~ continued from Jackson's article

As we move on, I encountered various types of homeless people. A lot of the homeless people look just like you and me, the only difference is that they do not have a home and shelter to go home to. Few have disability issue that prevents them from getting a proper livelihood. Few left their hometowns to live in KL, hence no money to return. Few are old and can't secure a proper job and barely enough to give them a place to live, as is with the case of Raymond and Rose. Of course there are homeless people that fit into the stereotype perceived by many, these unfortunate souls that have no means to secure proper attire, and are just left wandering, trying to survive.

It is so easy to become homeless one day, if you have no family or your family is far away, you are aging or an accident causes you to be disabled, nobody wants to hire you for a job, you ran out of savings or your money got stolen, you can't afford to pay for your rent and you have absolutely no choice but to live on the streets.

Just imagine the difficulty they had to go through to survive just a day; for a place to sleep, to shower, proper clothes to wear to avoid the police and welfare officers, proper meal to avoid starvation and thirst. On top of that, the street is a dangerous place for anyone to live, they have to be careful that their meager belongings do not get snatched by thieves and crooks as well as desperate drug addicts. Not to mention the higher risk of falling sick, contracting diseases, accidents, etc. Frankly, I wouldn't have the faintest idea how I would survive if I were to become a homeless one day, the enormity of the day- to-day survival seem inhumane.

My first evening concluded with new knowledge and respect for the homeless and the extreme helplessness I felt for them.

After my first experience, I learn to appreciate more things that I've taken for granted, that I had a family that supported my education so that I can secure a job, proper home that shelters me, a comfortable bed for sleeping, running water and electricity... with the comfort and luxury that surrounds me, I may seem to be living like a king in comparison. My personal problems seem superficial now as compared to theirs.

A couple of weeks ago, I was robbed and beaten to the ground. I stayed in the hospital for 3 days. I had insurance to cover my cost. I lost a tooth, and nearly lost one of my eyesight from the punches. My parents were shocked and they helped me through a difficult time. If I were a homeless person, what would happen to me? As I said before, some of the homeless person looks just like you and me, unsuspecting robbers may target them as they live on the streets everyday and they are at a higher risk. Although such an unfortunate event had befell me, I never really blamed anyone, in fact, I felt lucky. I felt blessed. I felt privileged. Previously, I might wallow in self pity, berating destiny, and blaming the unfairness of life. But I learnt gratitude from this incident and what I had seen and experienced; they taught me a valuable lesson in life.

Life is a constant cycle of birth and death, an ocean of Samsara that we all try to escape from. We all have the luxury to choose the way we want to live our life. From the unfortunate incident, I know now how I want to live my life. But for them, the homeless, they can only seek survival from the harsh brutalities of life.

May the blessings of the Triple Gem be with them and may they constantly obtain an ocean of happiness wherever they are. Sadhu.

JACKSON YEOH


Ben and our friend, Rose at Pudu Bus Stop

~ 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

A weekend ago, one of our KSK volunteer, Madam Lim Han Nee chanced upon a homeless person suffering from Parkinson’s disease during her visit to Pasar Pudu and this inspired her to compose a beautiful poem below:-



Let me take you by the hand
And show you
A sight that will make your heart bleed.

Here comes my woeful friend,
Emerging from behind the mound of garbage,
Filth and stench.
He labours his way towards us,
Stooped and bent,
Taking slow and painful steps.

And now he stands before us.
A trembling hand he stretches out,
From the grimy tatters of a 'sleeve'.
Minutes passed of careful effort.......
Finally, the parcel of food I offer him
Is safely lodged,
In the grip of two gnarled quivering fingers.

He lifts up his face.
And,for an instant,
A smile lights up his eyes.

