Walk for charity with Steptember

Being a teacher with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance Singapore (CPAS) has brought new meaning to Miss Sonia Nair’s life.

The 28-year-old found her calling four years ago and left her high-paying sales and marketing job to pursue a diploma in special education from the National Institute of Education.

Miss Nair has been teaching at CPAS for three years now, and while the job is challenging, she is happy that she made the career switch.

Miss Nair told The New Paper: “Being a teacher in CPAS has given me a lot of purpose and I’m happy to do my job. I want to do right by my students.”

Being a special education teacher has taught her many lessons in patience, said Miss Nair, who teaches children aged six to eight.

One of her students, a six-year-old boy could not speak nor communicate. Ms Nair struggled thinking of ways to help the student.

She said: “I wanted to enter his world and provide a structure to communicate, since he was non-verbal. I was determined to not leave the poor child by himself.”

CPAS has started its annual Steptember campaign, which was launched last Thursday (Aug 29) by Mr Teo Chee Hean, Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security. 

The campaign involves an interactive four-week challenge (Sept 3 to Sept 30) where participants push themselves to take 10,000 steps a day for the month of September. 

The local social service agency hopes to raise $200,000 through participation fees and donations. Funds raised go towards CPAS’ extensive programmes and services, which currently benefit over 700 children and adults with cerebral palsy or multiple disabilities.

Friends and family of participants can support their efforts with online donations to CPAS.

Ms Latha Kutty, executive director for CPAS said that the money raised will help defray medical expenses, therapy rehabilitation equipment, caregiver support programmes and more.

She said: “Cerebral palsy is a life-long condition and long-term care is necessary. The funds will reduce the cost for care, which is often out of reach for many families.”