These past few weeks has been a time of mixed feelings; conviction, doubts, excitement, fatigue and heaven knows what else. Tonight marks the three day countdown to D-day. In the tranquil night cooled by the early evening rain, I couldn't help but be transported back to about this time last year.
News were abuzz with the fact that Kelantan is facing a flood. I was thinking in my heart, 'So what? They are so used to it to even make a joke out of it!'
As days grew by though, I begin to arrive at the realization that this time, there could be something different. Before I knew it, regular folks at the local warongs were noisily talking about collecting clothes, food and other necessities for delivery to the flood hit areas. Suddenly, my interest is piqued.
Cruising through the internet, I finally come across something that is best labelled as a new phenomena, to me at least. I begin to notice the efforts of certain individuals which could best be described as simply miraculous for the very fact that it is simple and a miracle. Here are certain individuals who by getting the support of other like minded individuals have managed to get emergency aid to the flood survivors strictly on their own private initiatives.
They handled fundraising, logistics, transportation, needs management and etcetera like professionally run organizations. It was successful through it's simplicity and the fact that it works is a miracle. Unbeknownst to me, the seed of an idea has been firmly implanted in my mind.
Through these observations there is no way I could escape noticing the personalities responsible for these efforts. There was this pharmacist with a sizeable following of supporters comparable only to the number of detractors, some of whom were vocal enough with their threat of bodily harm and other not so pleasant actions. This same shy unassuming person managed to fill up all available space allocated for the flights to Kota Baru and some. Eventually, even some Ambassador decided to don a T shirt and jeans just to help with the manual labours at the aid centre.
There was this lady who gained notoriety by her highly colourful use of the English language when faced with issues that clearly victimized some minority flood survivors. The same person was responsible to ensure aid was delivered to a sizeable number of flood survivors some of whom were without proper food for more than a week.
Another lady caught my eye with an initiative called 'Projek Budu' as part of her other diverse activities during the flood. Apparently, some sympathetic individual decides that the flood survivors has suffered enough. So, a distribution of 'budu' was organized just so that the bleak daily life of the survivors could be lightened up with the addition of a comfort food in their daily diet.
There was also this particularly colourful character. A partner of a business in the entertainment industry where charitable causes would normally be last on their list. A person of such audacity, panache and the right amount of craziness to actually start a flood aid mission using a Mercedes Benz SLK as the mode of transport. When asked of his choice of vehicle, his only reply was that it's the only car he has.
This same individual were to later start another initiative to assist in the improvement of the deplorable living condition of the survivors after the flood. In order to do that, he actually walked from Kuala Lumpur to Kota Baru. A walk that finally took him 25 days to complete. A walk that changed me.
On Malaysia Day, he decided to hold an open house gathering in Raub. It was during the middle of the walk and seeing that I already have a soft spot for his cause that I thought to myself, 'Why not?' It helps that I was already in Kuala Lumpur at that time. So, I dragged along a couple of friends and happily drove to Raub. It was a memorable occasion as the people attending the event were all special in many aspects.
Fast forward to the last day of his walk. I took a bus from Johor Bahru to Kuantan to meet my friend who is already there and together we drove up to Kota Baru. According to plan, we were thinking of doing about 5 kms with him and re join him later at the final mile. I ended up doing 15 kms.
That night, we had a fantastically memorable dinner at a location which requires getting lost at least 5 times before finally arriving. It just so happens that I and my friend shares the same table with this group of highly dedicated volunteers from Kuala Lumpur.
A few weeks later, whilst in Kuala Lumpur, I ended up having coffee with one of them, Intrigued, I spent the time barraging him with questions to satisfy my curiosity. Very sportingly, he answers all of them, and some! We had a good time talking about things.
A few weeks later, I find myself attending one of their activities in the heart of Kuala Lumpur. Suffice to say, it was a moving experience.
And so it came to pass that the series of events brought me to that fatefull evening a few weeks back. I was back in Johor Bahru and was at home. Before I could come to the realization of the full impact of my actions, I posted a statement in a local group highlighting the existence of the homeless and urban poor community. The next thing I know, one of the respondents to my post said the magic word, 'Ok. Count me in'. It seems that she was only the first of many to do so. That made me come to the sudden realization that there's no turning back.
Which is where I am today. A facebook page with the name Friends & Strangers were started to facilitate the activities planned. Three activities has been shortlisted being homeless and urban poor food aid, English tuition for the underprivileged and heritage appreciation events. Tonight, it is only three days for our first event is due to start.
Hence this tribute, for without the influences of these people above and others, none of this would come to be.
