Give to others

When we were young, my parents brought us up to always think about the less fortunate during our happy moments. He always said that while you are happy, there are alot of people in the world who are suffering and not able to enjoy what we have. When there is a happy occasion you should try to do some donations.

Me and my bro have lived with this principle and we are actually practice it even today. That is the reason why I always scold Amy for not finishing her food that she ordered. When we were young when my dad would screw us for not finishing our food because there are people in Africa and even in our country who do not have enough food to survive. Till today I still practice that and I would actually pay more to order less so that I would not need to waste food.

I met Yvonne Foong about 2 years ago when I come to discover she was doing some fund raising for her Surgery in the US. If anyone of you do not know who Yvonne Foong is, she had neurofibromatosis or NF for short. It is a genetic disorder which could be harmless or may cause serious damage by compressing nerves and other tissues. Unfortunately for Yvonne, she has the serious type.

I decided to buy 2 shirts from her. She was and is still selling t-shirts to help raise funds for all her surgery and if there are any left overs she will donate them to other NF patients. You can check out some of her t-shirts through this link here. It just amazes me how this little lady fights to survive and the first time I actually met her face to face was when I went to pick up the T-Shirts.

I found out that she lives in SS15 near Sri KL and instead of her having to send it via post or delivering it to my house, I decided to go to her place and pick it up. I meet her and her dad and unfortunately due to her condition she wasn't able to speak much. I was so grateful that I bought the shirts, unfortunately it doesn't fit me anymore. Yes I was way thinner back then.

Yesterday I was surfing Facebook and I came across this a post by Yvonne Foong

"Yvonne Foong Ming Niang Challenge to raise RM50,000 in 1 week! An uncle in church told me not to give up. I said, "If I give up, God will be dissappointed". Indeed, no giving up after we have come so far."

I looked her up on her blog which I have not visited in the longest of time and decided to do my bid to donate some money to her challenge. You can also do the same by going to this link here. You do not need to donate a huge sum but every little bit counts. While you are sitting in the comforts of your house or office in the AC. Think about people who are less fortunate and try to do something about it. You can start by donating to Yvonne who will be going for surgery on the 3rd of August 2010.

However do not stop there, I always feel that while we are fortunate enough to live a good live, there are others who do not have the opportunity. However with our fortune we are able to give happiness to others who are less fortunate. I always donate when I have a happy occasion or when I a bonus or increment. It is a principle I hold dearly and will continue to practice as long as I can.