It took the core team a while to decide the next destination to visit after our very meaningful trip to Siem Reap last year. Having been able to involve two other groups to follow in our footsteps and support the villages in Siem Reap, we saw our role in opening more roads and leading the way in identifying other organisations in need of funding for their efforts in developing countries.
Our research brought us to Hanoi. After much correspondence since July this year, and finding out more about needs of the community, we were convinced that Hanoi was the place to go. Abandoned orphanages, poor villagers, families with homes literally falling apart, and street children with no where to go. We knew Hanoi was a pretty place. What we didn’t know was that the conditions in the outskirts weren’t as pretty.
And so the planning began. This year, we are happy to welcome the following associates of Caelan & Sage to the PHF team:
- Aloysius Goh, who is also our in-house legal counsel
- Yap Xinling, who is lending her event management expertise to support our fund raising events
- Ben Koh, who was supposed to join us last year in our Siem Reap trip but had to pull out at the last minute. We are crossing his fingers he can join us this time!
- Tery Chua, no stranger to our team as he has been supporting us in our efforts and lending his muscle power where and when needed
- Stacy Peh, sister of Alvin, who is joining us to take photos so that she can have her own photo exhibition post trip to raise funds.. We can’t wait!
With a team of 13 of us heading up, we are challenging ourselves to raise close to SGD 30,000. It’s a challenge considering that it’s SGD 5,000 more than last year. Plus, we knew that the economic situation not being as robust as last year, donations may not come in as easily.
Still, we are optimistic. And we are counting on our friends and families to support our efforts for a good cause. For I believe, if the heart is there, things will fall into place somehow.
