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Who should care for the less privileged in society? Everyone.

Being caring for the less privileged in the society is very easy. We need not be a adult nor do we need to be rich. Students like us can contribute to the less privileged in society. Less privileged people can be those who are financially burdened, those who have difficulties in movements, elderly who are lack of love from their family members and many more. Just from these three groups of less privileged people, people can do many things to help them up. Those who are financially burdened, without the help from various organisations they could be sleeping on streets, they could suffer from mental illness like depression, they could die due to malnutrition and many more. For such, we could help them by saving around 2 dollar per week. By one year a total of $102. If everyone in a class (average 35 people in a class) does that a total $3570 would be saved. If the whole sec 3 cohort does that a total of $32,130 would be accumulated. Just by doing that, we can be a great help to these people. As for the family who has financial problems, I think that people who are rich should lend a helping hand by donating them an amount of money as they can afford it. Instead of spending these money on the unnecessary things like buying branded bags and branded clothes etc, they should donate to the various oraganisations to help the less privileged people. Everyone. Being caring for the less privileged in the society is very easy. We do not need to be an adult nor do we need to be rich. Students like us can contribute to the less privileged in society. What non-profit organizations privileged (Name at least two)? have one for the less

The work of TOUCH started in 1986 as a service for latch-key children in the neighborhoods of Clementi and Jurong. Touched by the obvious need of lowincome and single-parent families with difficulties making ends meet, much less raising their children in a positive environment, a group of 15 people in

their 20s organised activities to help the children. This small attempt has today become a multi-service organisation with an integrated network of 17 services, 12 centres and 15 children's clubs located at different parts of Singapore, including Bukit Merah, Clementi, Geylang Bahru, Hougang, Serangoon, Toa Payoh, Ubi and Yishun.

Everyone. Being caring for the less privileged in the society is very easy. We need not be a adult nor do we need to be rich. Students like us can contribute to the less privileged in society. Less privileged people can be those who are financially burdened, those who have difficulties in movements, elderly who are lack of love from their family members and many more. Just from these three groups of less privileged people, people can do many things to help them up. Those who are financially burdened, without the help from various organisations they could be sleeping on streets, they could suffer from mental illness like depression, they could die due to malnutrition and many more. For such, students like us can help them by saving around 2 dollar per week. By one year a total of $102. If everyone in a class (average 35 people in a class) does that a total $3570 would be saved. If the whole sec 3 cohort does that a total of $32,130 would be accumulated. Just by doing that, we can be a great help to these people. As for the family who has financial problems, I think that people who are rich has the most ability to help them as they can afford it. Instead of spending these money on the unnecessary things like buying branded bags and branded clothes etc, they should donate to the various oraganisations to help the less privileged people Those who have difficulties in their movements, people like us can think of more ways to ease their movement in pubic and propose them to the government before they can

consider and build them. When we see anyone having difficulties moving in pubic we might want to consider helping them and not be a selfish person. Helping those in need actually does make us happy and so why not? An easy way to show care to them would be not neglecting them from the society and take them as one of us. Dont have the mindset that when they are handi cape it means they are stupid. NO. They might even have better and greater ideas than we do. Maybe they are more creative and innovative and them, we should just accept them. Those elderly with no one to care, showing care to them would be enough. We can go to them every week with some home-cooked food and share it with them. Treat them as your own family members, show them our love towards them. Even though they might nag at us at times but just have patience. They will feel the love and care we have given to them as time passes by.

COMMUNITIES need to be more interested in the less privileged in society, says Leonard Cheshire International -Cheshire Zambia national council chairperson Dr Gaundenzio Rossi. Dr Rossi says people know that organisations that deal with vulnerable people have existed for a long time and need to have some duty to help these people. He explains that the society has 10 homes - three in Lusaka, one in Livingstone, one in Kaoma, one in Mongu, one in Chipata, one in Ndola and two in Solwezi. "We care for quite a few thousands of people. We also have an outreach programme where we go to high-density areas and identify people who need various treatments and then give them the appropriate attention. Lusaka has one of the biggest outreach programmes," he says. Dr Rossi says some of the homes are craft centres. "We have a home for ladies in Ndola and the ladies live an independent life. It gives me great pleasure to see them live on their own. Some even have children now that they look after. They put money together and they are managing very well. We have also established a good committee of about 20 people," he says.

