Right now, as I am writing this, warm meals are being distributed to the people who sleep on the street. I wish I can join them but I am really too tired to even stand already.
I also wished I have the video clips to give you guys a glimpse of what sleeping on the street means but the Pos Laju never arrived today. The video clips we shot last Saturday night went to Bukit Selambau with the video camera and online file transfer failed. So, the clips have to be mailed to me by Pos Laju and it ought to reach this morning but probably delayed to Monday.
But guys, whether you contribute or whether you silently cheered us on, thank you very much. I will be lying if I tell you it is easy to manage meals for that many people with only one wok and one high powered stove on makeshift kitchen which is just a corridor. But knowing how eager and generous all of you are, I somehow find the resources to bring my own stove, own woks, almost all the kitchen utensils except the kitchen sink and almost single handedly shopped for all the raw ingredients. Let’s say I move on the encouragement from all of you.
Many of my church friends who read my blog are aware that the money comes from you guys. We are merely carrying out your wishes. By the way, I still have RM500 in hand (exact figure to be known when I get my PayPal in AlRajhi bank next week). I will see that the RM500 is used in the same manner, i.e. we use the money to buy foods and cook. My parish priest, Father Fabian said we will do this on a regular basis.
So, what did we cook?
1) Potato chicken Chinese style
2) Fried veggie Indian style
3) Onion eggs Malay style
4) White rice
The fragrance reached the noses of all the people who went to church this evening. Many came to us, salivating.
The credit goes to :
1) All of you who send your good wishes;
2) The effort of all of you who contribute the money; (I know it is a chore to go to atms to deposit the money for me, so I really appreciate that)
3) The professional chefs-in-the-making from KDU – Without them, we can never carried out the task of stirring 15 chicken, 210 eggs, several kilograms of vegetables and three large pots of rice. Thank you to my son, Jeff and his friends, Sui Thong, his elder brother Sui Hoong and Bala. It is so easy to work with them because I merely need to give brief idea, some notes on the tasks and they worked so systematically. The other ladies are full of praises for the four of them. Thank God my son has good friends.
4) This week, we have the biggest number, i.e. 180 people/meals compared to previous weeks. I do not know what to expect but with the help from so many kind parishioners who just dropped by, rolled up their sleeves and started cutting the vege, everything completes within the limited time. It is the true spirit of community where people just do it because there is something to be done.
5) All who came to pack the 184 packets of rice and dishes, and also who cleaned up the place. I slipped away for my dinner and when I went back, the meals are in the van already. Phew…thank God I didn’t estimate too much or too little. Just ngam-ngam, cun-cun.
6) And someone told me, “You know, your group must be special, even the parish priest asked for a packet of your rice.” Praise the Lord. I had kept some for the priests, putting the dishes in the fridge for his lunch tomorrow. God, bless the food he is about to partake. Hahaha.
7) Lastly, credit goes to my Hainanese blood. The foods all taste good even with just my agak-agak touch. Only my little boy had the chance to have his meal and if he says nice, means nice. I actually didn’t do much except to flavour the foods.
I tell you, it is not easy to handle that and I am amazed our group managed to do it. From 5 pm till about 9.30 pm, we got all the foods ready. Now I can be happy that I had helped to cook for 200 priests, bishops and archbishops (during their 200 yrs alumni gathering) and I have also cooked for 200 homeless people. My next target, 500 kids!
And folks, sorry no photos at the moment because I forget to bring my camera. Anyway, I have no time to pause to take photo. My other parishioners have taken some and even the official photographer of the church was assigned to take us in action. Wah seh!
Nite nite. Thank God mission accomplished.
Thank you.
Lilian, I’ve got thousands of thank you to say to you. This seriously brings a lot of meaning to me. All that you did is really touching! I can imagine how these people feel like when they get their meals by many of those who contributed.
I was once a 16 yrs old kid who ran away from home and got so hungry that I had to beg for an egg for my whole day meal. Thinking of this and how small my contribution was and it still did helped people, makes my tears drop.
Thank you so much! I’m glad I’ve read your blog post about this! Thank you !
I dun knwo if it was your fault..!!! tonight, my car tyre had a puncture!!!! hole in the wallet liau!!!I one 18″ low profile Bridgestone Pontenza tyre costs an arm n a leg!
when is the next one? I might join the queue. reserve a table for 6 pls, make it 8, my aunty and her brother’s neighbour’s sister-in-law punya chess class mate wanna come too.
no lah, well done, it must be extremely gratifying for you all to help out.
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So happy to read that. And you are really a wonder woman. I can’t even cook for three people. I know, I’m suck. How I wish I am in Penang so that I can learn from you.
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Lillian, you are an amazing woman. May God shower you and your family with many blessings. I read your article with tears in my eyes. Salute!
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Good job Lilian. 🙂
I have tears reading this post. I’m sorry i didn’t contribute. Can i still do it now?
hi… i am your regular silent reader and i started reading your blog last year wen i heard about you somewhere during some chit chats. I am not very old but i am actually in my teens. You had actually inspired me to be a better person and i really admire you will and strength… I hope next time i will be able to practice what you had practice there in my hometown. Once again! God bless you!!
thank you for all your hard work and for your big heart lilian 🙂 we’re the ones who did the easy job by simply clicking on that paypal button.
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