatre. The Army wives recently presented their latest gift, a wheelchair, to the home, which is an annex of Malacca State Hospital. Funds were raised by social functions and competitions held in the Terendak garrison complex at Malacca. The wheelchair is probably the wives' farewell gift - the last to be made before 8th Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment returns to Australia. The home was built by local Government funds and is staffed by a Malaysian nursing sister and several nursing aides. But life has little to offer the 16 patients. Aged between three and 17 years, most have been abandoned by their parents. One of the highlights each week for the children is the appearance of the Australian women to take them swimming in the home's therapeutic wading pool. For the past year the women have spent two hours each Wednesday teaching the children to swim while playing and talking with them. About 30 women are involved in the project. During the 18 months the wives have aided the home, they have provided the children with orthopaedic leg irons, therapeutic toys, clothes, comics, ordinary toys, stamp albums and sweets. (Also identified: Lieutenant Chris Sinclair of Maryborough, Qld; Mrs Fay Lorrigan of Enoggera, Qld; Matron-in-charge, Sister Lim Pek Yong; Mrs Pam Taylor of Mitchelton, Qld; Mrs Pam Hoggart of Puckapunyal, Vic; Mrs Beverley Kennedy of Enoggera, Qld).