Free Dress Friday.

OUR FUNDRAISER

Free Dress Friday.

Why?

Our group had the idea to raise money to assist the refugees and dcided that since most students love to come to school in free dress that they would be more than willing to participate by making a gold coin ($1 or $2) donation. Since this would involve approximately 300 students we sought permission from our school deputy principal and then promoted the cause.

For Which Organisation?

Our focus was for TEAR Australia(”TEAR Australia is a movement of Christians in Australia responding to the needs of poor communities around the world. Our motivation comes from our belief that God loves all people, and in Christ offers them the opportunity of a new life. We believe that God is just, and has particular care for the poor and those who suffer as victims of injustice. “

TEAR Australia is involved in partnerships with many third world countries and help assist and implement projects with a view to helping break poverty, oppressed and refugees to build a more secure future.) as we believe in their mission and the assistance provide to a lot of countries in the world.

Result?

Another group, in our class who were also looking for ways to fundraised joined in on our Free Dress Day and combined we raised $435.90, hence each group split the money equally for a total of $217.95.

What can the funds purchase?

· Goat x 3 $ 150.00

· Organic Vegetable Garden $ 25.00

· Where Needed Most $ 20.00

· Fish Farming x 4 $ 20.00

Total of Assistance $ 215.00

Our reason for the above purchases.

We got selected these items because they will be useful to the refugees. Like the goat it will provide milk, cheese and also meet and they will be able to breed from them. Just as fish farming will provide and income and sustainable food with the Vegetable garden and it is friendly to the environment.

RED CROSS

Red cross is one of the main organizations that support refugees and help assist families when they become separated due to conflict and other natural disasters.

Red cross help in 178 countries in the world assisting families to re-establish contacts or clarify the fate of loved ones missing due to conflict and other conditions.

Red Cross intervenes in areas under siege, like that of a postal service to get messages to the people that are being traced.

Red Cross is divided into several areas of assistance beyond Australia and the ICRC stands for the International Committee of the Red Cross. As soon as there is an international disaster or an emergency that threatens lives the Red Cross begin to organise assistance. Some of the recent emergency aid they have provided has been to:

· Iraq and surrounding areas in 2003

· Fiji – Cylone Arni 2003

· Solomon Islands – Cyclone Zoe 2002/3

· Bali Bombing in 2002

Red Cross have also assisted in many parts of the world with relief during times of massive flooding or famine.

Sou's story

My name is Sou. I was born between 1950 and 1951, in Cambodia. My family was in the rice milling business. We lived in the second largest city of Cambodia: Battambang City.

In 1975, when the Khmer Rouge took power, we were forced from our home to live in the countryside. We lived in a hut, with little food to eat. I asked to be a seamstress in our commune, but sometimes I was required to farm. Since there were no shoes issued by the Khmer Rouge, my feet were bloodied by the ground. One day, the Khmer Rouge distributed Cambodian deserts in coconut shells because there were no plates. We were to receive four deserts per person, contained in each shell. My parents lived elsewhere and were not entitled to these deserts. I decided to give my portion to them, since I was a filial daughter and knew that they were very hungry. My mouth watered as I watched them feast, but I was very happy.

When the Vietnamese invaded Cambodia in 1979, my family fled to Thailand. On the way there, we were robbed four times. They left us with nothing but the clothes on our backs. We slept on the ground and were without food for a month, before the Red Cross came to our rescue. We were severely emaciated, and it was but for the grace of God that help arrived in the nick of time. We had reached the Thai-Cambodian border but were lost. The Red Cross sent us to a refugee camp for 11 months. We were sponsored by the Wundered Family of Mesa, Arizona. God bless them.

Because my brother had come to Northern Virginia seven months before us (he was sponsored separately), my family and I decided to move from Arizona to Virginia, to be reunited with him. By then, it was 1981 and I resolved to get my driver's license immediately. I found a driving school that was referred to me by a friend. I paid $275 and an instructor taught me three lessons. In a turn of bad luck, the school went bankrupt shortly after that third lesson. Needless to say, I still didn't know how to drive by then, and had friends teach me to drive until I got my license in 1982.

Penniless and unable to speak English, I had to work days and study nights. The work was menial; I had to clean offices and bathrooms. In 1986, I was proud to become a citizen of the United States of America, my new home. My English was still poor, and I continued to study it slowly and methodically, and got my General Education Degree (GED) from Thomas Edison High School in 1989. That same year, my mom passed away from liver cancer. It was a very hard moment in my life, since she had made it out of Cambodia with only to die ten years later in America.

After receiving my GED, I studied basic electrical wiring as well as heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration. I finished these studies in 1991. At that time, I was employed by the Charles E. Smith corporation as a helper in building maintenance, but was laid-off after only three months. I then decided to undertake studies in cosmetology and hairdressing, which took another year. Since June 1993, I have been an employee of the Hair Cuttery corporation. I have had to work seven days a week in that time, to support myself at a comfortable level. In these years, I became more fluent in English, because of my job, and for that, indeed for everything that America has given me, but most of all for the opportunity to make something of myself, I am deeply grateful.

By the time of my father's passing on September 25, 1998, from old age, I had become assimilated, to the extent possible, into American society.