TML pupils give $9,000 to tsunami children
by Richard Charan South Bureau Trinidad and Tobaggo Express

Saddened by the suffering of the children who survived the Asian tsunami disaster, it took only three days for the pupils of the San Fernando Trinidad Muslim League (TML) Primary school to raise almost $9,000.

At a simple function at the school yesterday, the money was handed over to the Muslim Credit Union.

On hand to collect the cheque was chairman of the United Islamic Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago Faiz Amin, who is overseeing the Tsunami Fund. Amin said the money would get to the needy through the Canada-based Human Concern International (HCI) organisation.

School principal Camille Hosein said that at the start of the school term one of the first things the school focused on was the plight of the children who suffered in the tsunami.

She told pupils, "I ask that you thank Allah that you are safe and I ask you spare a moment for the hundreds of thousands of children who lost their parents and schools and homes."

She said, "Today I feel proud. You have shown care and compassion to the less fortunate. You know about charity.

"You have sacrificed, giving up your snacks and using your allowance."

Hosein said the school, which has an enrolment of 494, also contributed to the fund to provide relief to hurricane-ravaged Grenada last year, and to the Express Children's Fund and Red Cross.