Five-year-old Khaider (third from left) and his brothers were left by their single mother in the care of a shelter in Bukit Beruntung. What's more, this shelter was initially founded for children and adults with disabilities.

Being normal children, it is a wonder to see the boys happy and carefree like any other children even though they live among people who are different in body and mind. They get an education, do homework, run chores and play heartily.

Their home is Kirtarsh.

The Pusat Jagaan Kanak-kanak Kurang Upaya KIRTARSH is a non-profit home established to shelter and care for special and underprivileged children from all ethnic and religious backgrounds. Here, the residents are given vocational training, special education, shelter, food, medication and most of all, love.

Nobody is left on the fringe.

The majority of its 45 residents suffer from disorders such as paraplegia, Down Syndrome and autism. They live in a 1-1/2 storey bungalow in Bukit Beruntung, a project initiated by an electrician named Manivannan.

Together with his wife Judith and three staffers, they keep the place running, tuning its energy into a sweet hum.

One discovers that the residents, whether normal or with disabilities, are essentially the same cheerful lot in the care of genuine compassionate people.

Kirtarsh is but one of the many homes for the underprivileged or disabled citizens of this country. These independent bodies labour tirelessly beneath the radar of our rah-rah sensation-starved mainstream. They may be quiet and reposed, yet they bring to life other crucial dimensions to society.

Without a doubt, love and compassion bridge the differences of the mental and the physical; it moves into that realm we know as jiwa. Only through this lens can we see beyond the petty differences of people and prejudices and dwell into the core that makes us all human.

Pictures and story / Lee Mei Yi