This photo above is not a camp bed for a homeless person, nor is it for a person affected by the recent floods in Johor, this bed is tucked into the corner of the Malaysian Red Crescent District Office here in Johor Bahru. The Malaysian Red Crescent (MRC) has been working around the clock since the start of the coronavirus pandemic last year, and they need a rest!
I spent today with the MRC while they received donations from generous supporters, and we went downtown to the area where the homeless and jobless of Johor Bahru go in search of food. It was a mixed bag of activities today, but all the different people I met have come together under this Alliance for Homeless Feeding, with the MRC providing the link to help coordinate all their activities and make sure that no food is wasted and that no-one goes hungry. So let me introduce you to some of these people:
Strawberry of Sunway College Johor Bahru
Strawberry runs a diploma course at Sunway College on Events Management. As you can imagine, there are no events for the students to get some practical skills, so they are putting their training into good use by managing fund raising activities for flood relief programs. You can follow their efforts towards ‘Lend a Hand for Flood Victims’ on their Facebook page. In a very short space of time, the students had raised RM5332 which was presented to the MRC today. No matter how large or small the donation, everyone gets a receipt. There’s a lot more to the work done by the MRC than posing for cameras!
Association of Malaysian Haulers
The Association of Malaysian Haulers has about 180 members, with groups based around the country, especially in port cities. They regularly have donation drives and their first activity this year was for flood relief. Today they were donating RM22,000 to Disaster Aid Malaysia for the Flood Relief program and the MRC were to receive RM10,000 of their generoisity.
Disaster Aid Malaysia
Here we see a donation from the Association of Malaysian Haulers being given to Fancy and Nelson of Disaster Aid Malaysia. This initiative belongs to the Rotary Clubs around the world, and more specifically here to the Rotary Club of Johor Centennial. Please take a look at this video to see how the Rotary Clubs are helping to 'rebuild communities... together’. The Rotary Club is very active in Johor Bahru; I first met Fancy a year ago when I was learning about Food Banks in Johor Bahru.
AGAIN AND AGAIN
When non-essential shops are open again, and you are in the area of Jalan Ibrahim in central Johor Bahru, please pop into Fancy’s shop at No.55. This is one of a growing number of initiatives to recycle items so they can be used ‘Again and Again’ rather than be thrown away. Monies from the sale of goods here then goes to charities. This shop is a treasure trove of pre-loved clothes, books, jewellery, handbags, and ornaments, and well as some original pieces such as these striking sunglasses.
I spotted some interesting clothes and jewellery which would certainly make a statement at a party! Just a shame no one will be partying for a while yet.
While Fancy welcomes donations of clothes etc, please do make sure that the clothes and shoes are clean and serviceable. Otherwise, time and money is taken to make the items saleable, and this time and money could be better spent on the charitable work itself.
Some dresses I saw here had never even been worn! So if you buy something online which does not fit or does not suit you, why not consider taking it to 'Again and Again' to be sold for the benefit of others?
Feeding the Homeless and Jobless of Johor Bahru
On the other side of Jalan Ibrahim, and next to the water’s edge, is the area where people have been congregating to get food. In my last blog ‘How best to help the needy of Johor Bahru’, the NGO Alliance for Homeless Feeding had put out a media release refuting reports of wasted food and people going hungry, and advising potential donors to follow the SOPs and work through the MRC who coordinate such matters.
So today I wanted to take a look at this myself. When you look at the photo on the left, you could be misled into thinking, what a lovely place? The sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the greenery was green! But most of the faces here were not smiling today, and I did not want to embarrass anyone by taking their photos. It is clear that the homeless people know this location but there are also many people with homes but no jobs, and they too have found their way here. They lost their jobs in Singapore when the border closed last March and their lives have been turned upside down.
These three gentlemen (photo below) called out to me and we had a little chat. These guys represent the jobless. Now I have read of a government offical saying there are plenty of job vacancies in Johor Bahru, and these people are just lazy! I have also heard that this is nonsense! Where are the jobs? And would you work as hard labour on a construction site for just RM30 a day? I also understand that some people are getting several packs of food from different groups, meaning that there is less for everyone else. It is a very difficult situation to unravel.
How can you help?
It is clear that Malaysians are finding themselves in very difficult circumstances right now, and it has to be the local community which comes to the rescue. There is no sight of a vaccine yet, so any sense of a return to normality is currently an unreachable dream, but we need to keep everyone physically and mentally ready for that time. Your donation will go a long way to help everyone, and no donation is ever considered too small.
If you would like to make a donation to MRC to help them with their work, you can contact Lekha Nandey (019 755 5600) and/or send funds to MRC Community Services - JB(2) at RHB JB Account 20114700068907.
Thank you.
Click here to see more about the activities of the Malaysian Red Crescent.
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