Jom makan
Street Feeding 2016
8th october (saturday)
central market kl
8pm
#jommakan
Street feeding is currently one of the most popular ways of helping the homeless which happens almost every night through the distribution of food and drinks. Last Saturday, AIS with collaboration with Salaam Mission (NGO) and MSS (Muslim Student Society) had organized a street feeding named “Jom Makan”. Prior to the event, I was feeling a little bit fearful not just because it was my first time doing anything like this but also aim to have 100 volunteers were slightly challenging.
The event starts at 8pm. More and more people seemed to flock in as the clock ticked. Volunteers were told to gather at under the LRT bridge of the Central Market Outdoor car park for a briefing at 7.45pm. A small group of people introduced themselves as the leaders of the event, they were Shi Song, Daren from MSS, Salaam Mission and Yu Jing representing AIS. (Daren and Shi Song were the veterans who have been doing this for many times). The event covers 5 routes which was Kota Raya, Masjid Jamek, Masjid Negara, Segi KL and Central Market. I brought a few friends along and we then segregated into 5 groups where each group was assigned for one route led by a respective leader.
Once the assignation was done, the leaders began their briefing of rules and guides while waiting for the food to arrive. Basically they're logic things that you shouldn't do, such as don't hand the homeless money, personal details, don’t smoke, always ask for permission to take photos, stick to your group, don't give extra food to the homeless etc.
It was about 9.10pm when the food finally arrives. We then distribute the food equally for each group. With a group of 20, everyone carried food, drink, cloth and toiletries. Carrying extra pounds of food, we made our journey to Masjid Jamek on foot. Most of the homeless they were very happy to see us. They would smile and thank us in all their respective languages whenever we gave them anything. Those smiles alone made the entire night worth it for us. For the rest of the homeless, they were less smiley because you could see in their eyes they were ashamed to even take this from us, but they had to… to continue living.
Seriously what we did is nothing compared to what they do on a daily basis. All we had to do is just show up, pick up packaged food and pass it out to them. We maybe took a few hours out of our lives which would have been spent in shopping mall or something but these people they have to stay brave and tough for every single day.
Some interesting characters I met that really affected me:
1. The Malay Auntie
An auntie looking probably 60 years old who I met at the first stop. She got up here because her husband died few years ago and she has no children. She was abit shy to tell to tell us her story that’s probably why she summarized it.
2. The 3 Bangladeshis
At another stop, there were 3 Bangladeshis. They looked very tired and have holes on their shirt so I hand them some food and drinks. I found out they were actually not homeless, because when I asked them where they stay they can point it to me…
We already finished distributing the food at the third stop. By that time I was already 10.40pm. After the usual debriefing and feedback session, we all went back our own separate ways.
So unfortunately, I didn't get to interact with the homeless as much as I wanted. But nevertheless, I was still able to observe which was also part of the experience. In the morning, the streets are filled with bustling people and vehicles. At night, the homeless wander around the streets. To be perfectly honest, I can't distinguish them because not all of them are wearing torn clothes, having long unkempt hair with flies circling around them and being aggressive; in fact, they look normal, some even wearing a nice set of clothing. I know it's hard to quantify what does normal mean, but they look like us, like people. I remembered when we asked them whether do they starve and they said not really because there will be food given every day. This made me lost in thought for awhile, so are we helping them? Or encouraging them to stay as homeless since they still have food every day.
All in all, Street Feeders of KL was an eye-opening experience. I've learned to be grateful for what I have, from the fact that I don't have to beg for food, that I have shelter. There are bigger issues in the world, but there's also so much we can do to help.
Would we be going back? Most definitely. But this time, I should try to help the homeless by getting them jobs and seeing to their medical needs, apart from providing them with food.
That night, before I went to bed I “whatsapped” my friend.
“Aren’t we so lucky that we get to sleep on our nice beds in a safe air-conditioned room?”
She replied
“You know what scares me? At one point of their lives…. they probably had this luxury too”.
“If you ask me, nothing beats the joy of seeing a genuinely happy smile from someone whose day you know you’ve made because of something you’ve done. These are things that money can’t buy.”
In order to keep the locations of Brazil's 12 stadiums from ending up like the world's many forgotten Olympic cities. French architects Axel de Stampa and Sylvain Macaux have proposed embedding them with colorful modular affordable housing pods. The project “CASA FUTEBOL” propose a re-appropriation of the stadium renovated or built for the world cup using modules of housing of a surface of 105m2. With homelessness being such a problem all over the world, people who want to make a difference are starting to think outside of the box to develop creative and peaceful ideas to solve this problem without relying on the force of government.
