By Staff Writer
Sick children at the TTM Hospital may not know who gave them ‘treat packs’ with fruits, cookies and even toys, but happily drinking juice or munching a cookie will give any kid a joyful smile.
What better reward for a generous, giving heart, than seeing a child on sick bed smile through their health pains or the relief and hope in the worried face of a parent at the bed side?
This was the special moment the children at the TTM Pediatric Ward warmly shared on a charity visit just a few days ago by the Lalovaea based BDO Samoa Accounting Firm staff .
There were 25 children admitted with parents at the ward during the visit, organised under a non-governmental organisation Project Paeds to ‘make the Children’s Ward a friendlier place.’
BDO Samoa started their charity visits in 2019 to the sick children and decided to make it an annual commitment but COVID-19 State of Emergency Restrictions kept them away last year in 2020.
“The reason that we have chosen to be part of this yearly visit is because we know from our own personal experiences or from those of family and friends, the hospital for any child that is admitted is a very unfamiliar place and for parents it can be tiring and exhausting attending to their child who is in pain and trying to comfort them the best they can,” explained a BDO Samoa company statement on the visit.
The company was also part of the Measles Mass Vaccination effort in the late 2019 with some of the staff doing volunteer work as well as the use of company vehicles to transport the medical staff and medication.
BDO Samoa also joined up with its franchise partner BDO New Zealand to donate $10,000 tala to the measles vaccination emergency work.
“This initiative is really close to most of our hearts as we are young single professionals or have children of our own,” the statement continued.
“We believe that no matter how far we go in life there should always be more meaning to our lives and that is to give where and when we can.”
The driving force behind the BDO Samoa charitable heart is the company’s senior partner and prominent member of the local business community, Oloipola Terence Betham.
Helping out the needful in the community is not new to the humanitarian character of the 80 year old.
“To see the mothers and the children’s faces light up brings you closer to our common humanity; to our fragility and reminds us that we are but one family in this planet Earth,” BDO Samoa senior partner Oloipola Terence Betham found as leader of the visiting staff group when asked by Newsline Samoa.
Charity service for Oloipola goes back to when he joined the Lions Club of Apia and now as part of the BDO Samoa family.
He is also very active as a Catholic with the work of his Vaoala village church of the Shrine of the Three Hearts.
His other community contributions includes helping out the Catholic Order of the Marist Brothers as Chairman of the Marist Brothers Property and Finance Management Committee.
“It is not sufficient to just think and talk about helping others- to actually go out and do it as best you can is the ultimate deed.
“We take things for granted until we see those who are less fortunate than us.”
The BDO Samoa charity visit this time included a part of the TTM Hospital maternity ward.
