A beautiful story of how many lives are transformed even at the death of just one life.
Greater love hath no man than this,
that a man lay down his life for his friends.
~ John 15:13, King James Version (KJV)
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Picture caption:
Ms Natalie Tjahja, whose daughter Maria Monique died after visiting Singapore for heart surgery, set up a foundation which helps fulfil the last wishes of underprivileged and handicapped children like Devan, 16, who suffers from brittle bones and growth deformity. His wish is to go to the seaside and theme park in Ancol, Jakarta, and to record a song. -- PHOTO: COURTESY OF NATALIE TJAHJA
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Heart surgery girl's mum thanks S'poreans in a song
By Zubaidah Nazeer, Indonesia Correspondent
The Straits Times ~ Wednesday, 2011 Jul 13, World, Regional, Page A17
JAKARTA: Ms Natalie Tjahja took her ailing daughter to Singapore for heart surgery in 2006. Although the girl died a day after the operation, Ms Tjahja, 40, never forgot the Samaritans in Singapore who helped her financially.
Last Tuesday - the day her only child would have turned 14 had she lived - Ms Tjahja handed Singapore Embassy officials here a CD of a song she composed. Titled The Last Harbour, the song was dedicated to the Singaporeans she met during her ordeal five years ago.
'I cannot forget how Singaporeans helped me when I had nothing. Singapore will always have a special place in my heart,' she told The Straits Times.
She recalled meeting a staff member from the hospital canteen who offered her food for free to cheer her up, and a woman who visited every day during their month-long stay 'to pray with me'.
In 2008, as a token of appreciation, she gave copies of an illustrated children's book she had written to individuals and staff at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, where her daughter was treated.
Three months after her daughter's death, Ms Tjahja, who has separated from her husband, quit as co-partner from her travel agency and decided to set up a foundation for terminally ill children with US$100 (S$122) as seed money. The Maria Monique Last Wish Foundation, named after her daughter, was registered in early 2007, and has since grown by word of mouth, via friends and their network.
Today, it has nearly 1,000 volunteers and about 70 full-time staff across 25 provinces in Indonesia. More importantly, the foundation has helped fulfil the last wishes of about 10,000 underprivileged and handicapped children aged between five and 15 years, not just in Indonesia but also in the United States, Japan, Vietnam, China, Haiti and South Africa.
'The foundation is not here to help pay medical fees but to give joy,' Ms Tjahja said. 'My condition to people who wish to donate is that they give their time or money directly to benefit the child they are helping. They have to be there personally to grant the wish.'
One beneficiary is Aman, 11, from Tangerang, West Java. The bedridden child had to be carried around by his mother, who works as a household help, wherever she went. Ms Tjahja said: 'His last wish was to be 'human'. So we gave him a wheelchair so he could move around without help.'
Ms Tjahja and her foundation have been featured in CNN's Impact Your World segment, which spotlights people who are making a difference with their work.
One of the foundation's supporters is national carrier Garuda Indonesia, which helps transport wheelchairs to the needy children in other cities.
Ms Tjahja said her focus now is on building 'happy rooms' for handicapped children to play in. Every room, which is slightly bigger than an HDB master bedroom, is equipped with a ball pit, a mini-trampoline, slides and a swing.
Acknowledging that her life is now solely devoted to this cause, she said: 'After losing the only precious thing in my life, I just want to give happiness to as many critically ill children as I can.
'Granting these children their last wish to make their lives a little better is the only thing that drives me now.'
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