More Sponsors Needed

Hi folks! School reopens today, and it seems for whatever reason, most of the schools of the children under our Education Sponsorship for Children programme are only giving out the report cards when school reopens. As such, I will have to wait until I can gather all the info on the sponsored children before I can send out the reports on the children to the respective sponsors, and ask for this year's sponsorship money. I would prefer to send out the reports of the children before asking for this year's sponsorship so that the sponsors will at least know the developments of the child they are sponsoring. Which is really making life rather difficult for me, because I have to get the reports ready and at the same trying to settle the sponsored children's back-to-school needs before I can ask for the money! Lecehlah, if the various schools could give out the report cards before the last school holidays, I could have prepared the reports earlier and won't be so kelam-kabut when school reopens.

Now this sponsorship programme is becoming like a full time job for me... so much so that even though as the chairperson I am also in charge of my NGO's volunteer care, I am doing a LOUSY job at the latter because this sponsorship thingy is already taking up so much of my time. But I guess I will have to prioritize things... volunteer care is no doubt important to make sure all the volunteers are doing okay and are well motivated, but since the sponsorship involves handling other people's money entrusted in us for the education of needy children, I definitely have to give that top priority.

Anyway, we are looking for more sponsors this year as we have more children needing education sponsorship. We already have 3 children already approved for sponsorship, and there may be more coming. Of the 3, one is HIV infected. The sponsorship amount by the way is RM1,200/year for primary school and RM1,800/year for secondary school - payable either yearly or half yearly. The 3 newly approved children are all in primary school. The money will be used to pay for the child's basic schooling needs (including uniforms, shoes, stationeries, exercise books and workbooks), co-curricular activities (fees, uniforms etc), monthly pocket money, bus fares (if necessary), tuition (if necessary) and whatever other necessities as long as it is for the education of the children.

So, if any one of you readers are interested, or if you know of anyone who may be interested, you may contact us for further info.

Those who'd like to contribute but do not dare commit themselves to sponsor the children individually, you may still contribute one-off (any amount accepted, however small) to our Children Education Fund (CEF), which is a separate fund used to cover for the back-to-school expenses of the children who are not individually sponsored but still need help at the beginning of each schooling year.

You may either email Buddies or you may email me personally - I read them both!

Thanks folks!

What's Up?

It had been quite a long break for me (from blogging and even from my voluntary work), I'm finding it hard to get back to my normal mode. It has been quite a while since I last visited any of my PLHIV clients - I'd better start visiting them soon... especially those with children under our Education Sponsorship program. I need to finalise the reports for each sponsored child to be sent to the various sponsors but for the moment I am still waiting for the reports on a few more children. Everybody has been busy it seems... maybe we need to seriously consider having someone full time at our NGO center.

So, what have I been blogging about for the past year?

There's Fuzi with her problems in getting her marriage cert legalised... and problems in getting her daughter's MyKad done... and her son's disciplinary problem...

There's Ifa who was caught for khalwat and who admitted she skipped her medication during weekends when she'd be at discos and taking ecstasy pills.

Then there's Yah who seemed to be driving people (me included) up the wall... Mr and Mrs K who got back to square one after all the help we gave them because they simply didn't know how to manage their finances... Baby K who was diagnosed with a hole-in-heart... Hana who's always so blur... Anita who's 21 but has yet to get her IC done because of some technical problems with her nationality status... Razif who was scared to break the news of his HIV to his wife...

Well, chances are I'll be blogging about the same type of stories this year. Here's some brief updates on some happenings during my break.

1. Majid SMSed me after one particular MB made some comments about people with HIV. Majid felt as though he was looked down upon as a "sampah masyarakat" and so he wanted to know my opinion on the MB's comments. There he was trying to lead a better life and yet someone high up in position thinks he shouldn't be given chance to lead a normal life. I personally think the MB has been getting the wrong info from the wrong people. Sigh...

2. Mrs K called a colleague of mine to ask if there will be any financial assistance for her family. She didn't dare call me direct after I told her off the last time she tried to borrow money from me.

3. I am having problems finalising the  reports on the sponsored children as many of the schools involved will only give out the student's report card for last year's exams when school reopens. Some haven't even got their booklist out yet. Susahlah ini macam... I need to ask for the sponsorship money for this year lah people!!!

4. Lin asked if she can apply for financial help for her children's back-to-school needs. I told her we can consider her for our Children Education Fund. Her children have been nagging her for their schooling needs but she simply didn't have enough money. She stopped working when she was hospitalised a few months ago. Her ex-hubby only started paying nafkah for the children in late December after Lin brought the matter to Mahkamah Syariah - even then she's only getting RM300 per month which is obviously not enough for her children's needs especially when school reopens and so many things need to be paid. Anyway, Mr Darling is supposed to pay the nafkah by the 25th of each month but for last month he only paid on the 27th... giving the excuse that he didn't have enough money. And guess what? According to Lin, Mr Darling actually remarried recently (that's why he didn't have enough money I suppose??). Now, now... I wonder who's the victim...

Ahh... I bet you're curious to know too... :)  

Goodbye 1429/2008... Hello 1430/2009!

Hi there people! Am back from my break although right now am still suffering from the kendafect syndrome. The symptoms? Tiredness and body aches, especially the calves and the thighs.

