Tenaganita representative Joseph Paul Maliamauv shared a picture of Nithiyah Tamilwanan with Tenaganita executive director Glorene Dass at their office yesterday.

“It was her 21st birthday,” he said. “She took all the cash gifts that she had received and donated a tidy sum of money to Tenaganita, about which she had heard so much while working as an intern at an online news portal.

“It was so very sweet and generous of her. Thank you so much.”

Glorene told FMT she was shocked to receive the donation and grateful for Nithiyah’s appreciation of Tenaganita’s work.

“Nithiyah has set an example of how one simple act of love and kindness can bring about change in the lives of affected women and children in our shelter, as her contribution will go to managing our shelter.

“Awareness is the first step towards action, even if it begins with an act of kindness and love.”

Nithiyah, a former intern at FMT, said she found out about Tenaganita during her internship.

“I chose Tenaganita because they champion all the rights that I do, like refugees, women who are abused, and so on.

“I was very torn between that and donating to refugee learning centres. But I have donated to these places before, and I think we should be supporting NGOs that are trying to eradicate the problem altogether,” she said.