Hong Kong, 28 February 2018 You might be tired reading this but, February has always been my favourite month because my birthday simply falls at the end of it. I’m a person who’s always looking forward to celebrations – new year, graduation, birthday, etc. I know it’s too early, but since the beginning of the year, I honestly have been thinking about how to spend my birthday HEHE And, I finally decided to do #BirthdayFundraising.

The last few months have been mentally tough for me. I thought it’d be nice if I can do something meaningful as a form of gratitude of what I have now. The idea of #BirthdayFundraising isn’t new. I saw some of my friends did the same thing in the past and I was inspired to do the same (you know who you are 😉). As I feel this is really personal, I’d like to fundraise for someone or NGO that I can meet in person or connect with, so I decided to contact Komunitas Taufan.

Meeting Gabriel in Person

Komunitas Taufan is a group of volunteers who accompany families with chronic diseases and cancer to give financial and moral support. They introduced me to Gabriel – he’s 2 years old boy from Malang who suffers from ALL type Leukimia or blood cancer. So, instead of cakes and gifts, I humbly ask my family and friends to share their love and blessings for me and Gabriel.

Ever since I arrived in Jakarta, I always wanted to meet Gabriel in person but the timing was never right until 2 days before I flew back to Hong Kong. I was so excited that I finally got the chance to visit Gabriel in the hospital after his chemotherapy! So, one day prior to meeting him, I pushed myself to share my project page to my closest friends. Within a day, I was able to raise 50% of the goal!

I am surrounded by good people

I initially planned to aim for IDR 5,000,000 (~HKD 2800) but I made it to only IDR 3,000,000 (~HKD 1700) because I wasn’t confident that people want to actually donate. Since this is my first time doing such thing, I felt so awkward to share the project page yet, the positive responses from my closest friends convince me to keep going. I finally shared this through my insta story. Surprisingly, I received a lot of positive encouragements and support that I didn’t expect. Some of the donations were even made in Hong Kong dollar. Within a week, the goal is 200% achieved!! 🎉

If you’re reading this and inspired to do the something similar yet, you still have doubts in your mind, trust me that it only feels awkward at the beginning. Instead, you’ll be surprised by the encouragement from the people around you, including those friends you barely talk to. So, let’s start with one simple act of kindness today!

For donors, you definitely have my utmost gratitude. Thank you for making my 22nd birthday worth to remember. I sincerely wish all the good things for you and may you always be happy. I’ll update each of you very soon!

Let me end the post with one of my all time favourite quote:

“Because human is not a reservoir of blessings, but a channel to share” – Unknown

With love from the birthday girl,