YMCA’s Inclusive Challenge helps youths with special needs go beyond comfort zone
It is part of the organisation’s Find Your Y initiative, which has raised more than S$100,000
JUST before the break of dawn in Hong Kong, 58-year-old Bibo Low trudges out of bed on wobbly legs to get ready for a gruelling task – hiking around 20 km along the 100-km-long MacLehose Trail.
While assembling the hiking gear, she also has to ensure that her 23-year-old son Nicholas Lim Chen-Yu – a youth with special needs – is ready for the hike. But he seems to be more eager than her.
Bibo and Nicholas join nine other youths with special needs and their caregivers to head out to the starting point in New Territories, on the outskirts of Hong Kong.
For the next 12 hours, the group hikes over rocky terrain, climbs mountains and endures cuts, blisters and sore muscles with only a few short breaks, before returning in the evening to the hostel.
This was the routine for five consecutive days from Nov 9 to 13, as part of charity organisation YMCA of Singapore’s Inclusive Challenge to hike the MacLehose Trail, described as “tough” and “unforgiving” by many hikers.
Providing visibility
Ansellia Teo, head of department for youth support (special needs) at YMCA, said: “The Inclusive Challenge is about raising awareness that special needs youths can also overcome challenges just like everyone else.”
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Low concurred, saying that participating in the Inclusive Challenge “creates opportunities for youths with special needs”, and allows them to be more “seen and visible” in the community.
Her son Nicholas learns best in the outdoors and enjoys running, so she wanted to support him – even though she was close to calling it quits on the fourth day. She also noted that completing this kind of challenge gives “ownership” to youths with special needs.
“If I do what he can do best while I am still able, I can shortcut his learning,” Low said. “We are not carrying them up, but backing them up and walking behind them.”
As caregivers, they should celebrate and congratulate youths with special needs for such achievements, so that more of the community can do the same, she added.
Preparing for the challenge
For the MacLehose Trail hike, YMCA recruited six youths with special needs who had summited Mount Fuji in the previous year’s iteration of the Inclusive Challenge, along with four new joiners. The participants’ ages ranged from 22 to 34, and they have conditions such as autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome.
Teo said that YMCA reached out to the participants from prior sports programmes because they “showed potential in being resilient and able to do more”.
Wu Mei Ling, general secretary and chief executive of YMCA, added: “As YMCA interacts with the young people with special needs and their caregivers, we realise that they are very strong, positive and resilient.”
Siau King Ing, father of 32-year-old participant Siau Ek Jin who had previously participated in the Mount Fuji challenge, noted that the MacLehose Trail’s duration and distance were longer than the Mount Fuji trail, and required “higher endurance”.
In order to prepare, the participants and their caregivers underwent “intensive training”, said Teo. Twice a week from end-July, they climbed roughly 40 flights of stairs at a Housing and Development Board block in Toa Payoh multiple times, and hiked at Bukit Timah Hill for up to 10 hours per session with minimal breaks in between.
Teo added that the participants were “committed” and attended every training session without complaint, calling them “inspiring”.
Find Your Y initiative
The Inclusive Challenge was part of YMCA’s Find Your Y month-long initiative in November, which also comprised the Tower Challenge and Stronger Together Carnival.
The initiative has raised more than S$109,000 to date, which will go towards community programmes for YMCA’s beneficiaries.
Wu said: “These funds will be invested in ensuring quality of life through our sports, arts, wellness and vocational programmes for youth with special needs, as well as for youth-at-risk.”
For the Tower Challenge, between Nov 16 and 24, YMCA rallied about 400 unique participants who made more than 3,500 attempts to climb the nine-storey YMCA @ One Orchard building in order to set the Singapore record for the longest mass continuous stair climb. Participants took turns to sustain a continuous climb for 180 consecutive hours.
To conclude the Find Your Y initiative, YMCA held a carnival at its premises on Nov 24, with President Tharman Shanmugaratnam as the guest of honour.
Members of the public could attend by purchasing coupns for S$20 for an event ticket. There were carnival games and booths about YMCA’s programmes for beneficiaries, as well as selling food and goods made by beneficiaries, and activities reflecting YMCA’s heritage and ongoing programmes.
Donations for the Find Your Y campaign are ongoing until Dec 31.
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