Jakarta June, 14, 2017 / Indonesia Media – Good friendship is flourishing together with togetherness in doing sympathetic deeds, charity. Good friendship within alumni of one private school which is located near China Town, Glodok area, has just prevailed. “I blast in WhatsApp Group (WAG) for an activity, (namely) social work on Sunday morning,” Head of Alumni Association (Ikaluni) of Bhinneka Tunggal Ika (BTIka) school, Salim Karis said.
The information was shared through WAG, and responded by Salim and other members. Actually the information has been viral, especially through facebook. “Onceng (member of Ikaluni) pitied those old women who live in a very poor condition, and had been sick. None took care of them till we met them a few weeks ago.”
So he spontaneously encouraged Ikaluni members to join social work on Sunday morning. after one member of Ikaluni informed about poor Chinese old women who lived in slummy area, Kapuk area (north Jakarta). Grandma Ichen (80) and Grandma Yuchen (78) who were born in Moiyen, China used to work for garment factory. They can not walk like normal people anymore, and need assistance from helper.
But the factory activity was shifted to one industrial estate in Tangerang, Banten Province. Seeing the condition, both Ichen and Yuchen did not continue to work in the factory. Besides, the new factory in Tangerang did not provide any dorm for them. So they finally decided to live in Kapuk’s dorm. “At the beginning we just planned to help clean Grandma’s dorm. But when I was about to clean the bedroom, I could hardly believe. I felt sick, due to a very smelly atmosphere. It was more smelly than chicken coop. I could hardly vomit.”
After small discussion, Salim and another alumni went to the location to check if the information was true. They had not thought of collecting money to renovate the dorm. One of the members, Lisa Huang started to call her friend who runs a shop of orthopedic mattress and the equipment. Ikaluni needed to buy the mattress due to its badly broken condition. “I don’t think they can take a rest when lying her body, taking a rest. They might fall down to the floor.”
When Lisa needed to check the price, her friend spontaneously gave them free. Her friend at that time believed in Lisa’s story. The price of two sets of orthopedic mattress, including bed cover and everything is around Rp 10 million. After a few minutes, Ikaluni came to think to buy senior walking aids for both Grandma. They can’t rely on helper all the time. Ikaluni encouraged them to use walking aid. Lisa happened to remember that one of her uncles run a shop of walking aids. So she called her uncle to ask for special price. To her surprise, her uncle gave it free too. “Within two hours, we can get two sets of orthopedic mattress, and walking aids. All cost around Rp 15 – 17 million in total. We believe that we need to help them sincerely, so we can get donation within two hours. Everything is spontaneous, and we will not receive donation in cash, but the stuff such as orthopedic mattress and walking aids.”
To their surprise, another two friends of Ikaluni spontaneously need to provide daily meal for morning and evening with catering. Those friends will pay the catering donation for a life time. Seeing both Grandma Ichen and Grandma Yuchen only eat a little, good meal should be provided. The catering cost Rp 2,8 million per month for both Ichen and Yuchen. “Our friend who refuse to reveal his name also hire helper, and pay the salary. The helper will wash the clothes, clean the room, and everything.”
Another surprising thing, that another friend of Ikaluni helped to renovate the dorm building. Equipment such as fan, chairs, table was provided. The workers spent ten days to renovate the dorm. Many parts of the dorm were totally in damage such as the ceiling, wall. “The most surprising, that we can source donations to help poor but needy within two hours. It reminds me of the saying ‘You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.’ It occurs to our good friendship among alumni.” (Liu/IM)
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good job, well done