By Grace Chua

SEVEN-YEAR-OLD Muhammad Zulfiqhul started Primary 1 this year barely able to add and without knowing the alphabet.

But thanks to an after-school programme at the Bukit Ho Swee Family Service Centre, which he joined at the same time, he is now able to read words and simple phrases.

Aside from the Kids United programme, he was assured of something else.

Zulfiqhul and his brothers, Muhammad Amirul, 11, and Muhammad Zamani, 10, had money to spend at recess, on stationery and for bus fares every day. They are among the 8,000 children on The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund, and receive $45 each per month.

After attending New Town Primary School every day, the boys make their way to the Kids United programme from 2pm to 7pm, when their mother picks them up.

During a visit by The Straits Times to the centre to meet the family, Zulfiqhul squirmed and flipped through a Disney picture book while his mother spoke.

'He likes to look at the pictures,' said Madam Maimonah Sulaiman, 45, of her youngest son.

As a cook at a Singapore Technologies factory cafeteria in Ayer Rajah, she brings home about $50 a day, taking just two days off each month.

The single mother and her sons live in a two-room rental flat in Henderson, together with two older sons from an earlier marriage and two of her siblings.

She is divorced from the three younger boys' father, who has been in prison for the last five years.

Their home is cramped but clean. With no chairs or dining table, the children sit on the floor at a low coffee table to do their homework.

One Sunday afternoon in October when The Straits Times visited, the family had only fishball soup and rice for lunch. Earlier the same day, HDB officers had come asking for the rent, which Madam Maimonah has been unable to pay for 'a few months'.

The boys wandered in and out, visiting their friends for Hari Raya Aidilfitri. One of them asked for a new pair of shorts. 'Mummy has no money, wait until I get paid,' Madam Maimonah told him.

To alleviate the cost of schooling, their primary school gave the family two sets of school uniforms each, as well as socks, school shoes, textbooks and stationery.

Madam Maimonah's face lit up when she talked about her dream of starting her own restaurant or food stall. 'Maybe Indian and Malay fusion food, maybe in the Serangoon area.'

She has managed to scrape together enough seed money to set up her own food stall in Tanjong Pagar. She is also able to pay her home rent and other bills most of the time.

And the boys, who continue to attend the Kids United programme and are still on the school pocket money fund, are looking forward to school next year.

caiwj@sph.com.sg

Donate to help 8,000 needy students

THE Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund needs your help to aid needy Singaporean students.

A total of $4.4 million is required this year to help more than 8,000 children.

You can donate by making out a cheque to 'The Straits Times School Pocket Money Fund'.

You can also visit http://www.straitstimes.com/School+Pocket+Money+Fund/To+Donate/To+Donate.html for more ways to give.

This article was first published in The Straits Times on 11 Dec, 2008.