Would you spare RM1 a day for orphans?

WOULD you spare RM1 a day to help some underprivileged children? More specifically, orphans. At RM1 day, that would be RM365 a year; and that can go a long way to help ease their daily burden.

This is a small initiative that a few friends and I are undertaking. This started last month when I attended a special breaking of fast event in a village mosque. The village people, mostly rubber tappers and odd job workers, had organised the function a few days before Raya. They managed to give the orphans RM20 each to spend for Raya.


This was a one-off initiative. The following days I spoke to a few friends and sought their views - whether they would mind depriving themselves of one teh tarik a day and spend the money on the orphans instead. They all said yes, these kind souls.


God willing, these orphans will start the new year with extra money in their pocket. A register of orphans in the village is being done with their thumbnail sketch. The orphans' details will be distributed to potential donors so that they know where their money is spent.


In the village, most of these orphans stay with their relatives, who themselves are not rich. But in the village, the community share their hardships and little joys. For many years, they are trying to get together for some self-help initiatives to raise the academic achievements of school-going children in the village.

If there's enough support for this initiative, we may enlarge the scope to include some tuition classes for children sitting for their UPSR and PMR examinations next year. I'm not sure how far this can go but it's worth trying. If there's anyone who want to take part in this initiative, do drop me a line.

From my experience, a small village like this are very thankful for whatever help they can get. But they need good grassroot leaders who has the necessary resources and network to help them. It will also help if wealthy corporates were to lend a hand by offering small donations of a few thousand ringgit a year.

In fact, corporates should adopt villages or schools near where they are operating. They should actively participate in the school or village activities and be part of a support system to make the school children do well in their studies and the village more willing to change for the better.

Anyway, back to the orphans. Remember, all I want is RM1 a day for the whole year. A committee comprising village headman, the imam and mosque officials and other village leaders will form the management team to look after the funds. I look forwards to getting calls from friends to support this initiative.