Generosity during the holy month of Ramadan

By Prithikkashinie Vaithiesvaran

The committee members with the children from the Rumah Anak Kesayangan Kepala Batas orphanage

Photo by Prithikkashinie Vaithiesvaran

Main Campus, 31 March 2024 - The organizing committee of the English Language Society (ELS) from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) held a charity event, The Gift of Giving to share the joy of Ramadan with the orphans from Rumah Anak Kesayangan Pertubuhan Kebajikan Anak Kesayangan Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang.

The project director, Invanitsha Loganathan, Humanities 3, said the motive of the event is to do good deeds during the holy month of Ramadan by providing food, products, and money to the kids at the orphanage. 

The committee members and volunteers were able to share their love with the orphans while involving themselves with community service. 

“We were able to attain 20 volunteers at first but some volunteers withdrew themselves due to the switching of the modes of classes to online. I understood their reasoning as some volunteers live quite far and it’s costly to return early. In the end, there were only 7 volunteers, but it was enough to handle the 22 kids at the orphanage”, said Invanitsha.

She said, the planning process went on for around 3 months, starting from December and the committee members contributed equally. There were a few hurdles however they managed to overcome them and have a good time with the children.

“The first obstacle we faced was to secure a venue.  The exco of technical and physical, Umi Ulfah Binti Ahmad Azmi had a hard time finding a suitable orphanage as many of the phone numbers were unavailable. In the end, we were able to choose Rumah Anak Kesayanganan because we were able to reach the venue with the transport service provided by USM as it was not very far”, said Invanitsha.

“The person in charge, Puan Latifah was very responsive and answered our questions immediately. We were able to agree on a date and start executing the plan easily”, Invanitsha added.

She mentioned that the biggest obstacle they faced was the financial burden as they were hoping for Pusat Islam to sponsor 20 packets of food for the children. However, their request was rejected as they had already allocated their funds for other uses during Ramadan.

“We overcame this issue by creating a Google form and a poster to collect donations and we provided Continuous Student Development (MyCSD) points in return. Many people came forward to donate, and it was more than enough for us to buy the products requested by the orphanage director”, she said.

Invanitsha stated that the welfare exco, Nurul Husna Binti Salem Kewaman was only able to secure the catering two weeks before the event as the working hours during the Ramadan month were different and they were not able to respond promptly. However, they managed to receive food donation, which relieved their burden.

The secretary of the program, Nur Syazwani Binti Mohd Shukri, Educational Studies 3 mentioned that they achieved the aim of the event which was to break their fast together with the children from the orphanage and handover the donations to them.

“We were not able to carry out activities such as coloring and physical activities and planned initially as the person-in-charge of the orphanage was strict about not organizing any other activities during the month of Ramadan. However, I am satisfied as the children were happy to spend time with us”, she said.

Syazwani also mentioned that she hoped more of the committee members would be able to join, however, they had sufficient manpower as the other members played their part online by preparing the necessary things. She also feels happy that they were able to cooperate with each other and finalized things such as booking the transport two months in advance.

“I also feel grateful that some of our committee members brought snacks to be shared among everyone. None of this would have happened without everyone’s participation and contribution”, added Invanitsha.