FPTL, the good

Samaritan

By Yunus Rashid

For four years nobody detected that two children were being brutally abused by their parents in a suburb of Fiji’s capital Suva. Until one day neigh bours decided to investigate the persistent crying of children and stumbled upon two pathetic-looking children in tattered clothes with their bodies badly bruised.

The neighbourhood nurse was informed of the tragic situation and the children were taken to the comfort of Saint Christopher’s Home at Naulu - a twenty-minute drive from Suva.

When Marian and David (not their real names) aged three and four respectively, arrived at the Saint Christopher’s Home, they were taken in by Sister Claire Masina, who has dedicated her life to looking after neglected children for the last 27 years.

Marian and David are two of the 61 chil dren who are being looked after by the home in the hope that they will overcome their initial psychological trauma of being abused and abandoned by their parents and grow up to be respectable citizens of the country.

But the work is hard mainly because of financial constraints. The home was blessed in the 1970 s when an American left a generous portion of his estate for use by the home. While this generosity has helped the home survive over the years, the home is always in need of extra assistance to be able to give the children the best upbringing possible.

That is why Fiji Post and Telecommunications Limited’s offer of $U516,809 as donation was given an open-arm welcome by Sister Claire.

FPTL has started a new programme which incorporates its phone card busi ness.

The company has printed 8000 cards with the picture of Sister Claire and some children of the home and have called it the “Fund card”. The card which sells for SUS3.SO allows the buyer to make SUSI.4o worth of calls and donate three towards the Home.

The idea was thought of by the compa ny’s marketing manager, Peter Ah Koy, and

was implemented with the support of the Managing Director Winston Thompson.

Ah Koy explained that the $U516,809 would be given to the home as and when the cards are sold.

Sister Claire welcomed the offer saying such generosity allowed the home to do its best for the children who need more love and affection than other children because of their sufferings. ■

FPTL’s Managing Director Winston Thompson (left) donates a card to Sister Claire Masina.

Looking on are some of the 61 children hoping for a good future.