Fifty ringgit. How much is it worth to you?
Sometimes when I find out how much people spend on certain stuffs; clothes, shoes, toys, accessories, which really without it, their life would still carry on…. I feel like strangling their wallet. I feel like telling them, spare a thought for something better, spare your fifty to change for better a someone else’s life….. Nope, I have never really done that. People have their right to do whatever they want with their money. Go ahead and spend it.
My fifty… there is this precious little fifty which I set aside and know where it goes every month. This precious little fifty, which I makes sure it is delivered. This precious little fifty which sometimes gets me into trouble. This precious little fifty which I know and hope that is still alive, am making a change for better in another person’s life. This precious little fifty which I hold dear to my heart.
Fifty ringgit… what can you buy? Ask any young people, it’ll prolly be spent off in three days, or maybe two? I don’t need to elaborate.
Two years back, I came across and advert on reader’s digest. I think it was a story about a child inThailand, living in poverty. Can’t remember much, but that story touched me and I decided to respond. I really couldn’t believe that fifty ringgit was all it took to make a change for better in another person’s life. Fifty ringgit was all it took…. Of course I have a fifty to spare!!!
Two years on… I still have my fifty to spare, and a story to tell.
Ever heard about the war atLebanon last year? To people it’s prolly just another war. It’s nothing new; people have always been in and out of war. But when I read about the war, it was hard to believe it was happening. For a brief moment, I knew what it was like fearing that somebody I know would die anytime. The bullets or rockets could get to him. Anytime he would be killed, it’s vulnerable out there. The worst feeling is not knowing if he was still alive. It’s hard to describe it. You know you hate what was happening, and yet nothing you could do to stop it. You see it happening right before you, yet all you can do is to watch it with fear and agony. It’s just helplessness. You feel like crying, but it seems foolish and strange. Something which people most likely won’t understand. Prayer is the only hope that you cling on to.
The war did end, after 34 days. Infrastructures were destroyed, the ports, the roads, the bridges. Lives were killed, people lost their homes, belongings, friends and family members. Those who survived suffered from fear, hunger, diseases, lack of water, medicines. People living in the shadows of what had happened.
How would you feel…. You spent many years building up a community. A poor one that is. You train them in agriculture, they develop the land, and if the cycle keeps going, they may slowly gain financial independence. You provide health services, vaccinations, clinics. You provide clean water for drinking, cooking, bathing, watering livestock and fields. You provide education for the children, knowing that it is important they remained in school. Imagine, the community grows and develop; it is slowly starting to take shape to be a long-lasting self sustaining improvement. And then… all of a sudden…. its gone. You don’t know what hit you….. exactly, you don’t know what hit you.
I felt it was stupid, utterly rubbish and nonsense. All the hard work and effort, just gone like that. What nonsense?! Yea… what nonsense….. and it really did happened.
Elie turns 13 this April. His eyes never fail to attract my attention. It’s big, round and black. He loves what most boys like to do, basketball, football, fishing. The last time I got his letter, Nov 2006, he still wants to be a judge. =) two years back, and two years on, he still has the same ambition. That makes me proud in some way. How many at age 24 can boast that their ‘son’ wants to be a judge when he grows up? I can!! =)
Elie is fromLebanon. He is a child whom I’ve been faithfully sparing a fifty every month. That fifty though of little value here, it means a lot to me and I know that it has given him a better future. That fifty does not go into his pocket, but it goes into developing his community. Providing education, clean water, efficient health care, developing the economic and agriculture. That sponsorship helped in building crucial cornerstones that allow the community to rise above poverty and children to pursue their dream. Elie could be the judge that he dreams to be.
After all that have passed, I still hope and pray that he is alright.
Fifty ringgit? You think you are doing a good thing in changing somebody’s life for better. You don’t know how much more it changes yours.
(Elie is under the child sponsorship programme of World VisionLebanon)
