"Live to Love"

DRUKPA PENANG ON 17 FEB 2008

A group of 11 of us from Drukpa Penang joined in this month’s activity to visit an Indian family of 6 siblings ranging from 7 to 17 years of age, who had lost both their father and mother. As preparation for their needs, many of us went around to collect used clothing and also bought some basic food stuff for them before the trip. We came across this family through one of the local newspaper where it was reported that Lions Club, a volunteer service organization, had come to their aids. Through Lions Club we managed to get the address of this family who resides in Sungei Petani, which is about 45-minutes drive from Penang. Two helpful representatives from Lions Club of Kuala Muda, Mr. Jagjit and Mr. Selva guided us to the flats where they live and also acted as our interpreter. However on that day itself, only three of the siblings were there as the other two were in school while one was still at work.



The children lost their mother last May who succumbed to mouth cancer. Tragically, 16 days after the death of the mother, the father hanged himself in their living room. All of a sudden the great responsibility of raising their siblings fell onto the shoulders of the elder sisters, G. Shalini aged 17 and Shanti aged 16. The eldest, Shalini has quit her job to take care of the siblings as one sister aged 14 is suffering from a congenital facial tumor and the other one aged 12 has a fractured leg that has not healed for years, believed to be due to mal-nutrition. Shanti is the only one working, drawing a salary of RM150 per month. Although the family receives a monthly allowance of RM450 from the Welfare Department, it is insufficient to cater for the six of them.



Since their story was published in the local newspaper, a Buddhist center and a Christian organization have been supplying them with basic food stuff and clothing on a regular basis. According to her, their basic needs are more or less taken care of, what she needs was to find ways to pay for the monthly tuition fees and transportation expenses for the siblings, which cost around RM200/month.



Children, without the parents guidance and controlling, tend to go astray and lost focus in life. Naturally their study will also be affected and hence tuition may be necessary to help them to cope with school. We decided to provide for their tuition fees on a monthly basis, as we believe that helping them in their education will at least provide them with hope and opportunity to break away from the present hardship in their later days. In addition this will also ease the burden of the elder sisters as it is really too much for them to cope with such responsibility at their age.




Jointly with Lions Club, we will monitor the progress of the siblings and assist them whenever the need arises.