FOR 21 students - most of them at least partly blind - a visit to the mangrove wetlands in Pulau Ubin yesterday gave them a chance to touch the sea creatures they could not see.

Goh Wei Bin, 12 and partially blind from birth, felt what it was like to have a hermit crab crawl across his palm.

And Sakinah Zainal, also 12 and partially blind, touched the rough skin of a starfish for the first time.

Both were thrilled.

Wei Bin, a self-confessed science enthusiast with limited vision, said he had never come this close to marine animals like starfish, sea cucumbers and sand dollars before.

He said: 'I like to touch and feel all these things because I cannot see clearly.'

The pair were in the group, aged between nine and 16 and hailing from the Singapore School for the Visually Handicapped, who visited the island with guides and volunteers.

The jaunt, sponsored by the Singapore Press Holdings Foundation and initiated by the National Parks Board, was part of a Special Projects to Understand Nature or Sun Club programme organised for children with special needs.

Sun Club has 60 such nature trips lined up this year for about 1,200 children.

Seven schools are now in the club, with four more due to join it this year.

LEE PEI QI

This article was first published in The Straits Times on May 13, 2008.