Year-end charity effort by Expat Mingle

If you ever had the pleasure to be a King/Queen-for-a-Day (Raja Se-hari!) then you can to relate to how twelve children felt when they were Superheroes and Princesses for a day.

Superheroes and Princesses with Lilia [Centre] their carer

Dressed up in Superhero costumes, the boys were transformed into Iron Man, Wolverine, Superman, Captain America and Spiderman with one girl as Wonder Woman.

The other girls looked resplendent as Princesses from popular Disney stories like Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Belle (Beauty & the Beast), Elsa (Frozen), Rapunzel, Cinderella and Snow White.

As the year is drawing to a close, Expat Mingle held a charity event to raise funds for the Calvary Welfare Home and Berkat Children’s Home, established children’s charities here.

Expat Mingle, the brainchild of Poonam Singh of Poonam Spice Kitchen, is a gathering of expatriates in Johor Baru, held regularly at various venues in the city.

Superheroes striking a pose at Glass, Thistle Johor Baru

The Expat Minge charity event held recently at the Thistle Johor Baru, was organized in collaboration with Arty Party, Nia Beauty Academy and Poonam Spice Kitchen with the support of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society, JB and other generous donors.

Weeks ahead the organizing committee, led by Poonam, visited the homes to see for themselves, how the homes were run and in turn, the home operators provided a Wish List so that Expat Mingle could help to meet their practical needs.

While most of us may take everyday things like food and home comforts for granted, it’s different for these homes which look after the daily needs of less fortunate school-going children.

A briefing during the dress rehearsal held at Glass

Among the items in the Wish List was the need to renovate and refurbish the homes to make the buildings more comfortable for the growing children.

Other items included new shoes for the children, bottles for drinking water, umbrellas, bedsheets and food products.

It was a tall order to meet all these needs but Expat Mingle aims to continue the fund-raising for the building renovation work, even after the charity event was over.

At the Expat Mingle charity event, attendees saw some of these children dressed up as Superheroes and Princesses – the characters they became for a day – when they paraded down a runway set up in Glass, a café in the hotel.

Cameras clicked and all eyes were upon the Superheroes and Princesses as they awkwardly (Read: nervously!) paraded on the runway, just as they were instructed during the rehearsal.

Cameras clicked and all eyes were on the runway during
the parade of Superheroes and Princesses

Earlier in the day, the children had a roaring good time in the hotel while they were being dressed up in their costumes.

The girls also enjoyed having their faces painted and their hair styled into Princess hair-dos!

Then each child had their portraits photographed. 

These portraits and the costumes were presented to them as a special memento of their priceless Superheroes and Princesses experience, courtesy of Expat Mingle and generous donors from the local community.

It was indeed an extraordinary experience for these children, one I’m sure they would remember and treasure, long after it was over.

To make your contribution in support of the Expat Mingle charity effort for these children’s homes, please email to: poonamshashiar@gmail.com