Help make Roly a doctor!

Update on Roly

2011-05-21T03:20:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum revisiting/potential benefactors,

I just had a quick facebook chat with Roly, he's doing his medicine rotation now and will be heading for his paediatrics rotation next insyaAllah. If things go well, he'll be graduating from medical school in 18 months!

If things go well for me, I'll be graduating from my medical school in roughly 13 months :D

May Allah ease everyone's paths, and if He made it difficult, may it bring us closer to Him, for that will be the best ending one could ever wish for.

Atiqah

Roly's Bachelor of Medical Sciences

2011-01-31T01:05:00.000-08:00

Assalamualaikum kind hearted people,

We're sorry we post this very, very late. Roly had e-mailed us this quite some time ago. Another 2 years and he will be a doctor. Alhamdulillah =)

Roly received Medical Sciences Degree!! Yay!!!

2010-10-14T20:48:00.000-07:00

Dear Benefactors,

We are proud to inform you that Roly has completed his Medical Sciences Degree and awarded Bachelor of Medical Sciences. With this degree, he still cannot practice medicine in hospital, he has another 2 years to finish the course.

CONGRATULATIONS Roly. We as your Trustees are so proud of you , and we're sure your benefactors feel the same way too. 2 more years and you'll be a Doctor!!! =)

Will post the cert ASAP when I get home ok!

Ramadhan is ending

2010-09-03T23:20:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum potential/returning benefactors,

Since it is (the end of) Ramadhan where giving to those in need is highly encouraged and highly rewarded by Allah s.w.t., I would like to take this chance to just say a massive thank you and jazakumullahu khair to all those who have helped and contributed to the project so far, in whatever form it was.

Roly has been very greatful and is doing great in Cambodia, continuously sending my sister and I emails to give us updates on his life. My friends who went to the 2010 Cambodia Relief Mission met Roly during the initiation meeting, but he couldn't join the mission this year due to exam commitments.

May Allah the Most Bountiful reward your generosity and kindness with the best of rewards, and may your Ramadhan be filled with barakah :)

In case I didn't update this blog until Eid, I'd also like to take this chance to wish everyone a Happy 'Eidul Fitr. Hopefully it's filled with lots of quality family time and good food! I'll be celebrating my fifth Eid abroad without my family (and with a full day of lectures), but all is fine because life has been good so I can't possibly be anything but greatful.

Yours sincerely,
Atiqah

4th allowance for Roly

2010-06-09T02:40:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum..

many apologies for everybody who has dropped by here. We're all currently busy with work, studies and exams and one of our sisters is getting married this Saturday, so you can imagine how hectic it is right now :)

We'd like to thank all Roly's benefactors. We would be happy if everybody who drops by here could contribute, may it be RM10, RM100 or more. Roly has expressed to me his hope to have his own laptop now that he is going to be on his Final Year soon.

It means more workload and assignments and it would ease the burden off him a lot if he has a computer of his own.

Please keep the contributions coming in. We are doing our best to keep to chanel the contributions to him.

May Allah bless all of you.

Thank you.

Apologies...

2010-04-03T11:57:00.000-07:00

...to anyone who visited while I was in the middle of editing the HTML code, the site must have looked a mess! My sister pointed out that the HTML code failed to link to this blog after I published the announcement on my facebook account. I (finally) have it sorted though, so I hope it's working for everyone!

Never again shall I attempt to temper with non-basic HTML codes...*deep sigh*

Atiqah

Finally - a blog button!

2010-04-03T07:12:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum and hi, kind people of the interwebs.

You know the picture-link-thing I promised to put up lightyears ago? It's finally here! It looks like this:

It doesn't really involve much editing, but being the techy person (#sarcasm) that I am, this took me ages.

We would really really appreciate it if you would be kind enough to add the button up to your blog/website's sidebar/bloglist to help direct some traffic our way. All you have to do is;

From the 'Layout' section of your Blogger dashboard (I only know how to do it on Blogspot because I'm a techy, computer-y person), select 'Add a Gadget'
Click on the HTML/Javascript option
Copy paste this code :

<a href="http://www.makerolyadoctor.blogspot.com"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_SzSuCLYDFQM/S7dLhpedhgI/AAAAAAAAACk/ulH9T0jdgxI/s1600/rolyblogbutton.jpg" alt="BWS tips button" width="209" height="150" /></a>
You're all done!

Thank you to those who have helped, linked, and donated towards Roly's education so far. You guys are made of kindness and pure awesome.

I hope everyone's having a fantastic Easter break, and I hope your weather's better than it is now in Ireland!

Atiqah

Roly's 3rd allowance

2010-03-05T23:50:00.000-08:00

Dearest Benefactors,

Another USD 150 has been sent Roly on 2 March 2010. Please refer to image of CIMB TT captured below. I have yet to communicate with Roly as I was told that he went back to his village because his grandfather is sick.

