Saturday 22 October 2011, another eye-opening and soul-searching experience in destinations Karak, Mentakab, Temerloh, Maran, Kuala Krau and Jerantut. These are places I have never been to and ironically, my maiden trip to these places were not for sight-seeing or food adventure, but to join some friends in bringing Deepavali Cheer to 40 families living there.
This is our second time on a Feeding Program with Project MADE and 1Month 1Charity, people whom we have grown to refer to fondly as our Friends. We truly respect and admire their enthusiasm and selflessness in carrying out their noble work.
Our journey started before sunrise, left Nilai at 5.40am to reach the first Meeting Point (McDonald’s outlet before the Gombak Toll) before 7am, where we had breakfast while waiting for the rest of the group. The convoy that morning consist of four cars and a lorry. The lorry contains 40 big boxes of grocery, kind courtesy from the Textile Merchant Traders Association of Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman, Jalan Masjid India, Jalan Melayu, while the rest of the four cars were literally packed to the roof with grocery and other goodies. It was a smooth and lovely one-hour drive to Karak, our first destination stop, where we met up with Project MADE’s local contact.
In Karak, we distributed the grocery packs and other goodies to 7 families there. On top of this, few selected families were gifted with Deepavali money packets contributed by Hubby’s kind-hearted colleague, Mr Chandra. His generous contribution amounting to RM200 has helped eased the financial burden of 10 poor families. Each home that we visited carries a sad tale….In the first home, lies a sick man with feeding tube, apparently he just underwent surgery. The second home belongs to a young woman with 5 very young kids and a husband in prison. What will happen to them when the food provision received today runs out? Another home is occupied by an unfortunate old lady who lives alone as she had lost all her 4 sons within this year. In another home, the sole breadwinner is the lady of the house, who works as a cleaner. Her husband is deaf and she has a handicapped old mother and 3 kids to feed. Hopefully, this round’s extra grocery and other goodies can make a bigger difference to these homes this Deepavali.
Upon completing our mission in Karak, we left for Mentakab and reached there around 11am. We proceeded to distribute the food packs and goodies to the rest of the families located in Maran, Temerloh and Kuala Krau before returning to Mentakab, where we distributed to 10 families living in a flats residential area. Throughout the journey, the scenery before us constantly interchanged between one of beauty and ugliness. As we travel along our route, nature’s scenic beauty is a stark contrast to the dilapidated huts which greeted us at our destinations.
Each of the homes which we visited has its own poignant tale to tell. We witnessed many “No’s” that day… a house with NO furniture, a man with NO legs, an old woman with NO kids, adults with NO identity cards, kids with NO birth certificates and I’m sure that tucked away somewhere there are many more homes with NO food. On a positive note, there is our friend Chew who had NO qualms in driving long distance alone for this purpose, the lorry driver who had NO problem transporting the goods and unloading them, Hajjah Ainie and her wonderful family who have NO discrimination in helping the needy of another race and not forgetting the rest of the group who had NO reservation at all in getting wet and dirty on this mission. There were moments when we had to distribute in the drizzle but apparently not even Mr. Rain could dampen these people’s spirit as they continued on with their distribution without giving a care to the rain. During certain parts of the trip, we even trekked through muddy paths and uneven terrain to reach some of the houses. Now and then, dear Hubby would cast worried glances at me, concerned at how I was coping with all this. By the end, we made him proud by completing the mission all the way. Hopefully, this means we can join in other future Feeding Programs?
On this Feeding Program, we made sure that the kids were not forgotten amidst the excitement. Our 3 sons were given the responsibility to hand out candy sticks, lollipops, chocs and jellies to all the kids they see regardless they are on the feeding list or not. They even went out of their way to nearby houses to hand out the goodies to the curious kids who peeped shyly at the commotion. Passerby with kids were not left out either… It’s a good thing we brought more than enough to go round so none were disappointed.
By the time we completed this Feeding Program, it was past 5pm and time to feed our own kids, who gamely forgo lunch without any complain. So, after bidding farewell to the rest of the Group, we parted ways and drove on to Karak town with Chew to fill our stomach with a proper meal. We reached home close to 9pm, exhausted but with a deep sense of satisfaction, knowing that our Deepavali cheer will light up those homes on this festive season.
One for the album
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