History of Wishesland Miri
Wishesland Miri was set up by a group of volunteers and cerebral palsy parents in Miri to unite all the cerebral palsy children and adults under one organisation. The idea of setting up Wishesland Miri was brought up by Mdm Katharine Chai to Mr Chi Poh Yung, the founder cum president of Wishesland Kuching, in July 2020. Without any delayed, both parties have reached a consensus and started to prepare for all the necessary to set up Wishesland Miri.
Along the journey, we have visited several OKU centres in Miri; one of them is PDK Mosjoya. With the help of Mdm Roslind and Mdm Margaret, we could identify the cerebral palsy parents and adults in Miri. We successfully organised a communication session between parents and Mr Chi from Wishesland Kuching at PDK Mosjaya Centre on 4th September 2020 through Zoom.
Wishesland Kuching was well known in the cerebral palsy parents’ group in Miri. However, due to the distance and other factors, they could not send their child to Kuching; therefore, they are so impressed and excited that Wishesland has decided to set up its branch in Miri.
With the guidance of The Founder cum President of Wishesland Kuching, Mr Chi, we successfully organised our first family day on 17th September 2020 at one of the parents' houses. The session was attended by more than 10 cerebral palsy children’s parents. It was yet another successful sharing session between parents and Mr Chi through zoom led by Mdm Katharine Chai. After the sharing session, we have more than 23 cerebral palsy parents and adults supporting us in setting up Wishesland Miri.
On 10th October 2020, we organised another family day at Ocean Park Miri basketball court, and the event received an excellent response from the parents and adults. After the event, we gathered enough numbers of pro-term committee members to form Wishesland Miri.
Then, our first Pro term Committee Meeting was held on 17th October 2020 through Zoom. After the meeting, we prepared to register with the Registrar Of Society (ROS) Miri. On 21st December 2020, Wishesland Miri was successfully registered with ROS and officially became one of the non-government organisations in Miri.
Wishesland Miri had its first Annual General Meeting on 23rd January 2021 via Zoom. As everything was set, it was the time to provide Wishesland Miri’s children and adults a home where they could undergo treatment and rehabilitation. After discussing with Resident Office Miri, we were offered to apply for the ex-Shell quarters located at Piasau Camp Miri as our operation Centre.
In June 2021, we were so happy and grateful that the Sarawak Government approved our application. After being granted the quarters, we started raising funds to fund the renovation and cleaning work as it is an empty building that was neglected for over 10 years. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic SOP, we could not raise funds through public events, thanks to the local newspaper for helping us create public attention on Wishesland Miri and to the Miri people’s kindness and generosity in terms of money and in kind.
With the help of various parties, we can start our renovations in October 2021. The first stage of renovations was done in December 2021, and Wishesland Miri officially started its operation on 28th December 2021.