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Tag: crowdfunding

  • 1 Family Plans To Do Crowdfunding For Legal Fees After 2 Singaporean Men Jailed For Crossdressing In UAE

    1 Family Plans To Do Crowdfunding For Legal Fees After 2 Singaporean Men Jailed For Crossdressing In UAE

    Mr Fadli Rahman, 26, a fashion photographer, and Nur Qistina Fitriah Ibrahim, 37, were arrested on Aug 9, with an official court document in Arabic saying two Singaporean men were caught for wearing women’s clothes in public and for behaving indecently.

    The Straits Times reported that Nur Qistina is a transgender person who had legally changed her name but has not undergone gender reassignment surgery to become a woman.

    The pair, who had arrived in the capital of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Aug 8, were arrested while out buying lunch at a shopping mall and were sentenced on Aug 20.

    Cross-dressing, homosexuality and transgender behaviour are crimes in the UAE.

    Mr Fadli was in Abu Dhabi for a photo shoot. He had previously worked on TV show Mongolia’s Next Top Model, and fashion magazines Her World and Men’s Folio.

    The New Paper spoke to Mr Fadli’s brother, Mr Saiful Rahman, 32, yesterday. The property officer said the family last had contact with Mr Fadli when he sent a selfie on Aug 9.

    Mr Saiful said the family then heard of the arrest from Mr Fadli’s friends on Aug 14.

    When asked how his parents reacted to the news, he said: “My parents were crying and worried about him over there.”

    He added: “We just want him back. We want him back safely. They can even deport him.”

    The two men have until Sept 4 to appeal against their sentence.

    When contacted, a spokesman from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told TNP: “MFA is aware of this case and is rendering the necessary consular assistance. We are also assisting the family to seek legal advice.”

    Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, in an e-mail to the family seen by The Straits Times, said: “I’m sorry to hear about this. Rest assured that our consular and mission colleagues will do their best to assist your brother. I understand that they are already in contact with you and your brother. Please let me know if you need further assistance.”

    Mr Saiful said the family have reached out to a lawyer in Abu Dhabi, Ms Stephanie Mouanes, an associate at Al Suwaidi & Company Advocates & Legal Consultants.

    Speaking to TNP over the phone yesterday, Ms Mouanes said she had been in contact with the family but would not be able to furnish any details about the case until they officially appoint her.

    Mr Fadli’s family and friends are planning to launch a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for his legal fees.

     

    Source: http://www.tnp.sg

  • Cancer-Stricken Mother Loses Subsidy After Raising Funds Through Crowdfunding

    Cancer-Stricken Mother Loses Subsidy After Raising Funds Through Crowdfunding

    A single mother with cancer has been cut off from medical and social assistance subsidy schemes after raising $900,000 in donations.

    Ms Tam Chek Ming, 46, is the first publicly known case to have financial aid terminated due to being able to raise funds on her own.

    This comes at a time when individual appeals online have garnered up to six-figure sums in donations.

    While Ms Tam managed to raise funds online, social workers said people caught in financial emergencies should still turn to government aid schemes first, and warned that crowdfunding has its risks for donors and fund-raisers.

    Ms Tam learnt in 2015 that she had ovarian cancer. Despite chemotherapy, her cancer progressed from Stage 1 to 4. For the past two years, her medical bills were subsidised by Medifund, a social safety net to help poor Singaporeans pay for medical treatment – specifically those unable to pay their bills even after subsidies, insurance, Medisave and cash payments.

    Ms Tam also made crowdfunding appeals – one in April last year and another this April – saying she had to fight her cancer to stay alive for her five-year-old son.

    She went on crowdfunding pages Give.asia and Generosity and has raised $771,692 and US$80,047 (S$109,000) respectively so far.

    In May, a Medifund committee from the National University Cancer Institute, Singapore, where she was receiving treatment, examined her access to Medifund as part of a regular review and subsidies were stopped last month.

    A spokesman for the institute told The Straits Times: “The committee assessed that Ms Tam no longer needed to rely on Medifund assistance for her medical bills based on her current financial resources; and that Medifund amount can be used to help other patients with more immediate needs.”

    She used to be on Comcare, a national aid scheme for those with low income, for three months from November last year but did not return to renew her assistance in January.

    A second application in May this year was rejected “as she was assessed to have sufficient savings”, said a spokesman from the Ministry of Social and Family Development, which oversees the scheme.

    Ms Tam declined to comment. In her posts on crowdfunding pages, she had said she sold off all she could sell in her two-room flat and skipped meals so her son could eat.

    She also said the immunotherapy she needed was not covered by Medifund or other schemes. Generally, a dose is required every 21 days and costs about $6,000.

    Social service experts ST spoke to said the Government made the right move to stop her financial aid, so help can be given to others. They also said if her donations are used up and she needs more money again, she can reapply for subsidies.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg

  • At 20, She Is Breadwinner For 13 Family Members

    At 20, She Is Breadwinner For 13 Family Members

    Crowdfunding for waitress struggling to feed large family on monthly pay of $1,500.

    The small living room is filled with children screaming, fighting and running about.

    In the midst of this chaos, three young women sit exasperated but familiar with the situation, as they try to manage the six hyperactive children.

    Among the women is Miss Nurul Asyiqin Buang, 20, the breadwinner for 13 of her family members.

    Miss Nurul gave up her engineering studies at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE) College East when she was 17. She had to start working as her father’s chronic illnesses made him unable to work.

    She told The New Paper: “I felt like it was my responsibility. No one asked me to do it.”

    All the family receives monthly, in terms of regular income, is the $1,500 Miss Nurul earns from working as a waitress.

    The money feeds her father, stepmother, three brothers, two sisters, four half-siblings, niece, nephew and her. Her oldest brother is missing from home.

