Good Samaritan Home

Hubby and I have our usual runts and grunts about life. But when things get a little down, we try to remind ourselves of the blessings we have - each other, our precious Elyssa, our families, our jobs (tho that's often where the runts and grunts come from!), our home etc etc.

After a frustrating day at work one day, hubby considered what we have and suddenly said - "Hey, why not donate to an orphanage?". Next statement was "I'm sure our friends would like to help out too".

So with that thought, he called some of our friends who were more than eager to help out. Hubby drafted an email to a wider circle of friends while another friend YP helped to provide a shortlist of orphanages.

The response to the donation drive was just overwhelming. Friends and family were very quick to stake out what they wanted to donate. (The selected orphanage was Good Samaritan Home in Klang. The pastor running the home gave us a list of what they needed). In addition, some friends had connections in companies and managed to get some goods sponsorship. Interestingly, when hubby contacted his cousin who was working in a milk company, his cousin mentioned that he did receive hubby's mail from someone else and yes, he was working to get some sponsorship !

So, the idea that sparked out from an after dinner conversation about a month ago resulted in this -
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Amazing huh? We lost track of the full list of items (as a lot poured in at the last minute) but here's some of the major items:

1. From Fonterra - 4 cartons of milk powder ; each carton with 12 packs of 1 kg milk.
2. From GSK - 12x 1 litre bottles of Ribena, Scotts emulsion, Zentel, Drapolene, Eyemo etc etc.
3. From Malaysia.com - KFC ; From F&N - carton of oyster sauce
4. From friends and family -
- > 10 packs of diapers
- > 10 packs of Dutch Lady 1,2,3 Growing up Milk
- Stand fan
- Toys
- Writing pads and stationery
- Pasta sauce, pasta, tomato sauce, margarine, peanut butter
- Deodorant, mosquito spray
- Milo, Biscuits, cakes , doughnuts etc etc


Here are some photos taken during our visit on July 18th to the Good Samaritan Home in Klang.


Briefing by Pastor Ong on the background of the home -

Elyssa "listening" intently to the briefing ;) -

Photo session with the kids. (note: some who donated couldn't make it that day)-

One of the bedrooms-


Kitchen -

Part of the study area -

Random facts about the home:

1. There are 27 kids with ages between 1 and 19. Either kids who are orphans or have single parents unable to take care of them. (eg. prison, drugs)

2. Running costs are approx RM 16k per month. Minimal government grants. The home relies mainly on donations.

3. Monthly rental is RM800. Low cos it's a haunted house! Even to this day, there are occasional strange noises and sightings.

4. During Pastor Ong's briefing, we all had a good laugh when one of the boys cheekily hit another boy with his shoe! The pastor later mentioned that the boy was brought in late last year after being found chained for months in his own home....... gosh.

5. We personally feel that the home was very well run. The kids were clean and happy. Overall, it feels like a big extended family rather than an institution.

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We left when the kids were enjoying their KFC. Next activity for the day?? Food !!!!!

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Dinner @ Coconut Flower Restaurant, Teluk Gong -

I must say that I felt really touched with this whole event. Most people didn't even hesitate for a split second when asked whether they were willing to chip in. And we're not even talking about religion. Although the home was run by a pastor, most who donated were not of the Christian faith. So we're talking about basic human generosity and big loving hearts. Truly amazing. And yup....there are plans in the pipeline for a second round !!!!