A 6-year old boy’s suffering & his cry for help, did not go down very well with my colleague, Tamara Fadhli. After reading about Erriszel Cortez’s struggle against leukemia in The Emirates Today, she came up to me with the suggestion of holding a book fair to raise some money & awareness about his plight. He requires a bone marrow transplant operation worth Dhs 1 million. As medical students at Universal Empire Institute of Medical Sciences, we thought it important to work for such a cause. We decided to not only have a book fair but, a garage sale of various items donated by the students themselves. We started to work on “MISSION CORTEZ”.
 |
Even at such short notice, the Department of Student Services & Programs at Academic City, Dubai, helped us greatly. They got us the permission to have a donation desk & garage sale in the food court in Academic City over 3 days from 10 – 12 April 2007 between 11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. They backed us through each & every step of the way. We even had full support from Emirates Today. It was as if there was a fervor amongst the students to help this little boy. The whole of the student body was in full attendance, volunteering to give out pamphlets, donate items for sale or help with the fundraiser.
We had some very generous anonymous donations worth AED 51,000, AED 11,000 & AED 5,000. Even the CMD of our college, Mr. Sudhir Gopi donated a substantial amount. Most of the donations came in after hearing my colleague, Shiblu Shamsudeen, on air with RJ Krithika on English Breakfast Desi Mem – 101.6 FM. Also, all the members of our faculty & administration donated one day’s worth salary each. It was such an enlightening experience to encounter so much generosity.
|
The fundraiser culminated with a charity auction in our college auditorium, where our faculty & administration took part actively. A very generous Mrs. Dolly donated two very beautiful paintings for the auction. Interestingly, we managed to raise Dhs 5,500 at the auction.
We then invited Emirates Today & the mother, Emilyn Cortez, to hand over the money that we raised, a total sum of Dhs 1,42,780. She was so touched by this gesture. Some of us managed to have a rendezvous with her & got to know more about Erriszel. It is so surprising to see such strength, warmth & maturity in such a small child. He has given us all unforgettable memories. We are still very much in touch with the family. We are in fact trying to look for treatment alternatives for him in India.
This event would never have been a success without the enormous support from our faculty & administration. We still can not comprehend the fact that we could raise so much money. But the entire credit goes to the students who put in their heart & soul into this project.
I’d like to end by saying just one thing to my fellow college students, Guys, it is you people who make me proud of being a part of this institution, & I’m proud to be in such company.
Amina Mukadam
President, UESA
UEIMS |
|
|
