Why these boys lost their hair
The joy of giving.
That's what brought these three young boys together.
The occasion - StarHub's Hair for Hope (HfH) on Friday (May 27).
Hair for Hope 2016 is Children's Cancer Foundation's (CCF) signature fundraising event - the only head-shaving event in Singapore that serves to raise funds and awareness of childhood cancer.
Even though the three boys or their families do not have cancer, they showed up at the event held in StarHub's headquarters in Ubi
to express solidarity with children who have cancer.
Abdul Thaslim, a 18-year-old Secondary 4 student, knows something about huge medical bills which cancer patients are often faced with.
Hospital bills
His 10-year-old sister, Thahusina Hasvath, is diabetic. Also, she is deaf and mostly uses sign language.
Abdul, a Singapore PR who moved here from India in 2009, told The New Paper: "I'm not from a wealthy family, and the money spent for her hospital bills is really a lot.
"Knowing that cancer patients have to pay much more, shaving is a way I can help contribute to the children."
Brothers Alex and Christopher Chong, aged 10 and 12, also attended StarHub's event.
They are currently under the Nurture programme at Henderson Community Club.
It is a programme started by Central Singapore Community Development Council (CDC) in 2007 and sponsored by StarHub to help children from low-income families to gain more learning opportunities.
Abdul was also under the programme from 2009 to 2014.
Out of over 600 beneficiaries of the programme, only Alex and Christopher agreed to take part in this event.
So why did they decide to participate?
Said Christopher: "To help the children with cancer. They are less fortunate than us."
Record
A few years ago, they had shaved their heads because their father asked them to.
Christopher said that he was teased in school then.
But he said teasing is a small price to pay for a noble cause like this.
One hundred and twenty two people participated in the event on Friday - a record since StarHub began supporting HfH four years ago.
HfH is now in its 14th year.
StarHub will donate $122,000 to CCF - $1,000 for every participant - in addition to $28,527 from online donations.
StarHub's Chief Marketing Officer Howie Lau was the first man to get his head shaved.
He told The New Paper: "This year, my mother had cancer too. Seeing what she went through, it's not difficult to imagine what young children have to go through. When my son said that we should do it, I agreed."
He will be joining his son at the main HfH event on July 30 and 31 at VivoCity to shave his head again.
This year, CCF hopes to have at least 6,500 participants and raise $3.6 million.
Other organisations are also planning HfH events at their preferred dates and locations from this month to July.
For online donations, visit https://hairforhope.org.sg/donation/2/154 until Sept 30.
All funds raised will fund critical programmes and services for CCF's beneficiaries.
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