How was our weekend? Was it relaxing or hectic?
I, for one, have been working late. Yep, it’s my freelance subtitle translation again, rushing to meet the deadline. The latest or earliest hour that I hit the sack was at 5am, Saturday morning. Naturally, I conked out on Sunday morning at 4am, intending to wake up at 7.30am to continue, but the Land of the Nod was too enticing for me to even hear the alarm clock or the alarm & reminder from my hand phone.
And yes, I’ve been sleeping on the couch (to my mom’s angst!) and on the music room floor (with a thin mattress) because it’s nearer to my PC.
My tummy hurt a lot since Saturday evening and I tried taking ginseng tea and warm Milo but to no avail. Rubbing nutmeg oil on it proved futile too.
Anyway, despite the pain, I totally KO-ed on Sunday morning in the music room, only being rudely awakened at 12 noon by Kechik Rat’s voice (my niece, Chloe) calling, “Yee Yee, Yee Yee”. I tried to ignore her, my cousin sis & my uncle, but when my uncle said, “Your Yee Yee is a lazy pig”, I couldn’t stop myself from retorting, “For God’s sake, I slept at 4am lah…Aiyo…”
Then, I dragged myself up to wash up and had breakfast (???), I mean, lunch.
It was work again for an hour plus, trying to cover as much as I could.
Only then did I realise that I was having a gastric attack! Ish… The pain was still there, I felt bloated and heavy.
Oops… Time to go at 2.45pm!
I’m volunteering for Grace Assembly (my superior’s church) to feed the needy at Medan Bunus. I was early, managed to buy 2 kaya Swiss roll from Yut Kee for RM7.35 each!
Wa, price hike again ar… Ish… It wasn’t as yummy as before, rather dry now and they skimped on kaya. I gobbled down a couple of pieces in the car :P Yut Kee was famous for its continental & oriental dishes back then and I used to like its Roti Babi, diced pork & onion sandwiched between two slices of bread & dipped in egg, fried till crispy, golden brown; its oriental/Hainanese Pork Chop… Yummy! Perhaps I should drop by one lazy Sunday afternoon and reminisce about the good old times & to see if the food is as yummy as before myself, cause according to my sources, it’s not as good as before.
I went around, hoping to get a parking lot nearer to Mydin’s or Semua House. Served me right for being so greedy… As a result of the ronda-ronda, I nearly banged into a taxi as I was coming out from the lane. And I still could not get a parking! Da*n it! I should have parked at Jalan Dang Wangi earlier, than waste my petrol and time and energy driving around! But, I managed to come across many restaurants along Jalan Doraisamy, adjacent to Yut Kee. Le Chine grabbed my attention with a Terracotta warrior guarding its entrance. Hua…. So many restaurants here, so many choices, such nice exterior and inviting interior which I could peek through the windows. Should come for dinner with friends one day soon, I hope.
Anyway, I conceded defeat and went back to Jalan Dang Wangi (I’m quite familiar with that area, because Yamaha was there in the mid-eighties to mid-nineties – now RIMA college) and parked near Yut Kee. Ran all the way to Mydin where Alice, my boss was waiting for me.
We navigated amongst the Malays, Indonesians, Indians, foreigners into the space behind Medan Bunus & I could see the “Grace Assembly” name atop the building. Up we went in the elevator, to the 4th floor. I went in & saw many people waiting to be called into the consultation room of the free clinic, manned by an Indian lady doctor and a Chinese lady nurse. They’re open from 3pm – 5pm every Sunday, providing free medical services for all. I saw a few familiar faces, which I’ve seen at Alice’s house during the Christmas-cum-birthday party for the daughter. I couldn’t really recall the names of some of them, but I remember Yoke Ann and Lillian. We jumped into action of packing oat drinks. This is a weekly community service by Grace Assembly, manned by its many church members who take turns in volunteering – each cell group will help out for one Sunday.
When we’re done, we changed into the Grace Assembly t-shirts and pushed the trolleys down to the ground floor where many people of all races and colours were waiting patiently. They were the needy people whom we’re gonna feed.. Some are homeless, some are poor, some are drug addicts, some are security guards at a nearby building and some needed a free meal because of a reason only known to them… I did not expect to see so many people, and at such a close range too, for usually, I kept myself well away from them…
This time, I learned a lesson – Matthew 7:1-2 "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
And I learned what the true meaning of humility is. They are human beings, just like you and me. If given a chance, would you think they would want to get free food? I used to loathe people who receive alms from others when they are not even handicapped; I will not even give one cent to the ‘jaga kereta’ boys, I used to scorn the drug addicts who, by their own choice, ruin their lives, because I believe that jobs are aplenty for them to earn their keep, if they try hard enough. After all, even the handicapped are earning their keep in a dignified way. Why can’t these people do the same? I'd rather donate my hard earned money to the SPCA or PAWs or WWF!
But yesterday, I was stupefied. I did not expect them to have the discipline to queue up, let alone utter a word of thanks. It was like a scene from Oliver Twist when they asked for more rice & gravy, which were immediately given to them. I overheard one of them saying, “Please give me more rice, I haven’t eaten in three days” as Alice and I were handing out styrofoam rice boxes to them which consisted of a big piece of curry chicken and vegetables. The guy next to us added more rice, and another lady was in-charge of distributing gravy, whilst some others were giving away oat drinks and bananas.
One of them helped man the traffic flow of the queue, by making them queue up and calling out numbers (number cards were given to the needy to gauge how many they were).
There were some who spoke good English, and some who were rather well-dressed and decent. There was also a bespectacled elderly Ang-mo and Edward, a young Indian guy who claimed that he’s a Christian; and only wanted the oat drinks and not rice, because he said he can’t chew even though he had straight and even teeth. There was an elderly Chinese lady who complained that the banana was too small and was too soft, and demanded another piece. But we’ve already ran out of bananas.
There were a total of about 200++ of them.
They were also given used but clean clothes and disposable shavers as well. I was told that sometimes, toiletries are handed up to them when there’re enough to go around. So, if you have any mini soap bars from the hotels or even if you have old but wearable clothes to discard, you can always pass them to me to hand it over to Grace Assembly. My church, St Mary’s (next to Royal Selangor Club & Dataran Merdeka) – an Anglican church, also holds a feeding programme every Wednesday morning and can use with dry food stuffs or old clothes too.
I got my hands all oily and wet from distributing the rice boxes, but I wasn’t really bothered about it. Those who know me would be surprised, for I’m one who’d immediately wipe my hands or if possible, immediately wash them to rid them of oil and gravy.
Well, it all ended before 6pm. We went up to wash the trays and utensils. I was asked to join them for dinner, but my translation job needs to be done.
Said my goodbyes and Yoke Ann gave me a hug for good luck.
Peace be with you, everyone. God bless.
I walked slowly back to my car and saw an old man eating from the rice box we handed out in front of Wilayah Complex. I felt tired and my gastric pain was still there, but I also felt ‘something’ inside.
Will I volunteer again? Definitely. And I’m looking forward to join Tammy’s Leo Club in this programme come October 2007. I’ll get some ex-Ascomers to join me too! It’s not about religion, it’s all about humanity and humility. Feel free to volunteer or if you can’t come, feel free to donate anything that could be used.
And I’m looking forward to going back there again & if possible, help out at my church on Wednesday morning too.
Peace be with you, Amen.
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