The Institut Sosial Malaysia (ISM) under the recommendation of Dr. Kenji Kuno of the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia and Japan International Cooperation Agency invited me to speak on Independent Living for Disabled Persons (Kursus Kehidupan Berdikari bagi OKU – Sesi 1/2010) on Tuesday. The ISM conducts training for civil servants and social workers on matters related to social development.

Peter Tan conducting Independent Living course at Institut Sosial Malaysia.

The main office block and seminar rooms were located atop a hillock just at KM6 of the Lebuhraya Kuala Lumpur – Seremban. It commands a panaromic view of Bandar Tasik Selatan and the surrounding areas. About 20 social welfare officers and social workers participated in the four hour course spread over two sessions.The first session was Pengenalan Kepada Kehidupan Berdikari (Introduction to Independent Living) and the second on History of Independent Living.

Peter Tan sharing the history of Independent Living with participants at Institut Sosial Malaysia.

The practice of Independent Living was new to most of the participants as they were unaware that severely disabled persons too can live independently if given the right support and opportunities. After the sessions ended, I could feel that they got a pretty good grasp of what Independent Living is all about, especially how it is practiced in other countries such as the USA, Sweden and Japan, among others. And I need to brush up on my Bahasa Malaysia. There were more than a couple of times when I could not find the correct words to use and had to be “rescued” by the participants.

The blogger in me is such an irony. I had so much time last week but I was just too lazy to blog. Well, it was also partly due to the humid weather that has pervaded for the longest time that made me lethargic throughout the day. The weather is all cool and breezy now and I have this urge to put up a long entry. Those ideas have been bubbling in my mind for the past week.

As timing would have it, I was invited to conduct part of a course next week at Institut Sosial Malaysia on short notice. Instead of putting my thoughts into words, I am busy preparing materials for the presentations. The course titled Introduction to Independent Living (Kursus Pengenalan Kehidupan Berdikari Bagi OKU) is to be attended by officers from the Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat. Nonetheless, I am glad that the busyness has snapped me out of the doldrums.

Japanese sweet potatoes and uncooked rice.

Sweet potato rice porridge is another easy-to-cook meal. It is light on the tummy. When I was a kid, Mum would cook this porridge for me if my body gets heaty. The symptoms of heatiness are ulcers in the mouth and a poor appetite. In a way, the rice porridge is therapeutic as the light meal allows for better digestion which in turn allows the body to recover faster.

According to Mum, rice was a scarce commodity during the World War II. If the family had sufficient supply, they would have cooked rice, if not, it would be rice porridge. They reared poultry and pigs for meat, and also grew their own vegetables. Sweet potatoes were one of them. It was a luxury to have sweet potatoes in the porridge during those times.

With the weather now alternating from hot to humid to rainy and back, I thought it would be a good idea to have some of this porridge. Wuan could not get local sweet potatoes at the Pandan Perdana wet market. She bought some Japanese sweet potatoes instead. They are just as good although the potato was not as sweet as I had expected. One good thing about Japanese sweet potatoes is that they do not have chewy fibres like those found in the local varieties.

Sweet potato porridge

Sweet Potato Rice Porridge Recipe

1 cup fragrant rice
1 sweet potato
a pinch of salt (optional)

5 cups water

Peel sweet potato and cut into chunks. Rinse rice 4 or 5 times until water runs clear. Put rice and sweet potato into the automatic rice cooker. Add water. Allow to cook for another 5 minutes after the porridge begins to bubble over. Turn off the cooker and let sit for another 15 minutes. Do not open the cover until ready to serve. To be sure that the potato is thoroughly cooked, gently poke a fork into it. If the fork goes all the way in, it is cooked. The porridge can be eaten as is. Sometimes, I add some light soy sauce for taste. Serves two.