In this time of COVID-19, it is heartwarming to hear of the many Malaysians who are giving their time and money to help those who have found themselves in need. Today was another busy day for the Malaysian Red Crescent, the National Committee for Community Services & Health. Their name gets longer and longer every time I write it, so for here I will refer to this band of people as the MRC.
I have entitled this piece as ‘The quiet Malaysians’ because they do not do charitable work for publicity reasons. It would make no difference to them if I showed them in photos or not. They do this work “To help out mankind” to quote Dr. Ballan Kannan second from left in the photo above, who was here today with his banker nephew, Raj. Dr. Ballan had donated funds for the specific purchase of food, and wanted to see where this food would be going. And this is where the MRC comes in because they know just the place!
We drove off to Taman Sri Stulang, an ageing government housing development I have visited before, which houses about 1400 families. And I met again Siva (in black shirt below) who was helping the MRC by identifying those families in especial need today.
We dropped off food at three locations on the estate, and despite this being difficult times, the Malaysian smile was still much in evidence.
We then returned back to the MRC base to await the arrival of supplies from Kuala Lumpur. We were to receive goods from MRC there, and goods received through donations. One 5-ton truck and four 4x4 vehicles drove down this morning in convoy, as these vehicles belonged to a group called Buaya Puchong, who help the MRC in any disaster relief program requiring their vehicles. I had met some of their group late last year during the flood relief program in Johor. So, another example of the quiet Malaysian who helps out whenever needed.
One of the lorries had delivered its goods elsewhere, and as our lorry was unloaded, I realised just how much you could squeeze into the back of a lorry! It had been filled with boxes of PPE, hygiene kits, dry food stuffs, and piles of grey foam rubber. The foam rubber would be used by MRC volunteers to make face shields for healthcare workers. A furniture factory had helped out by using their cutting machines to cut huge slaps of foam rubber down to size. And the hygiene kits had been part of a donation from the Korean Red Cross for an earlier emergency, and had been kept just-in-case.
Not all PPE has to be handmade, and there were many boxes supplied by the The Edge COVID-19 Equipment Fund. Most of the time, the recipients of this bounty will not know who is helping them, and it is a policy of the MRC that their help is for everyone in Malaysia who needs it.
The MRC base quickly filled up and it was time for the Kuala Lumpur team to head home. Thankfully the roads are not too busy at this time, but even so, it’s a long tiring journey to do in one day. The piles of food stuffs would be sorted later into packages for distribution containing rice, flour, sugar, salt, oil and eggs.
One of the MRC volunteers tested gave his seal of approval to this camp bed, which the MRC had purchased for hospital staff who were in need of a rest.
In times of emergencies, people need more than just food and physical items. And it is the support of the community by these quiet Malaysians and the coordination flair of the MRC to see that no-one gets left out, which does Malaysia proud.
Click here to see more about the activities of the Malaysian Red Crescent.
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