He says there are quite a lot of people willing to help as running a home does not only involve food but also paying of employees and the like. "We have not received any government funding for more than a year. We spoke to the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Community and Development and they promised to get back to us," he says. Dr Rossi says the society has done quite a good job looking after people but the financial situation is very bad. "We do not have the kind of donors to give so many millions but we want to do outreach in other provinces. Communities have to be more interested in the less privileged. They know that these homes have been there for a long time and communities need to have some duty to help these people. People should be able to go to these centres and say that they want to help in this and that way," he says. He says a person can never be satisfied with the work that they do but they had done all they can. Dr Rossi says people in need should be looked after as charity needs in the country are huge and there were so many orphanages and everybody is looking for help. He says an organisation called Lusaka Hash House Harriers is helping them get sponsorship and is raising funds, which will be used to upgrade and extend the Chawama divine providence home in Chawama. Dr Rossi says Chawama home was a transit home and they wanted to put showers in some of the rooms and other basic requirements. He says Hash was the main funder organisation for them at

the moment. Hash master Scott Simons says Hash is a running/social club that started in 1938 in Malaysia. Simons says since then, it has spread to most parts of the world with every major city of the world having a branch. "We get together very well at different venues and do a walk and a run, the group gets together, there are diverse and mixed people, we have the fit, unfit, old and young and all nationalities. We usually get 50 people per week showing up at the venue we have chosen and we have fun," he says. He says they meet every Saturday at a different venue close to Lusaka at a forest or a farm out in the countryside. "People usually come at 15:30 hours and we start running within 15 minutes and after 45 minutes, we sit around up to about 18:30 and have soft drinks, a beer and some water and have fun," he says. He says it started in 1988 in Nairobi and in Lusaka 30 years ago. "We just celebrated our 1500th run and whenever a club reaches a milestone, we invite people from other clubs to come and celebrate with us. We went to Livingstone to celebrate for the weekend. Everyone is welcome and they can get me on 0977579772 and on lusakahash@zambia.co.zm," he says. Simons says today, they are having the 13th annual wheelchair hash at the International School to raise funds for Cheshire Homes and provide a fun day for handicap children. He says it started as an event to buy wheelchairs and since that time it had grown and some of the funds will be used for the Chawama home.

Simons says they had been working very closely with the society. He says there will be a lot of participation this year, which will focus on the needs of Chawama Cheshire Home. Simons says for the months leading to the date, he had contacted many organisations trying to raise money and this year, 120 companies were contacted. He says he had asked the companied to contribute cash or in kind. Simons says Chalimbana farms provided something to the kitchen and another organisation got shoes for the orphans. He named some of the major donors as Chalimbana Farms, National Breweries, AON Zambia, Finance Bank, New Horizon Printing, Protea Hotel, Seed Co, Standard Chartered Bank, Total, PMTC consultants and Equatorial foods. He says they have raised in the past an average of K60 million and year and was hoping that they can reach that soon. Simons says they have about 270 hashers every week on the list but have about 50 people going every week. "So this Sunday (today), we will focus on the kids and the international school has been very generous and the kids about 9, and there are all sorts of activities from face painting and refreshments and we try to raise some money there as well. It is not open to everyone and you have to pay registration of about K70,000 at the gate," says Simons. Despite huge challenges, there are many reasons for hope in Zambia.
http://www.postzambia.com/post-read_article.php?articleId=325