Let's hope everything is fine and he is back in school.

Thank you for your generosity. May Allah return your kindness..

Thank you note from Roly..

2009-12-29T23:51:00.000-08:00

Dear generous benefactors,

Published here is a thank you note Roly e-mailed to me, so that he can express his thanks and gratitude for your kindness.

I will attach the print screen soon tonight. Thank you and we wish you a Happy New Year =)

Assalamualaiku....
    Dear all..........
    I am very happy when you are interesting with my studies and give me scholarship.
    It is very important because what you all have supported me are reducing so many my difficulties,especially your supporting on my studies.The money that I got, I take it to buy the books that i need,buy some necessary medical equipments for my practice at hospital and buy some school uniform too.
    More over,all of your activities are not only solve my student lifestyle and it shown me about helping each other by good charity that I should do it in the future as possible as I can.
    In the end of my message beside of the word thanks,i would like to promise you that I will work hard to study,to be a good doctor for my community and my country.
    I pray to Allah give you all have barkat, Rahmat Afyatv and hidayah,Amine.

Gorzaly B.yakkob (kop roly).

Pictures, at long last

2009-11-29T10:47:00.000-08:00

Assalamualaikum :)

These are some pictures of the relief mission we did in Cambodia - we went to a total of seven (or nine..hmm) villages which ranges from about 30 minutes to about 2 hours from Kampung Cham. There might be a couple of pictures that is not suitable for the faint hearted - consider yourselves warned!

Only a couple of these have a glimpse of Roly in it, because quite a number of them are circumcision pictures and i don't think it's ethical to publish them here. There might be more pictures with him in it...but we have a total of 3 CDs of pictures and my eyes just go @.@ trying to look for the right ones.

We have more pictures of us touring Cambodia then pictures of us doing the mission despite us spending only 15% of our time there for excursions to touristy places. This was mainly because the turn out at the villages were most of the time very overwhelming, henceforth we did not have much time to take pictures...all work and no play :P

Roly's 2nd allowance

2009-11-24T23:45:00.000-08:00

Dear Benefactors,

We have sent USD 150 to Roly on 23 November 2009. Please refer to image of CIMB TT captured below. Roly has received the money and using half of it for his studies, and saving another half so that he can buy a computer.

Thank you for your generosity. May Allah return your kindness..

How Roly benefit from the money we sent him

2009-10-28T23:33:00.000-07:00

Roly had snail-mailed me the receipts for what he used the money for. He had so far

i) bought 1 sphygmomanometer (the blood pressure meter - phew! I had to spell check thrice for this!)

ii) bought a 4GB flashdrive for his university usage (I believe he doesn't own one before)

iii) photocopied 7 medical studies books and 1 Dictionary of Medical Terms (French-English)

He informed me that he plans to enroll in an English course to learn to speak and read English better, so we're hoping to support him do that since a lot of the books available is in English and to study, he needs to translate them into French (many Universities in Cambodia use French as medium).

He said books are too expensive and money is too precious to spend on buying books so he photocopied them instead.

Roly's first allowance

2009-10-26T23:14:00.000-07:00

Dear Benefactors,

We have sent USD 150 to Roly just about a week before Eid. Please refer pictures of the form and receipt on transaction made on 15th September 2009. Roly received the money through Western Union the next day.

This is not a one off thing and we hope to make this constant until he graduates. He is very grateful with the help that he is receiving from all of you.

Thank you for your support. May Allah return your kindness..

Western Union form

Western Union receipt

A note of appreciation

2009-10-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

Assalamualaikum,

Alhamdulillah, I am ever so grateful to everyone who has helped us spread the word, you guys are nothing short of amazing!

According to my pretty sister, Roly has used the first month's money to:
- photocopy 7 textbooks
- buy a dictionary
- buy a pendrive
- buy a sphygmomanometer

I'm trying to come up with a mini poster of sorts to be a badge/logo/whatever people call that, for bloggers to put up on their blog's sidebar for all the random people to click.

Pictures are yet to come, I'm a busy person I am!

Apart from helping Roly out, I hope this blog also serves the purpose of making (inspiring would be a bit too arrogant methinks) all the youngsters out there realize that even poor college students like us can make a difference if we try hard enough!

Atiqah
I use too many exclamation marks.

p.s. hanya Allah dapat membalas jasa baik kalian, hanya Allah yang tahu betapa besar impak wang kalian berjumlah RM10 itu ke atas kehidupan seorang Roly. Semoga ia menjadi ibadat yang dirahmati insyaAllah.

An update from the Atiqah

2009-10-19T14:56:00.001-07:00

Assalamualaikum, and hi, kind people of the interwebs!

We have already channeled to Roly his first allowance, all thanks to you! He really appreciated it, and he said his main plans for the money are to photocopy books (he seem to not have the heart to spend money on original books as they cost too much!) and to take evening english classes to improve his command in english - he is the definition of hardworking, if you ask me.

