Soup Kitchen

Those who came from boarding skool, will surely know how  boarding school could create such a strong bond among friends. Although i did not come from boarding skool,  i could see how great my mom’s friendships are and also my sister’s. Both of them were TKC product and are the living proof of how boarding skool do wonders to their friendship.

My mom often meet up with her friends, in fact they even do overnight gatherings. The last one was in Avillion PD. They managed to gather quite a number of friends fr all over malaysia. Since young, I often meet up with my mom’s friends and they become aunties to me.

One of her friend, really wanted to have a Soup Kitchen Project unfortunately she  succumbed to cancer last year. The project didn’t manage to kick off. My mom and her friends were full of grief when Aunty Adah passed away, and to cop with their grief they felt that it would be nice to fullfil a few of her last wishes, the Soup Kitchen n help with her familyrun orphanage in Gopeng, Perak. Last year they managed to raise funds, in collaboration with Islamic Relief Malaysia, to set up a library at her orphanage. Alhamdulillah

Mom and her friends went all out to get the soup kitchen project going and alhamdulillah they managed to get sponsors and to collaborate with another NGO, PERTIWI. The Rotary Club DiRaja donated a Nissan Vanette C22 to be used for the distribution of meals.

Yesterday was the launching of the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen. I managed to be there, after i shipped the elder two to skool and left screaming uZAir at home. Launching was at the Dataran DBKL

It was launched by YB Dato’ Raja Nong Chik, Menteri Wilayah Perseketuan and Kesejahteraan Bandar.

My mom asked me to take photos but lil did i know how aggresive the press cud be, i was being pushed away, tekejut babe…mujur tak tepelanting camera yg tgh pegang ni!

What is Pertiwi Soup Kitchen about?

A New Community Outreach Effort

Soup kitchens can be found in many of the world’s cities. They exist to provide basic meals to those who go hungry, not because they are lazy or are looking for handouts, but because they simply cannot get enough food or proper nutrition. Those in need may include children, parents and the elderly. Malaysia’s economic success and prosperity has ensured that hunger is not a matter of not having any food at all, but whether those in need are getting enough food on a regular basis and
whether we care enough to provide food to them.

The PERTIWI Soup Kitchen has been established to provide regular meals at various locations around Kuala Lumpur on a regular basis. This community outreach effort has been established and managed by Pertubuhan Tindakan Wanita Islam (PERTIWI), one of Malaysia’s longest running NGOs, with the initial support of the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja and some individual
sponsors.

Soup kitchens provide an important way to give back to the community by offering a healthy meal to those who are in need. The few soup kitchens that do operate in Kuala Lumpur are already providing this critical service but there are still too many hardcore poor and homeless people in our city who are unable to eat on a daily basis. This project will complement these existing efforts
by working towards the following objectives:

· To distribute basic pre-packaged healthy meals and clean water 4 nights a week in innercity neighbourhoods where various recipient groups are located.

· To raise awareness of the number of hardcore poor in our city.

· To encourage corporate and media sponsorship, and regular volunteer participation to feed the hungry.

· To operate the programme in a sustainable manner that will enable it to serve an increasing number of people.

The PERTIWI Soup Kitchen project will provide a humanitarian food-aid service to the hardcore poor irrespective of race or religion. By interacting with various destitute inner city communities on a regular basis, additional support programmes may be established to assist those ready for assistance to become more independent.

To help kick-start this important community effort, the Rotary Club of Kuala Lumpur DiRaja has donated a Nissan Vanette C22 van to be used for the distribution of meals

They managed to get few of the “target group” to come over for the launching. I’m sure soon words of mouth will go round and more ppl will come fwd during the food distributions at night. It was indeed an eye opener to see them, so happy to get food. At first i wasn’t sure whether is it okay to take photos of them, but they seem comfortable when the press took their photos, some even took time to smile at the  camera, so i berani la take photos of them too.

Are you aware that we do have homeless in KL. During my uni years, i did assignment on Homeless Child. I even went undercover to meet up with them. They were as young as 9 years old and came as far as Kelantan. All with different stories, father remarried and was chased out by stepmom, abuse case and some were due to poverty that they decided to come to kl for better living. Don’t blame them, they were very young and tv always potray great lifestyle in KL, thus they came to KL in groups for better lifestyle. But little did they know, life is not a fairytale. They slept under the bridge near The Mall. Asked how they survived? Sadly, the truth is they steal handphones. Whatever amount they get, they will share among them. They never keep their “earning” to themself. If A gets to steal and sell a handphone, they will use that money to buy food for everyone. If they have extra money, they will get a room (those RM50 hotel) to get shower. Usually they get the room once a week to shower, or else they go to public toilets. They will buy those baju sold at chow kit area, RM5 per pc. Food? They said most common is to take fruits from the stall in Chow Kit..sambil jalan2 tu tgn capai lah satu dua buah.Or at times they will go to the back lane of the restaurant asking for left overs food. I was really sad when i met up with this kids. I did go to Kebajikan Masyarakat but they were not aware of the existance of these kids when i interviewed the pegawai, thus no actions were taken. In fact my assignment was left hanging by them, they promised to get back to me but they never did. I had to proceed myself, hence the undercover. It was passed midnite, i went to KL with another 2 friends to meet up with these kids.

Hope that the Soup Kitchen will help these people to get better nutritional food. A 13 years old boy look like a size of 9 years old. I was shocked to hear he was 13.

Thanks to the great effort of Vintage 63, together with PERTIWI and Rotary Club, who are trying to address these issues. Do you know that with Rm300 you can feed 150 poor people in KL. If you wish to donate it wud be most appreciated   They are also seeking volunteers to help in the distribution of food. Even if you can help once a year, that would be great.

How can the public help support this initiative?

There are 3 ways you can help support the PERTIWI Soup Kitchen:

1) The public or corporations can contribute by donating funds to be used for the purchase, preparation anddelivery of meals. RM300 will provide a meal for at least 150 people. The opportunity to guarantee at least 150meals for 1 day each month for 12 months can be met with only RM3,600. To make a -nancial contribution to this project, kindly make your cheques in favour of ‘PERTIWI’. All donations are tax exempted.

2) Soup kitchens attract public interest because the experience of feeding someone who is hungry is immediately rewarding. If you are able to contribute your time on a regular basis, even once a month, you may be interested in becoming a volunteer.

3) You can also help by telling people about this important community project.

For further information please call:

Munirah Abdul Hamid 012-2363639 Rohani Teh 03-78744203, 017-6413835

Here’s  a group photo of the aunties, TKC batch 63-69; Vintage 63

For further details, you can check out at facebook Pertiwi Kitchen Soup.

Alfatihah to Arwah Aunty Adah

**10% from my photography package will be donataed to help the needy and less fortunate. Together we help them =)