    The family lives in a two-room rental flat in Tampines, with up to eight of them sleeping in the sole bedroom.

    Miss Nurul’s plight caught the attention of the founder of Facebook group Ian Free Milk Blessing, who approached crowdfunding site GIVE.asia to start a campaign for her. It has raised about $2,900 since May 15.

    Earlier this month, before receiving a food donation from the Facebook group founder, the family had not had meat for 45 days.

    They were mainly living off vegetables and dry rations provided by a social worker.

    While the family receives financial aid from a few voluntary welfare organisations and help agencies, the aid does not last for long.

    From North East Community Development Council (CDC), they received a one-off $700 worth of NTUC FairPrice Foundation – CDC Milk Fund vouchers.

    But the family spends up to $1,250 on formula milk every month.

    A Ministry of Social and Family Development spokesman said the family has been under its assistance for the past 5½ years.

    They also receive cash assistance from ComCare, along with help for utilities and rental bills. Still, the family struggles.

    Miss Nurul’s father, Mr Buang Taib, 55, now works part-time as a security guard while battling various illnesses, including stage 4 lung cancer and diabetes.

    STROKE

    The family convinced him to cut down on work after he suffered a stroke during a shift and collapsed.

    He has been provided with a Medical Fee Assistance Card and Medifund assistance.

    Miss Nurul’s biological mother left them when her youngest sister was just three months old, and her stepmother devotes her time to taking care of her husband and the rest of the family.

    Miss Nurul’s 16-year-old sister often skips school to take care of her siblings.

    She also works as a cashier at a restaurant, earning $6 an hour.

    She hopes to continue studying in an ITE or polytechnic.

    She longs for better times.

    “It is a bit stressed now. I want it to be the ‘us’ before. We used to be a happy family, going out more.

    “Now, we rarely go out. Still, I am grateful to (Miss Nurul). She is always there for me,” she said.

    Her brother, Muhammad Hanif Buang, 19, is a third-year nursing student at Nanyang Polytechnic.

    Despite the family’s situation, Miss Nurul considers herself happy.

    “We are a happy family. At times, I feel sad for (my family) because they do not get to eat what they want.

    “What I hope is to help my family. I want to lessen their burden.”

     

    Source: http://www.tnp.sg/

  • Please Help Us! Baby Born Premature Warded At ICU, Treatment Expected To Cost Estimated $200,000

    Please Help Us! Baby Born Premature Warded At ICU, Treatment Expected To Cost Estimated $200,000

    As a person who adores children, my heart skipped several beats the day my wife’s water broke prematurely at 27 weeks. We felt doomed and our world collapsing around us, as we have been trying for a long time and this was our third pregnancy after two miscarriages.

    My wife’s job can sometimes be stressful; it probably took its toll not only on her, but also the precious being growing inside. But thankfully, my wife’s superiors and colleagues went out of their ways to ensure that she completely focuses on the pregnancy when this happened.

    I pray that it isn’t too late and that for every hour our son is inside the womb, we thank a million times to the good Lord for keeping him inside. He was born on 8th May at 28 weeks.

    When I’m around children, I lose sense of time and the world around me. I enjoy their chatter and giggles, their twinkling eyes and an ever curious flow of questions. How much more would I wish to hear the same from my own?

    We’re advised by the efficient, empathetic and wonderful nurses and medical officers at KKH to not think about the financial burden to follow this tough pregnancy. But being expats, we are afraid and aghast every time we see the amount billed to incubate our newborn  child at the NICU (Estimated at over $200,000). We will never be able to produce that much money in such a short period, but then we cannot put a price on our precious baby.

    A humbled request to help us bring our baby home. We will be ever grateful and vow to bring up our child with manifold eagerness to give, just as the gifts he receives.

    Besides GIVE, we have received SGD 8,845.00 from other sources.

    Source: https://give.asia

  • Insurance Company Not Helpful, Daughter Turned To Crowfunding, Raise $250,000 To Bring Comatose Father Back To Singapore

    Insurance Company Not Helpful, Daughter Turned To Crowfunding, Raise $250,000 To Bring Comatose Father Back To Singapore

    The Singaporean who suffered a cardiac arrest and lapsed into a coma in Tokyo just over a week ago is due to arrive in Singapore on Tuesday.

    The team from EMA Global, the medical assistance company appointed for the evacuation, left Singapore for Tokyo, a spokesman told The Straits Times on Monday (May 1).

    His 25-year-old daughter, Ms Eileen Cheong, had successfully raised $250,000 on fundraising platform Give.Asia to get her father home to Singapore.

    She wrote in her campaign that her family had flown to Tokyo on April 19 to celebrate her mother’s cancer remission when her father had a heart attack.

    He was resuscitated and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Toho University Omori Medical Center on the same day and placed on mechanical support.

    Japanese doctors told her family that they could not determine how long her father would stay in a coma.

    The family owed the hospital about $120,000, and it would cost at least another $120,000 to bring Mr Cheong home by medical evacuation, according to Miss Cheong.

    Ms Cheong wrote that her dad’s travel insurers MSIG informed her family that they were “unlikely to have a successful claim as his collapse was attributable to a pre-existing heart condition”.

    The 25-year-old, who is a fresh graduate earning less than $3,000 a month, turned to crowdfunding on Give.Asia to get her father home.

    In an update on Saturday evening, Ms Cheong said that all $250,000 had been raised.

    Ms Cheong had said in a campaign update on April 30 that her father was in a stable condition. She thanked all contributors and donors and promised to post an update on the situation soon.

    A spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had told previously said that it was aware of the incident and that the Singapore Embassy in Tokyo was rendering the necessary consular assistance to the family.

     

    Source: www.tnp.sg