12 February 2016
The Society of St. Vincent De Paul Selangor is pleased to welcome all to a unique empowerment event – the launch of the book “Guidance to Wheelchair Bound” written by Mr. Jeyaraj Santraju. Mr. Jeyaraj is a friend of the Society whom we met him about a year ago. We were extremely inspired and deeply humbled to have met him. He showed us what true grit and living with ‘adversity’ is all about. Above all he showed that anyone can succeed with a positive attitude and the willingness to work hard. This book that Mr. Jeyaraj has written is all about how to live your life to the fullest when you are wheelchair bound. Many people would have “given up” or been discouraged in life if they meet with terrible tragedy which makes a person disabled for life like in the case of Jeyaraj. Several years ago he met with an unfortunate industrial accident while working as a technician at a plant in Singapore rendering him paralyzed from waist down.
However, Mr. Jeyaraj had taken positive outlook, and because he knew nothing about how to manage his life ‘living in a wheelchair’, he learned how to do it. And in return, he is now sharing his knowledge and his experience so that others can learn to live with a wheelchair positively enjoying life to the fullest. This book will also help families cope with members of their own families who are disabled, so that together, positive family values can be promoted and nurtured.
The Society is indeed proud to have been given this opportunity to support and sponsor Mr. Jeyaraj towards his dream of authoring and printing his own book. This is yet another empowerment project of the Society of St. Vincent De Paul Selangor. The Society in Selangor has for more than 50 years been working with the poor, the marginalized and the underprivileged in basic areas of food, shelter, education support and medical support. However, with time, the Society took on the added role – of empowering the community whom we journey with so that the community will empower itself to be self-dependent leading towards sustenance and preservation of the environment.
We hope that this journey of our Society with Mr Jeyaraj will an eye opener for all Malaysians, from all walks of life that just by working and understanding each other, together, we can enable and promote a better quality of Life for all and more so the Poor and Marginalised.
State Council of Selangor 