The gap between the rich and the poor can be effectively bridged if the rich can share their wealth with the less privileged. This is the view of Chief Austen Arah, the Chief Executive Officer of Firstchoice Group of Companies. Arah, in this interview with CHIKA OTUCHIKERE, disclosed that after God blessed him and prosper his business, up the Firstchoice Foundation, strictly to share his blessings with the less privileged. Please lets meet you?My name is Chief Austen Arah. I am the chairman, chief executive officer, of a group of companies called Firstchoice Group of Companies. It has a Foundation called Firstchoice Foundation. I am the president and founder. I am from Delta State, a businessman and I residing in Abuja What is Firstchoice Foundation all about?The Foundation is a non governmental organization and non partisan. It is a charity organisation. The idea came because myself and two other of my directors we have the passion to give back to the society. We have the passion to help the less privileged, the widows, the orphans. So in doing business, God has been so gracious to us, God has been so kind, we have been so blessed, we should also show care to the less privileged. In so doing, we still do it individually. In my capacity, I have had event of giving out to the less privileged in my locality. So also the other two directors I have just mentioned whose names are Emeka Okeke and Abati Abor. So we had to decide to come under an umbrella by registering Firstchoice Foundation so that with this, we can reach out to more less privileged people in the county and outside the country. What is Firstchoice group of companies really into?We have

various companies. Under the group, we have Firstchoice Properties Limited we are into real estates, we develop real estates. We build houses and sell and we encourage people also to come to the estate and invest in it. We have Firstchioce Construction Company. We also have Fristchoice offshore services. We are into marine as well. We also have Firstchoice medicals where we supply medical equipment to hospitals and other places. We also have Firstchoice Petroleum company. These companies form the group. So, some of the profit we get from these companies are what we use to fund the Foundation without asking for external funding. We do the funding ourselves. How is Firstchoice Group of Companies faring in Nigeria?We thank God we are grateful to God we are pretty young though we are quiet but we are doing our bit. You know the business climate in Nigeria is harsh but in the area of the properties, God has been so kind to us so we give thanks to Him. How is government elating towards real estate developers? Well, the government is trying their bit to encourage real estate developers but one of the areas of our challenge is acquiring land from the government. It is so difficult in the sense that it is so political. When you as a genuine estate developer, when you apply for land, it is almost impossible. They dont give. Rather, lands are being given to those who are not really the developers, from whom we buy the lands expensively. So that is why you can see that in the area of the estates in Abuja particularly, the cost of these housing are very expensive because by the time you buy land from somebody who has allocation who is not able to develop, who does not have access to funds to develop and may be you took facility from the bank to buy such property

expensively, by the time you build you want to sell you will just make sure you recover your money. So prices of houses are pretty expensive in Abuja. Is it all parts of Nigeria or its only in Abuja?Well, in the states I think they find it much easier to get land allocation from the state government. So the prices are not as high as they are in Abuja. Though Abuja is the seat of power. That is why we are appealing to government to recognize those genuine developers to be given allocation to develop the land. Is it possible to have housing for all in Nigeria?It is a big challenge to government. It is easier said than done but if the government is genuine, it will take a long time to have housing for all. You know like I just mentioned, for you to get a land allocation from government, it is not easy. Before government can do that, they need to sanitise the whole system, they need to overhaul the whole system to be able to get land allocation. You know before you get a house, its not about having a house, you have to start by getting a house you have to talk first of all of getting the land so if the price of getting land is made easier it will be easier for people to get the house. To be sincere with you, to get housing for all, well lets see how you are going to do it. It is almost impossible. They can get to some good level of percentage, but for all, I dont think so. With the kind of system we have in Nigeria the corrupt system we have in Nigeria, its going to be very difficult. What are the other problems related to housing for all? Of course, there are other problems, in the area of materials, the cost of cement, the cost of building materials is so high now, unlike in those days. That is why it is difficult. When you consider the

economy, a lot of people cannot own their personal homes because even if land is made available to you, how do you develop it with the cost of building materials. So the government has to look into those areas, honestly speaking, especially in the area of cement and rods. What do you think government can do?Well, the people selling the cement are business people and the government should try to subsidise it for the price of cement to come down. Otherwise, there is nothing they can do. Those who are doing business with it are in it to make their money. So what can government do and government cannot provide cement freely to its citizens. If government can begin to produce cement locally, I think that can help. But we still have the companies like Dangote who are producing. That way, the price will come down. What about the security situation, do the estate developers entertain any form of fear?Definitely! Before now, it was good business. Now when this security situation became worse, there is this apprehension from people of the south of not investing in the north. It has adversely affected the business. You know people dont want to own their homes again because they think that there is going to be war. There is going to be division. Therefore they are holding back their money not to invest. So it is making the business very slow. Of course, the security situation is another big blow to the business. You mean it is affecting estate developers?Very well. It is affecting estate developers. We had a lot of clients before the issue of Boko Haram. Everybody desired to own a house in Abuja. Some people were coming from Lagos. A lot of people before the issue of Boko Haram. Everybody desired to own a house in Abuja.

