Thursday, October 16, 2008

FRIDAY-17 OCTOBER 2008- CHARITY CONCERT TO HELP CHILDREN WITH HEART DISEASES

Charity concert to help children with heart diseases



KOTA KINABALU:



Pay as little as RM30 to watch a Broadway musical comedy and your contribution could give 16 poor children with congenital heart diseases an opportunity to undergo surgery in Korea The Lions Club of Kota Kinabalu Damai, together with Society of Performing Arts Kota Kinabalu (SPArKS) and The Actors Studio will be organising a Charity Musical Concert on Oct25 (Saturday) at the Recital Hall, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS). The Organising Chairman for the event, Thomas Ho, said the objective of the two—hour musical is to raise money for 16 poor children from rural areas in Sabah who have been suffering from congenital heart disease for a long time as well as promoting the Broadway musical. Entitled “Broadway Parodies Lagi Lah”, the musical will be held in two sessions (3pm and 8pm), featuring 16 actors from a well-known theatre group from Kuala Lumpur, The Actors Studio. Sabahan Mia Palencia together with Tria Aziz, Glamorique Arshad and other actors will be performing songs such as Aiyo (Heigh Ho - Snow White), Hello Datin (Hello Dolly), The Bomoh of the Bursa (The Phantom of the Opera) and many more. “The money raised will be used for the airfares, insurance and passports for the children aged from one to 13 years old who will be sent for surgical heart operation which will be provided free by Bucheon Sejong Hospital in Korea,” Ho said. Meanwhile Dr Kheng Kien Soo of the Lions Club of Kota Kinabalu Damai said the incidence of children suffering from congenital heart disease i high and it is critically important that early intervention is given in order to avoid serious complications. “However, the majority of children who suffer from this disease live in rural areas in Sabah and it is very difficult for them to have surgical operation at the appropriate time because they cannot afford the high cost of surgical operation in Kuala Lumpur,” he said. Therefore, Dr Kheng said that the musical charity will hopefully be able to raise as much money as possible for the 16 children, out of 500 other children who suffer from the disease all over Sabah and still waiting to undergo an operation. Last year, 16 children also from rural areas and poor families successfully underwent the surgery at the same hospital. A representative from Korean Food for the Hungry International Simon Lee said that the organisation and another NGO in Korea, Son- An, will be sponsoring RM50,000 for each child for their food and accommodation while in Korea. “We target 16 children to be sent this year for the surgical operations, however if the fund- raising is able to collect more than our target, we will send more children to undergo the surgery,” he said, adding that the children cannot undergo the surgery here mainly because there are insufficient funds and along waiting list at the hospital. The public is welcome to the show to provide support for the children. Tickets at RM5O and RM3O (for students) for the matinee show at 3pm and RM100 and RM5O for the evening show are available at Coffee Bean in Damai and Wisma Merdeka.