Padmasambhava Children Loving Association

I was informed that there is an orphanage that need some help. So, quickly created the event and manage to get a few volunteers to join us. Nowadays, it seems my events are super last minute and just too rush for volunteers to attend. My apologizes on that as due to heavy work load, I do not have time to really plan where to go. Also, my apologizes for my super late entry as we visited it on 4th Sept 2011.

Anyway, back to the home, it consist of 7 homes, linked together and currently, there are 49 orphans, aged from ZERO months to 20's. With a bunch of 49'ers to take care, its really a big task for the caretakers. 2 of the kids are in college now, while the rest are mostly school children. We were greeted by the caretaker, Ms Angel and were brief on their daily operation, their needs and issues.

The Home

Another house also owned by the association, which serve as a clinic

Photo albums on their activities....

Organisation Chart

The younger kids taking the afternoon nap....yes.. calm before the storm!

The admin office

Admin Office

Most of the kids here are either Chinese, Indians or mixed parentage.
This kid's (below) father is a Malaysian and mom is a Cambodian. As they were never legally married, and father has since abandon the mother, hence this boy is country-less. Based on what Ms.Angeltold us,  JPN notified the home that they will do a DNA test to identified the kid's citizen (huh?) and will send him back if he is not a Malaysian citizen. Er... dont ask me, I am as blur when I heard this from the caretaker. There are a few orphans that do not have birth certificate as well...and I believe many of us take this for granted.

DNA can tell you country of origin..? Dont ask me....

Brother#1

Brother#2... abusive dad and mom needs to find work..

And I think this is Brother #3...sigh..

Kids locker... no keys coz the kids lost the keys...anyone can donate a new one?

Where the meals are serve

Sponsorship required for the students

The center also receive a lot of grocery donation, hence with the excess, every 3rd week of the month, they will give out to the needies. The criteria for the eligibility would be as below :-
1)  No Astro in the house
2)  Must produce hospital records if they claim sick n unable 2 work
3)  Must produce water/electricity bills (to see their usage)
4)  Must produce details of each member of family, such as age, working/studying, show proof of income etc
5)  Will make a visit to see the condition of house itself, spot any luxurious items etc

The amount to be given to each recipient will depend on the number people in the household. Once a while, they do do spot check to ensure the donations are not abused.

Other donation that came in that day.

Tea Break!

For our visit this time, we spend almost rm800 on the food items, which the bulk of it goes to the milk powder. Each tin cost about RM60+ and it takes a big chunk of the budget, but due to the baby's needs, we buy what is necessary for them. We are glad that Project MADE donated 12 boxes of 1 liter Milo for the home, as it will help to save the morning expenses on Milo. Again, Mr & Mrs Ong donated 3 baby cradle stand!

Nope, we didnt donate the chair...

As most of the 49ers' are students, they need a lot school stationary like exercise books, bags & stationary. And good news is that we have found sponsors for the school bags, thanks to Ong & Wendy's who found the sponsor. Again, if you have things that you find you can donate, you can contact Ms. Angel(03-32907584).

Will published the account details later one.. ;)

Total Purchase
Receipt#1 - RM346.88
Receipt#2 - 471.69
MINUS Rebate - RM12.00
Total Purchase  - RM806.57

TongSim Senior Citizens Care Center

Care taker : Uncle Cheong (012 2081539)
Address : 19E, Jalan Lapangan Terming Lama, 50460 KL

Type: Old Folks home
Total : 55 pax male and female (mainly from GH and welfare department)

Items required: Milo,sweeten creamer, biscuit, salt, sugar, cooking oil,onion, garlic, rice, cane food, eggs, medical (anti bat cream, paradox), diapers, dry noodle, bee hoon, soya sauce, fresh milk, mosq coil, spray, garbage bags.

Important notice: please call Uncle Cheong to check what is the items needed the most a day before visit. This is to avoid over supply and expiry of foods.

First of all, I must apologies officially to all volunteers of 1M1C, as I hibernates since 12 June till 17 Sept due to very serious personal matters to be reconcile. I would like to thank all members that continues support this group in our objective to help those who needed.

On 18 Aug, when I called, below questions cross to my mind after the conversation with the care taker.
1. What is your first impression of an old folks home that has 55pax of abandon senior citizens from GH & welfare department?
2. What do you think when you get to know that the care center is located inside chinese cemetery?
3. How do you feel if the care taker told you that the seniors stays at the care center which is located above a coffin shop?

It sound scary and feel spooky when the first time I heard that over the phone with Uncle Cheong. When I was there this noon 18.9.2011 1230pm, the place really looks like a III class ward in General Hospital. The condition is bad, partial organize and smell bad!

Uncle Cheong told us that he has built another home at Kampung Salak South and for the last 12 months, he is still waiting for his bloody local council approval on a CF in order to move in. The condition is much better there and he need racks, shelf and equipment in the new center later.

