Muzakir

***** Click here for the bank account info for donations *****

Muzakir is a 7-month-old (in Jan-2013) boy in Mauritius, who had suffered from kidney problems all his life, and needed a second kidney operation in December 2012. When he had his first operation, in summer 2012, he happened to be at the same hospital ward with my Finnish friend's daughter (who had to spend a few days in hospital during their trip to Mauritius). My friend Nata and her family became friends with Muzakir and his mother Mala, staying in touch even after returning to Finland.

Muzakir's family had spent all their savings on the child's first operation, so they didn't have enough money to pay for the second operation. I suggested ChipIn or PayPal, to ask for donations online. Mala was willing to try it, and I promised to help. However, it turned out that neither option was possible. ChipIn requires a PayPal account, and it's impossible to confirm a Mauritian bank account on PayPal Mauritius. (The site requires a Routing Number, which is only used in American banks - Mauritian banks use a Swift code instead, but that is not accepted on PayPal Mauritius!) While asking PayPal Mauritius to fix their site mistake, or help us get around it, we wasted many valuable weeks, and eventually it was necessary to put Mala's bank account info online - with her permission, of course.

I would like to thank everyone who has donated towards Muzakir's operation - it's because of you that he was able to have the kidney operation he desperately needed! (He was too small to have the operation in a public hospital, which is why it had to be done in the private Apollo Bramwell Hospital.)

There was especially one person who wishes to remain anonymous, who decided to transfer all their savings to Mala's account as a private, interest-free loan. The amount was originally larger, but the anonymous angel decided to lower the amount they want back, so..

We will keep asking for donations, to help 
Muzakir's family pay back the €4000.

***** Click here for the bank account info for donations *****

In a way, it may seem like a "waste of money", to send donations to Mauritius, for Mala to send money back to the anonymous angel - the banks will pocket a lot from this! But unfortunately, it is necessary to do it that way, for legal reasons - the loan must be paid back from the same account where the money was transferred to (=Mala's account).

ALL donations are spent on paying back the loan of  €4000, so none of the money will go to any other purpose, and as soon as we have reached the goal and the loan has been paid back, this collection will be over. The anonymous angel is not a wealthy person who could afford to write off all their savings, so I really hope that we can help Mala pay back the loan a.s.a.p. She still needs to stay at home with Muzakir, and her husband's salary is just enough to support their large family, so they do need our help with the loan.

Here is a list of donations received so far;

Click on the picture to see it in full size.

Apologies if it's a bit messy. I'll try to explain it a bit; Mala gets her bank statement in MUR (Mauritian Rupee), so that's what she sends me by email. I then go to XE.com to get USD and EUR versions of the amounts. Due to changes in rates and rounding the amounts up or down, there could be slight variation to the amounts sent, but hopefully everyone will find their donation from the list. I have blurred out the names as I want to respect people's privacy.

If anyone would like to make sure that their 2012 donation has gone through, feel free to email me, mention your name and the amount you donated, and I will check the list I've received from Mala. NOTE: For all future donations, please email me that information (name & amount) as it makes it so much easier to follow up on donations going through. You will find my email address linked on the bank info page.

***** Click here for the bank account info for donations *****

See also: Muzakir-tagged blog entries

PS, Comments will appear after I've accepted them, in case anyone is wondering.