(no subject)
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
Young student, about to be awarded First Class Honours, will die an excruciating death without expensive treatment.
Fund Raising Period: 10 March 2009 to 10 April 2009
Got this from agaricus who - as I can personally attest - is currently studying at the National University of Singapore:I got an email from the National University of Singapore Students' Union over the weekend, canvassing for help for a promising student who has been recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She will die if she doesn't get treatment. Her friends (mainly Law School students) have set up a blog advertising their efforts to help raise money for her treatment, which is estimated to run literally into the hundreds of thousands: SGD400,000 to be precise.
Xiao Ou's family is very poor: her mother is unemployed, and her father takes home only SGD400 per month. Yes, it's hard to imagine that in modern, first-world Singapore (and the 10th most expensive city in the world, according to some), there are still people who are living nearly below the poverty line.
This is the blog which her friends have helped set up. At just under SGD1500, they're still a long way away from the needed target. Do take the time to read the posts on their blog: Xiao Ou, the patient, is certainly a young woman with a bright and promising future. Not only would it be a real shame to see potential of that sort going to waste - think of how her parents must feel - they've definitely scrimped and saved just to put her through school, and to think that their child, in whom they've invested so much, could just be lost like *that* - not a pleasant thought.
I'd like to ask all on my friends-list to please forward the link to this post, or to the blog, to everyone that they can. Or, if you prefer, to link to this post from their own LJs. Also, do make a donation to Xiao Ou's cause if you can. The cause is a genuine one, and is supported by the NUS Students' Union (and by extension, the NUS itself). Additionally, there is also a Facebook group set up by the same group of law students: if you're on FB, please put up the group's link/ the blog link on your wall, so that more people will hear of it.
It's a golden opportunity to do an act of unconditional charity.
[links and bold italics in original]
Update: as of March 14th, 2009, SGD 117,226.3 was collected. There is hope.
Now, I know the direct bank crediting details on the blog might look fishy, but the blog is maintained by Law students (not practising lawyers) so they should be able to handle requests for supporting documents.
And although they've stated some supporting documents are available upon request, I've cross-checked with the Graduate Student Society website which has already scanned these same documents, which includes a donation form that credits to the University's name, i.e., this is legit:
http://www.gss.nus.edu.sg/home/sites/default/files/20090311093434449.pdf
You know what? Think I'll just put the cheque payment recipient here:
Write a cheque for the National University of Singapore, write "NUSSU Help Xiaoou Project" at back of the cheque.
If you're worried that she recovers/dies before your money is used, just endorse the back of the cheque with "NUSSU Help Xiaoou Project or any similar cause". That'll enable the handlers to apply to money to similar cases as they see fit.
This isn't one of those irritating open-ended appeals. The fund raising period is also, quite responsibly, limited to a month.
Other "supporting" links:
Ridge, the University wide student newspaper
Mainstream Media Zaobao writeup