JOM MAKAN
STREET FEEDING 2016
JOM MAKAN street feeding event was organized by AIS with MSS (Muslim Student Society) and Salaam Mission (NGO).This event was held in KL city area including Masjid Negara, Masijd Jamek, Central Market, Chinatown and Segi KL and is my very first time to join these Feed The Poor & Homeless Sessions back in last week. It was really an eye-opening experience and I learnt a great deal from the experience.
We gathered at Central Market and had been waiting for quite long time due to the late arrival of foods. The event started around 9pm. We’re all a little excited, a little nervous and a little scared. Personally, I didn’t know what to expect. Along the way, we distributed the old clothes, foods and drinks to them. Surprisingly, there were actually quite a lot of homeless people around the area. I couldn’t believe that there were already so many at only one spot. And we have half a dozen more areas to cover! We went to several other places and it’s all the same. Rows and rows of people sleeping on the ground on mats or cardboards with the little belongings they have close by.
To me, the act of distributing food supplies is a mere way of reaching out and forming a relationship to dialogue and simply lending a willing ear that listens to them and their stories. It is an amazing and meaningful event that I personally feel everyone should try to be part of at least once in your lifetime.
Why we should feed the homeless at least once in our lifetime?
Here are some ways the experience benefitted me and touched my life which I feel could do the same for others too.
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When i see the conditions that the poor & homeless people in the city live in, i will come to understand how lucky and fortunate i truly to be able to live in a proper house. Even if I’m just renting a room and can’t afford a house yet, it is still much better than having to collect recycled bottles to make a living during the day, and scavenge for a piece of used cardboard at the end of the day so it can become your bed at night.
2. When i find out the troubles the poor and homeless face every single day, i’ll suddenly realize how trivial and insignificant my problems are compared to theirs. EVEN FINDING DRINKABLE WATER IS A PROBLEM. When I first started distributing food to the poor & homeless, I was actually quite surprised that a lot of them asked us if we have water.
The time Ms. Chia wrapped up the street feeding session, she told us that we should think about homeless when designing a public space. For instance, an architect from London has won an award for his innovative designs for 'pods' that give shelter to homeless people. James Furzer came up with a design for small pods that can be attached to the side of any "host" building or structure to provide a safe place for homeless people to sleep at night. Furzer said part of his inspiration came from the growing number of metal spokes which have been appearing in popular sleeping spots to deter the homeless from sleeping there.
Inside of the design of the pod. The design is a simple structure, that could be easily attached to 'host' buildings.
In conclusion, I will try to make it a point to join the subsequent ones if I had the time and gradually started organizing random sessions of my own and got my friends involved who in turn got their friends involved too. In all honesty, I don’t do this because I want to change the world or that I’m so particularly touched but really, I just like the feeling of going home with a renewed appreciation of my own life and an unexplained satisfaction.
Thank you.
