Being a Good Buddy

Being a Good Buddy

Omer dancing with one of the Buddies during last year's Chirstmas Potluck Event

Being a Good Buddy

One for the album!


By Muhammad Omer Niaz

It was a Sunday afternoon, and I was accompanied by Hui Ru, a fellow Best Buddy from UCSI University. Our buddies were Charmaine and Wai Keen. It was my first experience on a one-to-one session with a person with a learning disability (LD). I had my own worries about how I would need to care for a person with LD, and the types of challenges that I would encounter.

We picked up both of our friends and met their parents. You could see not just the concern and worry of the parents for their children, but also the hope. Best Buddies wasn’t new just to them, but to us as well. What brought us together was the common goal of wanting to make both Charmaine and Wai Keen happy.

They greeted us with warmth as we all got into the car. The first thing I asked was “What do you think about the movie Madagascar 2?” They replied, “We have not seen it, but our friends tell us that it is very nice.” Searching for common ground, I asked, “Do you like Harry Potter?” They both said, “Heli Copter?” and burst into laughter. Their humour indicated their child-like innocence, and their keenness to express their views and feelings on any topic.

Animated conversation regarding birthdays followed as we travelled to the shopping mall. As soon as we reached the cinema, Wai Keen requested that we buy some drinks and pop corn, so I followed him. As we approached, he stopped me, and with a serious face, he said, “Please don’t tell my parents that I am eating pop corn, and drinking a Pepsi and a 100 Plus. They won’t let me have so much sweet things!” I agreed to keep my silence. After he had purchased his popcorn and soft drinks, I asked which drink he would consume first and he said, “I don’t know, I really have to think and make a decision!” It was a funny comment, but also showed me that for dear Wai Keen, decisions like this take effort.

During the movie, Wai Keen started to jump on the seat and got very excited for the characters of the movie. People were staring at us, but I pretended nothing was wrong. I was actually astonished and shocked by the sudden act, but my main concern was to ensure that he was comfortable and had fun. The movie ended and we had all enjoyed it. As we came out from the cinema, people openly stared at us, particularly a lady who scrutinised our faces. It was rather overwhelming, but Hui Ru and I took it in our stride.

We dropped our buddies back at their homes, and their parents were glad that they’d had so much fun. For whatever problems we’d had that day, it was all worth it to see Charmaine, Wai Keen and their parents look so happy to be able to have a friend for friendship’s sake.

My first outing with my buddy was certainly fulfilling, and I was already looking forward to our next outing.


Best Buddies is a non-profit organisation (NPO), from the United States of America. Founded in 1989 by Anthony K. Shriver, Best Buddies is dedicated to the enhancement of the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships as well as integrated employment.

Despite being an NPO, the core of Best Buddies is evidently based on fostering friendships among individuals and to work towards defeating stereotypes and boundaries bestowed upon an individual with intellectual disabilities. It introduces a simple plan i.e. a programme whereby college students (college buddies) are matched with individuals of similar ages (or otherwise) who are mentally challenged (nicknamed as buddies), for friendship and social outings.

UCSI University is the first education institution in Malaysia to adopt the Best Buddies programme and has more than a dozen passionate students who are actively involved. They are recruiting more students to join in Best Buddies; forms necessary to join in the programme can be found at http://www.ucsi.edu.my/sao/studDev.asp. For more information, you can email bestbuddies.ucsi@gmail.com or call 03-9101 8880, ext: 3165. Or you can just visit: http://bestbuddiesucsi.blogspot.com/.


About Muhammad Omer Niaz:

Omer is a final-year psychology student at UCSI University and hails from Pakistan. He’s never been back home since he started studying here. Although he admits that he can get really homesick sometimes, he finds comfort in the friends that he has made here. Omer has been a Best Buddies member since 2008.
     
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