BRUNEI-MUARA

OVER $6,200 was collected by Projek LufBru Brunei (PLB) for children in need under the Child Development Centre of the Ministry of Health.

Twelve students and volunteers visited four households yesterday to distribute daily necessities, Hari Raya hampers, religious books and cash donations.

LufBru will be donating to eight more households around the Sultanate by the end of the week.

Comprising students from Loughborough Brunei Society (LufBru), a student organisation in the United Kingdom, the society collected funds over the first two weeks of Ramadhan.

In an interview with The Brunei Times the current project manager Ak Muhd Raihan Syafiq Pg Hj Roslan, 21 explained that response from the public has been encouraging.

“Donations this year, in terms of finance and clothing have been great because we managed to surpass last years donations,” he said.

He explained that funds were only raised through social media, their own LufBru society members, friends and family.

LufBru member 20-year-old Muhammad Hadri Awang Nasib, who was also the project manager last year, explained that in the fourth PLB they raised over $5,000 and donated to eight families recommended by the Brunei Islamic Religious Council ( MUIB ) over the course of three days.

For the third PLB, they raised over $3,000 for four single mothers who were identified via the Ministry of Education.

He explained that even though the project was spearheaded by students from Loughborough University, other Bruneian student societies around the UK have also contributed.

“The people who send us the money have been from other student societies in the UK.”

These include students from BruWick (for Bruneians in Warwick University) and Brunei Newcastle Society (for Bruneians in Newcastle).

The money is collected in groups and passed over to the LufBru committee.

They both noted that students in the UK have been very supportive of the initiative. Adding that volunteers also comprise of members of different Brunei student societies around the UK.

In terms of future plans for PLB, the current project manager Hadri, said that it is up to the next person that runs the project.

“It is going to be harder to run the project during Ramadhan since we would be in the UK during that time.

“Maybe we could have an open house (instead), this is just an idea (of other alternatives) we could do,” he said.

He explained that the project can only be run during their holidays which runs from July until September.

PLB was launched in 2010 and is run by students from Brunei in Loughborough University and alumni.

The Brunei Times