<\/p>\n

As part of its \u201cThe Child with Lupus\u201d theme for World Lupus Day 2009, Persatuan SLE Malaysia (PSLEM) organised a \u201cColours of Hope\u201d art & craft event on Saturday, 9 May 2009, at 1 Utama Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia.<\/p>\n

The event, which received the support of art & craft centre Get Crafty shop, attracted participation from a total of 71 children between the ages of three and 15. Many of the participants had their siblings at hand to cheer them on, so there were nearly 100 children present at 1 Utama\u2019s Promenade where the event was held. In addition, parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins also joined in the fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe learnt something from this children\u2019s event \u2013 when you involve children in an activity, a few generations also get involved,\u201d said World Lupus Day 2009 Organising Committee Member Ms Chee Siew Lian.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

A young participant getting some help from mama<\/em><\/p>\n

In preparation for the event, PSLEM committee members went for training at Get Crafty ito learn to help children to express themselves through art and craft and to experience the joy of creating an individual piece of art.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

PSLEM\u2019s committee members after their training at Get Crafty<\/em><\/p>\n

The children were really excited to be allowed to choose their preferred craftwork and to select their favourite colours. For many of them, it was extra exciting because it was the first time they were allowed to use a paintbrush (kindergartens usually only provide colour pencils) and the brilliant colours found in acrylic paints. Other materials such as sequins, stars, glitter, gold\/silver markers, pipecleaners (for the butterfly feelers), etc., were also items that most children have very little opportunity to use in school.<\/p>\n

While the children were hard at work, their parents were given PSLEM\u2019s information leaflets on SLE to read, which proved to be an educational time for the adults, too. The festive atmosphere also encouraged passerbys and other Lupus patients and their families and friends to ask about Lupus.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The art event in full swing on Saturday, 9 May 2009<\/em><\/p>\n

Besides fulfilling its aim to create awareness that children also suffer from SLE, the \u201cColours of Hope\u201d art & craft event also raised funds to start a support group for children with Lupus. Dr. Tang Swee Ping, the country\u2019s only paediatric rheumatologist, has already agreed to head this support group, while PSLEM\u2019s Counselling Advisor, Ms. Valerie Jaques, a clinical psychologist, will provide training for PSLEM\u2019s SLE Counsellors to counsel children with Lupus.<\/p>\n

The success of the \u201cColours of Hope\u201d event has also encouraged Audrey Chow, the owner of Get Crafty, to consider organising the event on an annual basis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As part of its \u201cThe Child with Lupus\u201d theme for World Lupus Day 2009, Persatuan SLE Malaysia (PSLEM) organised a \u201cColours of Hope\u201d art & craft event on Saturday, 9 May 2009, at 1 Utama Shopping Centre in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia. The event, which received the support of art & craft centre Get Crafty shop,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-a-events-archive"],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.12.2","language":"bm","enabled_languages":["gb","bm","cn"],"languages":{"gb":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"bm":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false},"cn":{"title":false,"content":false,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lupusmalaysia.org\/bm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}