~ A thought-provoking article by our new KSK volunteer, Jackson. It brings out reality through the eyes of a young man.

I knew we were distributing food to people without homes, and I had a set of preconceived notion as to what defines homeless people and what was to be expected. Homeless people in my mind, refers to old ladies and gentlemen in their tattered rags, being thrown out to the streets probably by disability and extreme poverty as well as mental health issues. I believe this stereotyping was formed from numerous occasions on seeing old men and women sleeping on the street's pavement with little fabric covering them. This is the general consensus of the society's idea of homeless people, especially to people who had not been exposed to them.

Sadly, the stark reality is much grimmer that that.

On one Saturday evening, I decided to join my friend Ben, who was doing his regular Kechara Soup Kitchen (KSK) round. KSK was an extended arm of Kechara House, a non-profit Tibetan Buddhist organization, set-up to benefit the less fortunate, in this case, the homeless.

My first route was around PuduRaya and Kotaraya, where I have had my own encounters with homeless people before since it was a common route that I had taken since school. But nothing had prepared me for what I was about to learn. Armed with packets of various food neatly packed in plastic bag, we set out to distribute the food in hopes of easing the burden of homeless people.

The first homeless person I met was Raymond. I assumed initially that he was a volunteer who was set up to meet us there, as he was a middle age man, dressed decently, carried a sling bag and speak fluent English. Then I met Rose, an elderly lady, who speaks equally fluent English and equally well dressed. But I was very wrong! Apparently, they are the “regular homeless” according to the experienced volunteers. They both recounted to us the difficulty of trying to avoid the policemen and welfare officers who were constantly rounding up homeless people and getting them off from the streets in an effort to "clean" the city, as Merdeka day is approaching. According to them, whenever a homeless person gets caught, he/she will be put in a centre for 6 months or more, eating only plain rice with plain curry sauce. The workers in the welfare home are not friendly, and they were all treated like convicts with no freedom whatsoever. After a prolonged period of time, they will be warned and then released from the so-called "shelter", with no aid and they are expected to get off from the street permanently and not to remain a homeless.

I was shocked to learn that the authorities are handling the homeless people with such negligence. Why is there no proper program to rehabilitate homeless people? Why is there no proper effort set up to give the homeless people jobs? Why are they treating them as though they are scum of the society? It is maddening but hopelessly true. The authorities and town council are doing naught to help and support the helpless. I hate to say this but I think there are more scum in the country politics than there are among the homeless. And they are spending millions of ringgit on superficial issues, like strengthening our weakening football team. What about basic human rights? I seemed digressed somewhat but that is the reality.

~to be continued