Disabled teenagers take their turn at 'Joy Sailing'

JAKARTA (JP): The naval crew on board KRI Teluk Peleng 535 received 389 disabled visitors, mostly teenagers, on board the German-made landing ship on Sunday.

The 90-man crew took the visitors on a four-hour tour, which included a cruise around Jakarta Bay, and was also participated in by 110 teachers, six doctors and 60 people from Sahabat Dunia (Friends of the World) youth group, which jointly organized the visit.

Also in attendance was on the "Joy Sailing" tour was Sri Sumarsih, wife of Minister of Home Affairs Surjadi Soedirdja, in her capacity as head of the supervisory board of the Special Olympic Indonesia, a private organization for the disabled.

Coming from various schools for the disabled throughout the city, the visitors arrived at Tanjung Priok Port at 8 a.m.

The ex-German 2,000 dead weight tons Navy vessel left the port 50 minutes later, sailing some 15 nautical miles away and returning to the port at 2 p.m.

Like many youthful tour groups, Sunday's visitors were also noisy. They crowded the main deck of the ship.

Hundreds of chairs and a large tent had been set up on the deck for the visitors.

Several teachers went up to the second deck and took part in several games arranged by members of Sahabat Dunia, whose members graduated from a Hong Kong-based leadership training and development institution, AsiaWorks.

Some of the visitors were shown around the 37-year-old vessel, which is 10 meters wide and 120 meters long.

Some of the enthusiastic disabled teenagers happily went up and down the warship, getting into all corners of the vessel.

"We have a social mission, introducing the ship and its personnel to people, especially youths, to encourage them to love the sea," commander of the ship, Maj. Alex A. Kekung, said.

Otto Gunasis, a co-organizer of the visit, said the tour was aimed at introducing life at sea, particularly life on a warship, to the disabled.

"Joy Sailing, for example, will hopefully give them a totally new experience.

"We also put on activities which encourage confidence," he said.

Almost all of the disabled people took part in the games, such as dancing, songs and poetry reading, arranged by the organizers.

"Through these activities, they feel they are getting attention. In that way, they won't feel like outcasts in their community," commented Sutrini, a teacher at SLB-A, a school for sightless people, in Lebak Bulus, South Jakarta.

Other teachers shared her view, saying that such a trip always improved the morale of their students.

"Intan Yulianti, my student, is very quiet and very emotional during school time. But I noticed she was very enthusiastic, and she even dared to dance and sing a song aboard the ship.

"Perhaps, it's because everyone, including children like her, paid attention to her," said Rindyarti, a teacher at SLB-D school for the physically disabled run by the Foundation for the Rehabilitation of Disabled Children (YPAC) in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

"The main thing I'm excited about the trip is that it's my first experience to see a warship. Besides that, I can join many other friends in some activities," said half-deaf student Aji Wicaksono. (asa)