People were coming from Lagos, even during the militancy in the Niger Delta, the white people, foreigners and our own brothers were coming to Abuja to buy lands. However, everyone is now saying, I will rather go and buy a house in my zone, I will rather buy a house in the south just in case this Boko Haram crisis escalates. I believe that Nigeria will remain one, its a passing phase we dont have the fear. Even if it does, look at it; we have many Nigerian politicians, businessmen who go to invest in South Africa and London. Is South Africa their country? So even if Nigeria divides today, we have the north and the south. I am from the south, from Delta State. So what if I have a house in another state in the north here? Many Nigerians have houses in Ghana. These group of people are narrow minded. They are not going to say if you have a house in the north go back to the south so you lose your investment in the north. Your houses will still be there. If you like put them on rent they will still be there for you. Investment is investment. Who can tell whether if Nigeria divides today, the south will be better than the north or the north better than the south, nobody knows. So we dont have that fear. What do you advise Nigerians?In this situation, they should remain calm. I believe this issue of insecurity is political. There is the political aspect of it and the politician themselves know. They are not permanent enemies. Very soon they will sort out themselves. The businessmen from the north, majority of them have their business in the south. A lot of people from the south have their business in the north. So, what are they afraid of they should remain calm and do their normal business and let us be prayerful as we have always been as Nigerians. It is a passing phase and we will overcome.

What is your advise to estate developers like you facing this security challenge?The developers themselves are not afraid. I have had cause to discuss with my colleagues. Rather, our clients are the ones who are not patronising us. We are here to invest after which we look for patronage. So when the patronage is not there what do you do? So, I am calling on the Nigerian people not to be afraid. If you feel Abuja is your dream place to live, come and own a home here. If it is Lagos or Port Harcourt, you go there and invest. But for those who are interested in Abuja or are interested in the north generally, then come dont be afraid. What is your advise to government in this situation? I think government is trying its best but they need to do more to curb this insecurity. Let me just focus on my area. We need the government to really intervene in the area of allocation to genuine investors. If I were the FCT minister, I would invite all the developers to come in and apply. I will investigate and from there, I will know which ones are genuine. If you know you are a developer, show me what you have done. I will investigate all of them. Then, you apply lets develop the city, lets make the city beautiful. But fake developers those who are not really developers when they put in papers because they have one godfather here and there, they will give them allocation. They dont develop. They dont have the means. They dont have any good standing with any bank. Then they look for those of us the genuine developers to sell to. And maybe if they spent to process the land, maybe it will cost them for example, maybe N10m because to get the application form is just N100,000 and to process it completely maybe N10m for example. Then they come to sell to you for maybe about N300. Then when you buy at N300m and you develop, maybe you took facility from the bank

to raise the money, now how much will you now sell to make your money.
http://www.leadership.ng/nga/articles/41699/2012/12/04/rich_should_show_care_less_pr ivileged.html

Who we are
TOUCH Community Services is a not-for-profit charitable organisation. We were officially registered in 1992 and have been a member of the National Council of Social Service since 1994.

How we started
The work of TOUCH started in 1986 as a service for latch-key children in the neighbourhoods of Clementi and Jurong. Touched by the obvious need of lowincome and single-parent families with difficulties making ends meet, much less raising their children in a positive environment, a group of 15 people in their 20s organised activities to help the children. This small attempt has today become a multi-service organisation with an integrated network of 17 services, 12 centres and 15 children's clubs located at different parts of Singapore, including Bukit Merah, Clementi, Geylang Bahru, Hougang, Serangoon, Toa Payoh, Ubi and Yishun.

Who we serve
Over the last 21 years, TOUCH has reached out to many individuals from all religions and races, including children, youths, families, people with special and healthcare needs and the elderly. To promote greater awareness and exposure to overseas community work, we also partner closely with organisations in various countries in the areas of adoption of children, community development and humanitarian relief.

Who

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