Overall, Uncle Cheong is paying RM7,888 as rental of the current center to the cemetery foundation, contract will end in 2013 while the food and necessity are donated by general public from time to time. He have 6 foreign workers as helpers to clean the seniors (some can't walk and depend heavily on diapers). Uncle Cheong allow them to eat what ever food they like as he feel no points restrict them to enjoy the meal even thought some food like ducks are not advisable to be consumed by seniors. Uncle Cheong work his own way out to buried those who passed away (uncle is a coffin seller), with his network and relationship with the Sg. Besi Kong Tong Yi San, he sometimes pays small fee to buried the seniors and when his own economy is bad, he does not pay..and the staff in the cemetery understood it.

Uncle Cheong also set up a Chinese medical center within the senior care center with the aim to get their own panel of Chinese sensei to look after the seniors' medical need. He welcome all sort of donation and trying to avoid cash. He said that volunteer and general public are allow to give ang pow to the seniors (55 + 5 workers). The ang paw will be kept by the seniors themselves.

He encounters some individual volunteer who so call helping at the center, but at the end turn up to be thief and steal away the medicine, Milo and goods from center. These culprits kept the valuables in the dustbin bags and pack home then.

Uncle Cheong does not accept any abandon seniors near the road unless it is from authority such as General hospital, welfare department, political parties with the conditions of an official hand over letter and documentations. He encounter some conman who claimed themselves as the next kind of the seniors and accused that him of trying to cheat their monies by kidnapping their parents to the center. There are few cases reported in the press on his center and Uncle Cheong is very mad about it. Hence, he does not allow walk-in seniors or abandon ones without proper documentation from authorities to avoid his name to be incriminated.

Our group, delivered two cars of goods, special thank to Ms. Sanddie and family who donated at the own capacity of rice, Milo, creamer, washing powder, cooking oils, dustbin bags, detergent, and etc. 1M1C funded $M390.84 (oats, cooking oil, Milo, creamer, toilet rolls, dettol, cough syrup, bee hoon, sugar, mosquito spray, etc).

We intend to contribute the TTF rack to this home when they obtained their CF later. Ladies & gentlemen, stay tunes with 1M1C again. We hope we are allowed to rob more the rich and help the poor and needed in the future.

THANK YOU to all donors and volunteers of 1M1C.

Kechara Soup Kitchen ~ my second visit

I volunteered for my 2nd time to KSK (3/9/2100). However, I wasnt aware that I need to inform by 6pm if I will participate that night Normally, all will require to send SMS to Kok Wai so that he know who will be coming that night and easier to assigned the volunteers. I reached there about 1030pm and realised my team Jln Tun Perak already left. Hence, I was assigned to another team that will be covering Cahaya Suria, which is located opposite of Menara Maybank. We departed at 11pm and when we arrived, the car park attendant was helpful to assist us to park the cars and unload the feeding pack.

Our team was about 9 of us, and while some were unloading the food stuff, some were arranging the food for ease of distribution. The total pack allocated were 90 packs. The crowd knows the drill ~ line up! :) So, its not so hard to get them in line. The crowd waited patiently for their turns.Each feeding back consist of a pack of vegetarian meal, 2 small pack of biscuits, 1 orange, 1 bottle of mineral water. For this round, there were also old clothes for distribution. hence, another queue was form and ..we begin to give 1 person 1 piece of cothing. Some are selective and wanted more..but as there are only limited amount, we can only give one each. For a first timer, I think it looks intimidating as I was wondering if it could be a rush for things and we end up having a riot! But, I guess my thoughts were unfounded.

In terms of clothings, some are quiet selective on the clothing type, while some just accept what was given. Some of them even requested for soap, which we only have 3 bars to give around.  During the food distribution, I noticed a kid roughly 3-4 years old queuing up for the foodpack. As there were some kids clothes as well, I took a few piece and try to find the kid. I asked around was shown to the far end of our distribution point, where there are more people sleeping on cardboard on the ground. Over here, I noticed that there was a family of 5 sleeping on the ground. I passed the clothes to the younger one and they accepted the clothes. Here, I met Azman in his early thirties, with his wife, aged 22, and three young kids. The kids look skinny and lack of nutrition. It looks like they missed the food distribution as they are not aware of it.

As the food distribution ends, even the boxes were not spared. I got 'scolded' by an uncle, for the box that he wanted was grabbed by another guy. I guess, it would probably be his bed for the night. Some of them try their luck to come for second round, but we do tell them that 'you already taken this earlier', and off course, they are getting it for their 'friends'....

Once the food has been all been distributed, we walk around the place and team lead Poh Chu manage to start a conversation with Azman. Based on the discussion, it seems that Azman is from Penang and working as a security guard in Sg. Besi. As the company does not provide accommodation for family, he does not have a place to stay. He said that he had a quarrel with family, hence left the family. He said that he will be sending the kids to Pahang boarding school tomorrow, but we cant verified if this is true or not. Poh Chu advised him to forgive and forget and go back to the family for the kids sake.

As we leave the place, we noticed a few older man, too sleeping nearby. Everyone seems to have their 'private' space being defined by the piece of cardboard on the ground. Bit heart breaking to see everyone is eating at the restaurant at this late hours and A&W, McD and Nandos are just within 50 meters away...


