KUALA LUMPUR: Christmas came early for the Orang Asli Christian community in Pahang this year.
This was after Sports Toto Malaysia Sdn Bhd threw a year-end school holiday cum Christmas party for the community on Nov 30.
As part of Sports Toto’s Helping Hands corporate social responsibility programme, the company has been collaborating with Strategic Education Methods & Ongoing Advancements Bhd (SEMOA) – a non-governmental organisation which helps improve the living standards of the Orang Asli – to celebrate Christmas since 2013.
“In this holiday season, Sports Toto is happy to bring festive cheer to the indigenous community, because it is very important that we continue to support the underprivileged group.
“We are very proud of what SEMOA has done for the people here, as we learned that the number of Orang Asli parents sending their children to the SEMOA education centre in Raub has increased significantly.
“It shows that the efforts of SEMOA has gained traction among the Orang Asli about the importance for their children to receive education. All these do not happen overnight and we want to congratulate SEMOA for its noble initiatives,” said Sports Toto senior communications manager Giam Say Khoon.
The carnival-like Christmas party, which attracted the participation of over 1,200 people, was made successful with the help of Orang Asli parents who set up food and game stalls, and their children, who entertained guests with a series of singing and dancing performances.
Each child who attended the party also received a Christmas goodie bag with toys and stationery prepared by Sports Toto.
One of Helping Hands’ objectives is to bring cheer to the needy and underprivileged groups during festive seasons.
The programme also supports national sports development and other socio-cultural community projects such as marathon and half-marathon sponsorships; book reading campaigns for primary schools; as well as environmental conservation campaigns.