Gifts Of Encouragement

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The postman rang the doorbell and honk at the gate. 

Strange. I wasn’t expecting any mail or parcel today. I ran to the door and opened it. The postman pointed to a yellow-coloured envelope that he left at the pillar of my gate and sped off.

I looked at the envelope; it has my name written on it. On the left side, I saw “Phoenix Society”.

Oh! It is from USA. This is truly unexpected.

I was excited and curious at the same time. What did they send me? I ordered nothing from them. Also, the postage from USA to Malaysia can be expensive.

Inside the envelope, a book and a card. 


                                                                                   The book, card and envelope

It was heart warming reading the messages in the card. I felt touched by their words of encouragements. I truly appreciate them for taking the time and effort to send me the gifts.

                                           
                                                                           Hand written messages inside the card


                                                                                     Message inside the book

Alan Breslau founded the Phoenix Society in 1977. He was extensively burned in a commercial airliner.  As a young boy, he realised the importance of peer support for those with burn injuries and after working with burn survivors for many years, he officially incorporated The Phoenix Society for Burn Survivors.

Today, the Phoenix peer support through Phoenix SOAR (Survivors Offering Assistance in Recovery) is available in over 70 burn centers across North America. The Phoenix World Burn Congress is attended annually by nearly 1000 members from the burn community, making it the biggest gathering in the world for burn survivors.

They are reaching out to other burn survivors around the world with their vision :-

Uniting the voice of the burn community across the globe to profoundly advance lifelong healing, optimal recovery, and burn prevention.

It was truly an honour for me to receive their request to share my story. Read making a video for phoenix society

One day, I hope to be able to start a similar burn survivor support group in Malaysia.  




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