THEY WILL ASK thee as to what they should spend on others. Say: "Whatever of your wealth you spend shall [first] be for your parents, and for the near of kin, and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer; and whatever good you do, verily, God has full knowledge thereof." - Al-Baqarah (2:215)
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Monday 5 November 2007

Sponsor a child, anyone?

It has been 8 months since I started this blog. I’ve done more than 100 postings (this one’s the 108th), the bulk of which were true stories about HIV infected people and their families whom I’ve been dealing with in my voluntary work.

If you have been following the stories, you would have noticed that many of the families under my charge are poor families, mostly single mothers who had to take over the responsibility as breadwinners for their families; and not earning enough to cover all their needs.

You may have read about:

  • The children who were reluctant to go to school because they were pressured by their teachers to pay for the various fees.
  • The children who were told to buy additional books which were not even listed in the list given earlier by the school. And then get scolded when they don’t buy the books without even the teacher asking why he/she didn’t buy the book.
  • The children who were told to join uniformed co-curriculum activities in school but can’t afford to pay for the uniforms?
  • The small children who had to walk to school, exposing themselves to dangers lurking around.
  • The children who were pressured by their van/bus drivers to pay up the monthly van/bus fares.
  • The children who had to actually miss school because they had no transport to go to school and would only go to school if there was anybody they could hitch a hike from.
  • The children who needed tuition but whose parents can’t afford to pay for the tuition fees.

And God knows what other difficulties they face…

Education is a must for these children. It is a BASIC necessity for them. No matter what their parents had done, no matter what their background is, these children still deserve the chance to get at least basic education without getting unnecessary pressure… without exposing themselves to danger (by having to walk alone to school because parents can’t afford transport fares)

If you can afford to help these children, will you?

My NGO has just finalized the guidelines for our Education Sponsorship for Children, where we hope to get individual sponsors for each individual child to sponsor their school needs until these children finish schooling. Amongst the expenses to be covered include the various fees that need to be paid to the school (there may be no more school fees and exam fees but I believe there are still lots of other fees – co-op, computer, co-curriculum etc), exercise books, workbooks, uniforms, shoes, bags, stationeries, van/bus fares or other means of transportation, tuition fees, pocket money and whatever other necessities.

Interested to sponsor a child? Or you have some queries on this?

Please email hivbuddiesipoh@yahoo.com .

More details will be given to those who indicate their interest to the above email address.

4 comments:

Salt N Turmeric said...

Pi, if/when i dapat kerja nanti i contact u ok?

Pi Bani said...

No worries Farina, the response so far is great.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

aiseh Kak Pi,

if only i'm the PM's son-in-law, semua nama anak2 yg kak Pi pernah sebut semua saya angkat.

Pi Bani said...

Kerp,
Tak jadi PM's son-in-law pun tak apalah, asalkan you jangan jadi out-law...