It’s 5am. Just got back from supper. Burp. Prior to that, me and the BF joined REACH OUT on one of their outings distributing food to the homeless in our “beautiful” city, Kuala Lumpur. We started at 11.30pm and finished at 3.30am.
REACH OUT is a strictly non-profit, non-political & non-religious organisation that aims to provide nutrition, medical support and training skills for the homeless so that they could one day re-enter and contribute to society.
I found out about REACH OUT via TLC Promise Me, whom I worked with last year to raise funds to buy a hospital bed for Goo Tyng Tong.
Homelessness is quite a unique problem. It doesn’t get as much attention or sympathy compared to say…orphans. For some reason, people tend to brush it off as a result of laziness. Eh, these homeless people are able bodied, so why can’t they get a job?
Well, tonight I learnt that homelessness is not caused by laziness. It’s just that sometimes, some people can be dealt with really cruel cards in life.
# – No, they’re not having a picnic.
Sometimes, they could be born to poor uneducated parents whose parents were also poor & uneducated.
Sometimes, they could be impregnated by abusive men with equally abusive family members.
And sometimes, if the universe decided to be humourous, they could even be both.
The circumstances of the homeless in KL are completely unimaginable to us, people who choose not to eat so we could be thin – the spoilt bourgeoisie. They are stuff soap operas are made of, minus the glitz, glamour & happy endings.
# – Down the storm drain, here we go.
So….laziness? Don’t these people wish they have the luxury to be lazy.
After seeing what I saw tonight, I’m honestly slightly embarrassed by my own dissatisfaction with life. Here is a dumbass who got upset because she can’t afford to go to Maldives to dive. There are worse things to get upset over, you know what I mean?
Right now I am thankful for what I have and who I have to lean on to.
its a lot of things that we take for granted. sometimes like a trip to europe or even maldives. yet for a lot of people, it is a simple place to call home or a comfortable place to sleep and yes…a simple meal to feed the tummy.
thanx for sharing…and for reminding. i am guilty of taking too many things granted. thanx again Kim!
Yeah, I totally agree, it’s a very eye opening experience and it’s good for the soul too. I was out with another soup kitchen last night (early this morning) as well, distributing food to the homeless.
It’s sad how some of them relate stories to you, saw one that was badly beaten up too. Life on the streets isn’t easy and these are the people who fall through the cracks with no one to help them. :x
certainly an eye opener. sometimes it’s good to put things in perspective i suppose. :)
I must agree that I never look at homeless in such perspective. I always relate them to laziness n lack of initiative to be responsible for their own life. I should be a shame for making assumption on each n individual of them. Good move Kim.
To be frank, I’m still not fully convienced that by doing so will help them or such moves might just worsen the already bad situation. Well, I think even if we only manage to help 1 individual to stand on their feet again worth all the effort. Thanks for sharing and I won’t be making the stupid assumption I used to make on them ever again.
I really appreciated this post…you are right, sometimes you need to step back and put things in perspective and realize that there are really worse problems that you could be having..your “bad day” is actually not so bad after all.
Thanks for sharing this.