What? You've never heard of the kendafect syndrome?! Okay then, it's actually short for "kenduri-after-effects".  :)

My nephew's wedding was held my parent's kampong house here in Ipoh, and so I have been rather busy myself although I am not the mak pengantin. I had expected to get back to my normal mode by now, but looks like I still need a few more days to recharge myself. I know it is this time of the year (school will reopen soon) that my PLHIV clients require help for their children's schooling needs, as a matter of fact a few of them have already contacted me for that. I promised them I'd get back to them by next week.

Anyway, we're already in 1430 Hijrah and it will be 2009 very soon. My wish for 1430 and 2009 is for the world to be more peaceful and for all of us to live in harmony. It doesn't appear to be that way with the latest happenings throughout the world, but I can always hope.

Now, allow me to find the cure to my kendafect syndrome before 2009 arrives. Till then, here's wishing everyone a wonderful and happy year ahead!

Brief Updates

Just some brief updates before I go MIA again...

1. We can't get enough volunteers to take part in the HIV/AIDS exhibition in Taiping this weekend, so we had to opt out of participating. Sigh...

2. Razif finally told his wife about his HIV infection without having to lie. I don't really know yet how his wife took the news but the fact that she agreed to join him for the HAART Workshop next week indicates that she didn't take it too bad after all. I still don't have an idea if she herself has been tested though...

3. Fuzi's second daughter has managed to get her MyKad done without much problems because she got an uncle (Fuzi's late husband's brother - a Malaysian) to go with her to JPN. The first daughter's MyKad application is still facing lots of obstacles because the application was done by Fuzi, a non-Malaysian. The earlier application (done last year) is now cancelled and a new application has to be submitted. Fuzi will now try the same method as the 2nd daughter ie get the uncle to help them. Only problem is, the uncle has to be PAID to do the job. Sigh...

4. I gained 2.5 kgs on Hari Raya Haji. Thank goodness Raya is not every day...

Taking a break...

My NGO has a few activities for this month, including a joint exhibition with CASP, an NGO from Penang, in conjunction with World AIDS Day. No, joint is not the right word lah. Let’s just say CASP is organizing everything while Buddies simply ‘menumpang’! Even to just ‘menumpang’, we are finding it hard to get enough volunteers to man our table for the exhibition. The exhibition by the way, will be held at Tesco Taiping on 13th and 14th of December.

There will also be a workshop on HAART (Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy) organized by the Family Health Association on 20th December whereby we Buddies have been invited to send 20 people (exempted from paying the fees) to include volunteers, caregivers and PLHIVs. While I myself can’t make myself available for the workshop, I need to get people to go – and so far I’ve only got 6 names, and I need to submit the names by this week.

Meanwhile, I have yet to finish the progress report on the sponsored children under our Education Sponsorship for Children programme. Am still waiting for a few more reports to come in before I can finalise things. We have 3 more children (including one HIV infected child) needing education sponsorship beginning next year, so hey, if any of you want to sponsor a child, do email me ya?

Our annual year-end dinner is usually held on weekends, but since Madame Chair here simply cannot make herself available on the weekends, the Board agreed to have it on a weekday instead (was thinking of giving it a miss but the other Board members said “Chair must attend lah!”)

Apa yang Madame Chair busy sangat ni?? Actually I need to reserve my December weekends this year for family matters. The 1st weekend of December will be too near Hari Raya Haji. The 2nd weekend, well, I may still be able to make it on Sunday night, but there’s the exhibition I mentioned above in Taiping and so it will be difficult for the volunteers involved in the exhibition. The 3rd weekend, my family will be in Malacca for a kenduri. And the 4th weekend, the kenduri will be held on my family’s side.

So our annual dinner will be on a Tuesday night (we usually hold our meetings on Tuesday nights).

I did receive an invitation from Unicef to attend a brunch function in Carcosa Seri Negara this coming Thursday, but while I’d love very much to go, I simply had to turn down the invitation. Never been to Carcosa before… and am missing the opportunity to be there… sigh!

With so many things to do, and not knowing which ones to do first, I may need to take a break from blogging for a while…

…which was why I made it a point to attend last Saturday’s blog-bash at The Curve. I’m not going to do a write up on that as you can get all the stories and photos from Matsalo’s, Elviza’s, Pak Idrus’ and Pokku’s. I did bring along my camera, but seeing there were so many paparazzis around (with Mat Salo as the kepala paparazzi), I figured there was no need for me to become a paparazziah… (female version meh!)

I have to say it was a great pleasure meeting up with fellow bloggers – the familiar faces (it was such a pleasant surprise seeing Raden Galoh there – you’re one helluva lady sis!), the not-familiar-faces-but-familiar-names and not forgetting the not-familiar-to-me ones. Imagine Tokasid introducing one guy to us saying “This is Bunga Telur & Bally Shoes”. Aduh, I can’t be calling this guy by that name every time, can I?

It was also a pleasant surprise when someone came and asked for Pi Bani and then she said, “Saya ni pembaca aje.” The fact that a silent reader took the effort to ask for me was flattering enough. I think she’s Bunga Telur’s wife (sorry Bunga Telur, I did ask for your real name but can’t for the life of me remember it right now!)

Thank you to the organizers of the “perhimpunan tanpa permit”, and in case I don’t get enough time or the urge to blog for the next few weeks…

To fellow Muslims, Selamat Hari Raya Haji.
To all Christians, Merry Christmas.

I will try to post something before the year ends…