Different, not less: Ten trainees with learning difficulties such as autism, slow learner and hearing impairment have been busy producing and packing mooncakes to fulfil orders for the Mid-Autumn Festival at Pertubuhan Gemilang Istimewa’s non-profit cafe in Taman Molek, Johor Baru. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
JOHOR BARU: At first glance, they may look like any other mooncakes but they are made by differently-abled people.
Under the guidance of volunteers, 10 trainees with various learning difficulties such as autism, slow learning and hearing impairment churn out boxes of mooncakes four days a week to meet their customers’ orders.
Non-governmental organisation Pertubuhan Gemilang Istimewa co-founder Khor Soo Nee said the trainees, aged 19 to 30, are given different tasks to handle in order to produce the boxes of mooncakes.
“They are each tasked with mixing the dough for the mooncake skin, preparing the filling or shaping and moulding the cakes before baking them.
“Our church-based organisation has been selling mooncakes made by people with special needs in conjunction with the Mid-Autumn Festival for the past eight years,” she said when interviewed at its non-profit cafe here.
Besides the usual Shanghai mooncakes, the traditional ones and 3D jelly mooncakes, they also introduced a new souffle variety this year.
Khor said their trainees work in a clean kitchen environment at their cafe, producing and packing mooncakes for collection and delivery.
“The special cafe also acts as a platform for the trainees to learn baking and cooking skills as we also serve handmade pau, bread as well as rice and noodle dishes from Monday to Friday,” she added.
The trainees, who started making mooncakes earlier this month, will carry on until Sept 13 as the items are seasonal products, she said.
The Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month, which falls on Sept 17 this year.
Khor said orders have been steadily coming in from their regular customers and church groups, and they expect to sell around 620 boxes of mooncakes this year.
With their mooncakes being free of preservatives, the items are usually sent out to customers within days of production to ensure freshness, she added.
“Despite having to juggle the different schedules and production, the trainees have been handling their tasks well.
“Although most of them do not know how to properly express themselves, we can tell from their body language that they care about the outcome of their efforts,” said Khor, who has an early childhood education background.
She added that such activities also motivate the trainees to continue learning and improving their skills, and the organisation hopes to see them entering the workforce one day.
“It is our aim to teach them and equip them with the necessary skills so that they can become more independent.
“We have to always think ahead as their parents are also getting older day by day,” she said.
Apart from the cafe, the organisation also runs a vocational centre upstairs for students who suffer from various disabilities.
Khor added that the organisation aims to set up a hostel nearby to provide accommodation for the cafe trainees as a way of helping them become more independent and lessening their families’ burden.
