CEO Message. April was a month of awesome people!

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The heartwarming story of Wiwik Sunariyah (this month’s featured student) is the real reason why we all do what we do at Aidha. Wiwik arrived in Singapore 15 years ago to an unknown future, buoyed only the belief that things could not be any worse here than the dire situation she had left behind at home in Indonesia; yet today she has a plan for her future and savings to help her to get there. After years of hard work and determination, undertaking Aidha’s financial literacy programme, and with support from her employers, Wiwik has now bought land in her hometown. In a few years’ time, a new home for her family will sit on this land together with her very own nasi padang restaurant – a cherished dream that has kept her going all this time.

This is the very real difference that each and every one of you – our volunteers, supporters and donors – makes in the lives of our students.

It is the 170 cyclists who recently participated in our Aidha Tour de Singapore Bike Ride at the unearthly hour of 5:30am to cycle through Singapore to help raise funds for our programmes. It is the small but dedicated project team of volunteers who prepped for months to get every tiny logistical detail as perfect as they could for the Bike Ride. It is the scores of volunteers, students and staff who, on that still-dark Sunday morning, lugged heavy cartons of water, oranges and bananas from the car park to the start line, decorated the start/finish line with balloons and banners, and who baked trays of food for the hungry bikers and guests to have at the finish-line. There was no mistaking the passion and big-heartedness of everyone at the Bike Ride which drove this event which will eventually help even more students like Wiwik.      

It is volunteer extraordinaire, Selina McCole, who powered on through six long days of 50°C desert heat, searing thirst, blistered feet and unappetising powdered food in the Marathon de Sables, dubbed ‘the toughest foot race in the world,’ simply to raise funds for Aidha so more women can benefit from our programmes.

April has been a very inspiring month, both because our students continue to seize the opportunities provided to them and do achieve their dreams to break out of the poverty cycle for themselves and their families, and because of every one of you who continue to make those opportunities possible.      

An enormous and heartfelt thank you to you all.

 

A look back at Aidha Tour de Singapore 2016

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Despite the pre-dawn hour, the valiant Aidha team of staff, students and volunteers were carting boxes of water and isotonic drinks,  bananas  and oranges; hanging up banners and blowing up balloons; and registering participants for the Aidha Tour de Singapore Bike Ride 2016. More than 170 wonderful cyclists took part to help us to raise funds for our programmes. Everyone had fun, the weather cooperated with us, there was lots of good homemade food and, most importantly, each and every cyclist made it back safely to East Coast Park. To date, we’ve raised about $50K so far. While it is still far away from our target of $150K, the donations continue to come in and we are hopeful that we will soon be much closer to our target. We look back at the fun and buzz of the Aidha’s 4th Tour de Singapore Bike Ride.

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Wiwik’s story: “Everything beautiful has its own time”

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Wiwik Sunariyah’s student life in Indonesia was not exactly the carefree days people usually imagine a student’s life to be. Her family was struggling with a heavy financial burden. When there isn’t enough food on your plate, school fees, books and uniforms are not the top priority. As the eldest of six siblings, Wiwik felt a great responsibility to make a change. One day, she swallowed her fears and set off to Singapore in search of better luck.

Written By: Vittoria O.

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What’s happening at Aidha…

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3 April 2016: Curriculum Review Project

As part of Aidha’s Curriculum Review, Focus Group Discussions were conducted on 3 April 2016. The groups comprised Module 1, Module 2, Alumni and Module 1 mentors. The insights gathered will  help us revise our  curriculum to better serve our students. We are now in the midst of collating results from the sessions and will share this with you soon. We would like to express our gratitude to all participants who provided their invaluable insights, volunteer note-takers from Aidha; and volunteer facilitators from Facilitators Network Singapore (FNS). If you’d like to find out more about FNS’ work, click here.

Aidha Alumni who participated in the Focus Group Discussion

1 May 2016: Benefit Cosmetics’  ‘BOLD IS BEAUTIFUL’ campaign for Aidha has started!

 

Look good and feel good this May by supporting Benefit Cosmetics’ ‘Bold is Beautiful’ campaign and help Aidha!. Throughout the month of May, 100% of the proceeds of every eyebrow wax – which costs $26 – will be divided between Aidha and UN Women’s Girls2Pioneers project. This is the first time Benefit is holding their annual charity fundraiser outside of the US. For the launch of its Asia campaign, Singapore made an obvious choice; for Aidha to be included as one of its first two chosen charities is indeed an honour. ‘The partnership with Benefit Cosmetics is a particularly apt one as we both celebrate strong, beautiful and empowered women‘ says Aidha CEO, Karen Fernandez.

This is how you can support the campaign:

– Have your eyebrows waxed and tell all your friends to do so too!

– Take your Mom for a eyebrow wax this Sunday – perfect for a fun mother-and-daughter session on Mother’s Day!

– Be an internal ambassador in your organisation and tell all your colleagues. If there are enough people in your organisation who want their eyebrows waxed, Benefit will send their eyebrow wax expert to your office! Waxes only take about 15-20 minutes each, so it’s easy to fit it in during your lunch break. You’ll just need to book a meeting room where the waxing can be done. Singapore Women’s Weekly will also also come down and give away lucky draw prizes. So you have nothing to lose and everything to gain! All interested ambassadors, please email ida.supahat@aidha.org. Please visit http://www.boldisbeautiful.com/sg/ for more details. Don’t forget to have your eyebrows waxed this weekend!