What is 45 dollars? It’s perhaps the price of one Topshop shirt or a dinner at Outback Steakhouse. In Mongolia where 36.1% of the people survive on less than $33 a month, $45 means clean water, food, healthcare and education. Jerry Yan of the Meteor Garden fame is here to spread the word about this $45 per month child sponsorship programme.

Jerry is newly appointed as World Vision’s first Asia Regional Child Sponsorship Ambassador. His stop in Singapore is one in eight of the countries that he is scheduled to visit and advocate child sponsorship. World Vision is targeting 1000 sponsors within 100 days for their ONE Child Campaign.

When he came onstage with his head of trademark tousled hair, the fans started screaming. The bulk of those who attended were females, so you can picture their high-pitched shrieks practically scratching the paint off the ceiling.

With fans willing to come all the way from Malaysia, Indonesia and Cheng Du to the event, I don’t think any of them will be harping on the $60 dollars admission fee to see their beloved idol for an hour. Hopefully these fans will spend more, like $45 every month for the worthy cause that Jerry is promoting.

Just two months ago, Jerry made a week-long trip to Mongolia despite knowing of the freezing weather and tough living conditions beforehand. He was there to visit his three sponsored children, one of whom is being sponsored by his fan club in Hong Kong .

Jerry spoke of the many homeless orphans wandering around the streets. These kids are often dressed in clothes too thin to keep out the bone chilling cold that could dip as low as -44 degrees Celsius. If 16 degrees Celsius can already cause your teeth to chatter, imagine what these children are going through. Some of them try to get warmth in the city’s underground heating system, but the sweltering heat can cause injuries or even deaths.

These kids are also always facing the dilemma over water, a question of “to drink or not to drink”. The water is polluted and can cause serious health problems if they consume it, yet they will face dehydration if they do not. The other prominent problems caused by poverty are no proper healthcare and education for the young.