A Night of A Thousand Blessings

The 4th Night of a Thousand Blessings, the annual fundraising gala dinner hosted by The Budimas Charitable Foundation (BUDIMAS), took place at The Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Kuala Lumpur on last Friday the 26th of April 2019. The event raised a total of RM310,000 and saw the foundation celebrating the service to underprivileged children in Malaysia with the participation of individuals and corporate organizations that have purchased 4-course dinner tables priced from RM 8,000 for 10 seats.

Incepted in the year 2016, Night of a Thousand Blessings has successfully raised a substantial amount every year to actualize different goals in the past 3 years. This year, the yearly merriment had the goal to raise funds for the construction of its iconic ‘Budimas Children’s Library’ which will be located in Kampung Orang Asli Kolam Air Bangkung, Sepang, Kampung Orang Asli Tun Razak, Kuala Kubu and Kampung Orang Asli Pos Manson, Cameron Highlands. 

The construction cost per library is RM 180,000 which also includes 1 year operating expenses. Each Budimas Children’s Library is equipped with 4,000 books suitable for children aged 3-18 years old, both in English and Bahasa Malaysia. The library will also be managed by a librarian hired by the foundation and these librarians are hired from their respective villages, thus creating a more familiar environment for the children. This in turn, encourages the children to utilize the library to its fullest potential. With the Budimas Children’s Library, the foundation aims to provide education accessibility to the Orang Asli children and develop their interest towards education in hopes that the number of school dropouts amongst their community will be reduced significantly. Illiteracy in the children of Orang Asli has been a worrying problem and has been one of the prime contribution to the level of poverty within its community. 

The Principal Officer of BUDIMAS , Anne Rajasaikaran explains, “Every year, we get to touch lives and make changes for the underprivileged children in our country and we did it with the support of individual donors and corporate organisations. There is no way we get to do what we do without the support of the public. I am truly happy and feel blessed to see the support shown by everyone here tonight that have purchased dinner tables as well as participated in the auction of children paintings where all the funds raised will actualise our goals. 

The highlights of the night were the children performances by sponsors of the event, Aurora Dance School and Child Aid Asia. The night also saw a unique native performance by the children of Kampung Orang Asli Bukit Bagkong, Sepang, where these children have benefited from the Budimas Children Library that was established in their village last year. 

20 works of art painted by the children of Budimas from Kampung Orang Asli Bukit Bangkokng and Budimas Orion Home were also seen auctioned for the night. The children attended an art course by Anna Karina Jardin who is a Filipina entrepreneur, social activist and artist championing capacity building for children and youth as well as inter-cultural dialogues through art. They were inspired to paint their interpretation of love and happiness and expressing it onto the canvas.

Since its establishment in 1998, BUDIMAS has counted solely on the contributions from individuals and organizations to provide a future of love and hope for the less fortunate children in Malaysia. Over the years, the foundation’s cause has reached out to over 160,000 children of all faiths and backgrounds, from special needs to orphans. The foundation does so via its three core programmes which are Budimas Home Charity Fund (BHCF), Budimas Food Charity Fund (BFCF) and Budimas Education Charity Fund (BECF). It is seen that the three basic necessities of a child are attended to via these programmes.

Full details about The Budimas Charitable Foundation, please visit www.budimas.org or call 03-62526336.

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