Seniors visit home and 100-year old chapel

Parishioners from the Church of St Iganatius and the Church of St Francis Xavier went on a day trip to Triang, Pahang, to visit the unique Sang Riang Senior Citizens’ (SRSC) home and the 100-year old St John’s Chapel.

Sang Riang Senior Citizen’s Home is open to residents of all races, religions and nationalities (who have no place to go or those who have lost their passports). Their acceptance as residents follows strict criteria namely: a. No children b. No income and c. Have not resided in any Old Folks’ homes before. Applicants who have children will be rejected because SRSC would like to inculcate filial responsibility of the children towards their parents. They would like children to look after their parents and NOT abandon them when they are incapable of looking after themselves.

The Home is run by a committee and helpers who are all volunteers. Their Chairperson is Mdm Yap Yoke Moey who, with three lady friends, started the home 14 years ago. It provides shelter to 200 plus residents of all races and they are looked after as long as needed. The final rites of the deceased (depending on the wishes of the residents, be they Christians, Muslims, Hindu etc) are carried out by the home. A memorial of the deceased resident is displayed in a memorial hall at the home.

Apart from providing shelter to the homeless and the underprivileged, the home also runs a kidney dialysis centre catering to 72 kidney patients currently. They work with the National Kidney Foundation to operate the centre and it is open to the public and those who are able to pay. The charges are RM100.00 per treatment.

The home also has a Mental healthcare centre where residents with mental disorders are taken care of throughout their stay. Regular medical treatment is carried out by the Psychiatric team from Hospital Temerloh. Apart from the Mental Care Centre, the home also has a Centre for Critical Patients which includes the Orang Kurang Upaya (OKU). The Home has a future vision to have a building to cater for patients undergoing cancer treatment.

In promoting good moral habits, they have a section where children from Triang town or nearby areas are provided free tuition and moral studies. Their aim is to inculcate good habits to children to respect their parents and society.

Lunch was served at the home’s Sun House Vegetarian Restaurant which offers a variety of dishes for customers (walk-ins are welcome) to have their meals. The meals are priced at a minimum of RM3.00 but customers are encouraged to contribute more as a donation to the home.

After lunch, we visited the 100- year old Chapel of St John which is located not far from the home. Some of the parishioners were there to welcome us. We were surprised by their hospitality. Some of the youth even took time off from work just to be with us. Anthony, a youth member of the Chapel, gave us a brief history of the Chapel.

We pray that the relevant departments at our KL Archdiocese will assist the Chapel committee to resolve the issue of getting the official letter from the State Secretariat to confirm that the Catholic Church has the right to occupy the land for religious purposes. The Chapel committee is currently waiting for a letter from the KL Archdiocese to state the Church’s rightful use of the land for religious purposes. Then the committee will submit the letter to the State Secretariat for its consideration.

After the briefing, we prayed the Divine Mercy chaplet, accompanied with music played by the youths. We then adjourned for fellowship prepared by the community of the Chapel before we left Triang for home at 4.30pm.

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online