Addendum : While passing by the place few days later, I reliased that the place the family slept that night, was outside our multi-million dollar toilet aka Automatic Street Toilet! I cant take the photos at night, but will posted when I get stuck in the jam again!

Note : No expenses was used from 1M1C fund for visit to Kechara Soup Kitchen

Kechara Soup Kitchen ~ my first visit

After delaying for a long time, my procrastination energy ran out and i finally made my way to KSK to volunteer my time! I departed early to find the location. For once, I think I just want to be the follower rather than the organiser! Location of the place is at Jalan Barat off Jalan Imbi, so shouldnt be too hard to find.

There were 5 new faces including me this week, and we were shown the KSK introduction DVD by Kwok Wai while waiting for the rest to arrive. We were told to arrive at 8pm to listen to the briefing for the first timer. Once the briefing is completed, we went to the ground floor for a short presentation on KSK objectives and mission by Karen. Part of the rule is not to take photograph of the homeless people, hence this entry will be a text only entry! :) Listening the street experience from Wong and Karen is an eye opener!

During that time, more volunteers arrived and food packs were assigned and allocated as per location. For this weekend, the total food pack distributed was for 500 pax, 150 packs fewer than the week before. Each feeding pack consist of 1 pack of vegetarian rice, 2 pack of biscuits, 1 orange, 1 loaf of bread and 1 bottle of mineral water.The place was full of bread, donated by Hi-5 and you can imagine there are 500 loaves of it and there are also boxes of IKO biscuits. This week's food was lesser by 150 due to lack of response the week earlier. There are also walk-in 'customer' and 40 packs were allocated for them. There are total of 12 locations to distribute and once the food are correctly allocated, its loaded up to the cars.

I noticed that there are a lot of young volunteers and made me feel bit old (!). Most of them are quiet familiar with the activities of the night and are aware of their location of distribution well. I was assigned to distribute at Jalan Tun Perak, with 3 veterans, Johnny & Elise and Jane who have been doing this for 2 years. So, for once, I just want to follow the lead... ;) We have a briefing at 1030pm for the night's activity and instructions were given on do's and dont's of the night feeding.

Once its done, we departed at 11pm and arrived at our first drop off point, a closed down Chinese restaurant (Golden Palace Restaurant) along Jalan Pudu. Here we gave 2 feeding packs to a homeless person but didnt see his partner. While we were there, the man was busy making his 'bed' on the floor with cardboards and newspapers...and next door is the Swiss Garden hotel....There were supposed to be more people here at this drop off point, but due to recent road resurfacing, most of them were not there as the building is also under renovation. We proceed further down the road to an abandoned building after the Magnum head office.

Here, the crowd was expecting us and approach us once they saw the familiar faces of Johnny and Elies. As Elise gave them their rice and biscuits pack, I distributed loaves of bread, biscuits and water from my car. There were about 15 people here at this point. Receipients were mostly Indians and Chinese, while I do see one or two Malays as well. Some of them are well dressed in long sleeve and long pants, and I bet no one will know that they are homeless if you pass by them during the day. A few were grateful, thanking and shaking our hands and even though it is just a simple feeding pack for most of us, but for them, it could just be their first meal.

The next pit stop was after Pudu Raya station before the hotel. Over here, we distributed about 10 packs of food before proceed to the next stop, which is the bus stop stand in front of Menara Maybank. We distributed to about 6 person here, and at this location, Johnny managed to request a walker from KSK to be given to a homeless man with diabetic based on his last week visit. He was sleeping on the bus stop when we arrived and there were 3 other people sleeping there as well. As we leave the food to them, Johnny woke up Chong and he responded to him. He sounds happy and cheerful to see us and Johnny told him about the walker. He tried using the walker and was very happy with it. Our concern was it just might be stolen.

The next stop was the old pre-war shop lots behind Menara Maybank, opposite the backpackers hotel. It came to me as a surprised, as I passed by the place most of the time. We packed about 5 packs of food, knocked on the blue sliding metal door. I was shocked to see the inner part of the ground floor, as it has 4 rooms on each side, and the room size is about size of an office cubicle! The main person here is Raju, which speaks Cantonese fluently, and seems that he is incharge of taking care of the people here. I was told he is taking care of a old blind person. As they heard Raju called them, most of them came down to take their food package.

The final stop was the somewhere further after 7-11 along Jalan Pudu, where we stopped by and gave the food pack to a guy, who just ignored Elise when she hand over the food. Elise just leave the food beside him and we went further down the road and gave the last of the food items to 2 homeless.

It took us an hour to finish distributing the food, and we say good bye to each other and departed home. As I passed by Menara Maybank bus stop from the other side of the road, I noticed that Chong was testing out his walker and all I could remember was his swollen legs and his blue bag which he used as a pillow. :(

It was 1215am as I left KL, and seeing the hordes of people doing their Hari Raya shopping along Jalan Tun Perak/OCBC, the thought of homeless people who has nothing at all are just 200 meters away. Somehow, it just doesnt feel right. While we sleep in our comfortable bed tonight, within the security of our homes, there are many out there does not and their bed could be either the the bus stop or just the floor outside a building. ;(