Recycling creates work and therapy for disabled
THE recycling project in the Tanjong Pagar constituency does more than save trees.
It also provides cerebral-palsy patient Juraimi Jaafar with a job and physical therapy.
The 29-year-old has had difficulty walking since birth. A third operation on his spine in 1985 was supposed to give him some mobility, but it left him wheelchair-bound.
He folds brochures and recycling bags for the Green Earth Programme for up to six hours a day at the headquarters of the Society for the Physically Disabled, off Tiong Bahru Road.
The repetitive movements are a form of exercise for his stiff hands, said a spokesman for the society.
About 50 physically-handicapped people work on the same project. Some are employed at the society's sheltered workshop while others work at the Transnational Recycling Industries’ sorting plant in Jurong.
Up to August this year, their efforts had brought in about $200,000 for the society, which needs $2 million this year for its welfare projects.
These include the English classes that Mr Juraimi is attending.
The society also runs a work activity centre for 130 disabled adults and provides education grants for another 207 disabled students and students with disabled parents.
Mr Jeffrey Chua, Tanjong Pagar-West Coast town council’s general manager, said the tangible results achieved by people through recycling were one of the reasons for the project’s success.
"Before this, recycling projects were run based purely on a person’s desire to do something for the environment," he said.
"But eventually, people run out of steam."
Source : The Straits Times, Oct 27, 2000
Recycling Point Dot Com
(C) 2000 All Rights Reserved