Bandar Seri Begawan – In an effort to raise awareness and to instil the habit of giving back to the society in this holy month of Ramadhan, Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD) through its Student Community Outreach Team (SCOT) organised a charity drive to 20 homes of the underprivileged that began in the early weeks of Ramadhan.
The charity drive, which encourages our youth to play their role in giving back to the society has allowed them the opportunity to come forward to lend a helping hand to their brothers and sisters of the community in need especially when the celebratory season of Aidilfitri is around the corner.
Prior to the charity drive, SCOT have promoted the event to encourage the whole student body of UBD to contribute for the charity event by donating food or basic amenities, time and volunteering efforts to make the event a success.
They also donated solar lights by One Million Lights for houses that have no electricity.
The charity drive, which was conducted on a weekly basis, saw five houses being visited by SCOT per week, amounting to 20 houses over a period of four weeks.
More than 30 student volunteers took part in the charity drive which covers as far as the rural areas of the Tutong District.
The event serves as an eye opener for ‘first timers’ who are not very much exposed to the existence of poverty in our nation, and at the same time to show that UBD is aware and concerned about the existence of poverty in our country
The first house visited was the house of Mohd Diri bin Abdullah located at Long Mayan, Tutong.
This family of six (one of them adopted by another family) has no electricity and no proper toilet. They used to have a generator to power their lamps, but have sold it off and now only rely on candles at night. SCOT has donated them basic necessities donated from their friends and families, and also a solar bulb donated by One Million Lights.
The second house at Kampong Bukit, Tutong belonged to Awang Eddy Safwan bin Abdullah, a single father with two kids.
The family previously had no electricity, but just recently received a generator from the Islamic Dakwah Centre, allowing his children to use television and fans at night.
The third house belongs to Dayang Rosnah binti Duraman located at Kampong Menengah, Lamunin. She is a single mother taking care of four children. She relies heavily on pension retirement to take care of her kids.
The next house SCOT visited was Awang Abdullah bin Lassim’s house at Kampong Biong, Lamunin. His house was destroyed by the fire and he is in the process of fixing it on his own.
Another house they visited belonged to Dayang Mastika binti Matsi located at Kampong Kupang. The house is perched on top of a hill and is at risk of falling down due to the condition of the stilts and the possibility of landslide.
—Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin
Source: Brudirect
Author: Syah D
Published Date: 18 August 2012