"Hi, I'm Prince Praveen and I live in Rumah Kebajikan Chrestus, Cheras which is one of the charitable homes that receives financial aid from The Budimas Charitable Foundation. I have been living here since 2013 and now I am 12 years old. Before this, I was living with my mother who is a single and my 3 other siblings. My father passed away when I was about 6 years old and my mother was the only bread winner in the family but it was too much for her to handle by herself. She worked odd jobs and had financially it was very tight for us as she had to pay off loans that were taken too. My mother did seek help from our relatives but unfortunately they too were poor.
Back then, I hated anything to do with studies. Since we were so poor, education was not a priority in the family. We also barely had food which makes me feel tired most of the time. I remember that I used to blame my mother for our hardships and I would react towards her. I wouldn't listen to her, do the complete opposite of what she asks and my favourite was to jump up and down on our bed that we shared as a family.
After moving to the Chrestus Home, I never thought I'd say that I really do love school and I like excelling in my studies. The feeling of being clever and smart which proofs in my exam results is the best feeling in the world. I couldn't believe that I'd say this about myself.
One of my favourite things to do is to read the daily newspapers. That way I get to brush up on my reading and vocabulary. By consistently reading the papers every day, I believe that it had helped me catch up on the years of slacking in my studies. I'm in standard 6 now in school and I am proud to say that I am one of the top students in my class. I hope to be an entrepreneur one day.
I would like to say to Budimas a very big thank you for helping poor children that do not have parents.