When we think about our beloved city, we would remember the many acclaimed landmarks, sites or spots that top the pages of tourism pages: our prized Twin Towers, the malls, Jalan Alor, Petaling Street.
During our free time, we might even have ventured into these said spots of KL for our shopping sprees, blind dates or people watching in cafes at the heart of KL. However, behind all the glitz and glamour that is the KL of today, there exists a pocket of homeless communities living on streets, alleys and sidewalks, oblivious to the modernization that has shaped KL.
And we have passed by them on many an occasion, without having done anything, have we not?
One Saturday, a group of KSK members comprising old and new volunteers ventured into Pasar Pudu to provide food to a group of homeless lot. The volunteers included team leader, Chuah Su Ming and her friends, Terence Tan, Ooi Beng Kooi, Pauline Chong, Kelvin Hong, Natalie Low and Erique Hew.
Forget the charms of KLCC and your Cappuccino at Domé. Here is a completely different picture of KL, a forgotten face to many. In the Pasar Pudu area, we see an aftermath of litter strewn around the streets by sellers from the morning market, rats running boldly in and out of drains and rubbish lots; we see poor homeless souls sleeping by sidewalks under these conditions.
However, the sight of this did not deter us and drove our determination even further to complete the mission that we had set out for that weekend.
We started the evening by visiting an old Chinese man who was sleeping outside the pavement of a Chinese sundry store. According to the owner of the store, the man has been a regular there for a very long time. We did not know his age but he appeared to be in his late fifties, perhaps early sixties. His face brightened as we offered him a packet of food and he muttered something in broken Chinese which we could not really understand but we could at least catch the words thank-you.
We then walked along the street of Pasar Pudu and again found two homeless sleeping by the pavement. One guy had long disheveled hair and was in tattered clothes; according to Su Ming, he might appear to others as a little mentally unstable as he was perpetually mumbling something to himself. We approached him and gave him a packet of food and he continued to mumble some incomprehensible words to us. It was a very disheartening sight.

We walked further down a row of shops, again litter was everywhere and we chanced upon a Malay homeless guy sleeping on the pavement of a shop that was closed. When we placed down a packet of food beside him he woke up suddenly and was thankful and started to eat some biscuits from the pack. It was encouraging to know that our little effort managed to bring some cheer to him.

After that, we went to meet a homeless who according to Su Ming was one of the most gentle and polite person she had ever come across on the streets. The man’s name was Adbul Rahman, also known as “Mann”. He was a Malay chap, in his twenties (I think) and he was living under the highway bridge, at the intersection of Pasar Pudu. Both Beng Kooi and Su Ming were quite fond of him as he was very well mannered. He told them that he used to work before but he has now contracted with HIV+. Su Ming had been trying to get the AIDS foundation personnel to come and visit him and to offer him professional help which we are incapable of doing. When they told him that I had wanted to take a shot of him for my article, he quickly donned on one of his best shirt (he was topless earlier) to stand beside Beng Kooi for the shoot! I was very impressed by his attitude and mannerisms and I shook hands with him. He was a man of few words but he spoke good English and appeared to be a very nice man indeed.
I felt very sorry that such a state has fallen onto him.

As we ended the night, we realized that though we are living amidst some wonderful charms of KL, in our private little sanctuary or enjoying that wonderful dinner which we usually never finishes because we want to look fabulous in some nice outfit; some people are a lot less fortunate than us. These people are living in conditions we would never have imagined existed in the bustling city of Kuala Lumpur because most of us had been fortunate to have come from a fairly good family. The people that we encountered in Pasar Pudu don’t have a proper home, they have health issues, and they don’t have work and could be missing many meals every day. In other words, they could be dying anytime. And a lot of us who are more fortunate have not only forgotten these places that still exist in Kuala Lumpur but also the less fortunate ones who are living within these places.

Each time we see the light of smile from the people that we have helped, it motivates us to return each week, knowing that we have created a small ounce of happiness for them and it encourages us to believe that our little efforts could perhaps, be helping them to prolong their life.
But that alone is not enough. We are still striving hard towards establishing a permanent Soup Kitchen base to cater to the needs of this homeless lot on a more permanent basis. We want to ensure these people can continue to live happily despite their hardships and to embrace life with faith; give them hope and allow them to return to a normal state of life. We need to let them know that all is not lost, hope is not vanquished and happiness can be achieved.

The world can never be one religion. But the world can be one heart.
The forgotten faces of KL need not be forgotten.
Together, we can make a difference.

new grounds

After reaching out to some of our friends in Pudu bus stop, we were told that Pudu bus terminal is their put-up point at night. More than 50 homeless men and women sleep on the hard benches after the last bus leaves and at 5am, they will take leave when bus commuters start flocking into the terminal.

Having discovered such, KSK decided to venture into Pudu bus terminal at the wee hours of night for a second round of drop-off. The news is proven genuine. So many withered eyes n tired limbs drenched over the the stone benches! A small group of KSK volunteers went around passing bags of cookies, cakes and water to our less fortunate friends (some of whom were fast asleep).