I'll put up pictures of Roly taken during the relief mission I joined last Summer in this blog when I have the time!

- Atiqah

p.s. any suggestions, comments, or questions are very much welcomed and will be replied to as soon as I could!

The Story of Roly

2009-10-10T02:25:00.000-07:00

(Originally posted in my older sister's blog - she wants to be known as A'a and this project is her brainchild, I'm merely helping out!)

Dear readers and peekers,

I post here a heart-wrenching story about a Cambodian boy, whose brilliance, fighting spirit and resilience humbled me, and put me to shame. Drop me comments if you'd like to contribute. It doesn't matter if it's only RM 10, or RM 100. Every cent will mean a lot to this boy, and we could at least help ease his burden.

Read the story, and if you feel what my sisters and I feel, I'm sure you'll want to contribute. At least we can help him buy some reference books. Btw, this Atiqah is my 4th sister, whom I often fondly call Tiq Toq.

***************************************

Hi everyone. My name is Atiqah, and I am here to write about a friend I met during a relief mission in Cambodia. His name is Ghazali; Roly to his friends. He just passed his fourth year in medical school, so he has three more years to go. When I first met him, I have no idea that he was going to be one of those few people who leave footsteps on your heart. He joined us on the mission for merely nine days, and already he left gaping holes in the hearts of his Malaysian teammates.

Everyone saw how good he was since the very first day he worked with us. It doesn’t matter that I did not understand a word of what he was saying to the villagers, but I felt his empathy, I felt how genuine he was to his patients. I remember thinking ‘Wow. He’s exactly what Cambodia needs right now,’ when I sat beside him while he was taking the history of a patient.

He seemed like a guy all the ladies would fall for; tall, funny, responsible, smart. Looking at him, one can never have guessed what he went through to be in the place that he is now. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a story about Roly.

Roly had always felt that something was wrong with the way the people in his village think. Since he was really young, he had already felt the thirst for knowledge. He realized its importance and its ability to help alleviate the poverty that was gripping the fishing village he was living in. When he finished primary school, his parents confronted him. They told him to stop studying, that they do not approve of him going to school, that he should start earning money for the family. He begged and begged for them to give him a few more years, and finally they relented and gave him permission to attend secondary school. There is no secondary school in his village. Roly, at the age of 13, cycled 20 kilometres to his school. He studied during weekdays, and he went fishing with his father during weekends. This, was how Roly spent his teenage years; whenever he wasn’t studying hard, he was working hard.

Excellent academic achievements led him to a scholarship from the Cambodian Government to study medicine in USS. Roly was delighted to move to Phnom Penh and prove to everyone that even a boy from a poor fishing village can become a doctor. Thus began his journey as the first person of his village to ever qualify into a university.

His scholarship only covered tuition fees. Roly needed money for food, accommodation, and books. His parents can only afford to provide half of these expenses, leaving him with no chance but work two jobs during his first year. He distributed newspapers in the morning before going to class, and he worked the evening shift as a waiter. He did all this while being a medical student. It felt suffocating, hearing all of this. All I ever do is complain how tired and busy I am, being a medical student. I do not even have a single job.

Roly didn’t have much time to study, so sleep is a luxury to him. ‘Sometimes I feel so tired, I just want to go back home,’ he said. But he knew that that wasn’t an option. He needs to set an example, he needs to change the future of his people. He said he wants to return to his village one day, and work there, as a doctor. He wants the young ones to see that they can be more than just a fisherman.

Despite working two jobs, the pay was measly, so buying books was never an item on his list. The library was his Mecca, but he wasn’t allowed to take the books home with him. He spent long nights studying in the library. He photocopied important bits, as this was the only way he could take them home.

Alhamdulillah, he later found out about the Islamic Medical Associations of Cambodia (IMAC), who referred him to Islamic Development Bank (IDB). IDB then provided him a small sum of money every month. This helped a lot, but when he got into third year, the situation became more pressing for Roly. More books are needed- having to study at the library and keeping with its opening hours became a huge disadvantage for him, as he needed more time to translate the English references. Most of his classes in USS are taught in French. ‘Sometimes I don’t sleep’.

Despite all this, Roly excels in his studies. He leads study groups and he teaches anatomy and biology part time at a private school. He now spends his nights studying for his hospital rotations and preparing lessons for the classes he teaches. How he manages to cope is really beyond me.

After going through all this hardship along the course of the academic year, he came to join the mission right after his final exams. His passion amazes each and every one of us.

My sister and I want to set up an informal scholarship for him to survive the final three years of university; for him to buy reference books, to buy things for himself, to support him so he won’t have to work amidst the insanity that is the medical school. If there is a college student in this world who deserves all of this… it would be Roly.

Now the question is; are you in this with us?

Atiqah

3rd Year Medical student,
University College Cork, Ireland.