Amazing Grace – In Mandarin

I took two video clips and combined them into one. The song Amazing Grace is probably familiar to a lot of people. It is a song about God’s Grace. I think it is God’s promptings that cause a lot of people to do things they never thought of doing.

The song in this video is sung by two elderly gentlemen who showed a certain raw, passionate, eager and spirited emotion to praise God. They are probably not seasoned church singer but they probably have more vigour than most of us who are jaded. One of them was baptised yesterday. I am still amazed with his Hokkien reading of the Bible and how steady and confident he was, both in singing and going up to the altar to read the Bible.

I have inserted the clip of the soup kitchen in The Lighthouse. Foods are prepared daily by volunteers. Money comes from well-wishers. The volunteers come from all faith. There are Sai Baba devotees, Hindu and Buddhist faith followers who go to The Lighthouse to cook and serve the foods.

The people who go to the Lighthouse are about 120 people per day and they too come from all faiths. The food provided by the Lighthouse is halal, with no beef served.

Yesterday, I saw the pure, innocent joy on the faces of the poor and homeless eventhough they live in rather difficult times. They have a certain camaraderie amongst them that is very special. The regulars will tell the newbies what to do. Such as, “Take off your cap!” when the manager of Lighthouse said a short grace before their meals. When the manager finished his short grace which goes something like, “Kita minta Tuhan berkati makanan ini dan semoga semua di sini akan berada dalam keadaan sihat dan selamat. Amen.” many of them just clapped and shout with so much joy. (The manager doesn’t speak Hokkien so he used Bahasa Malaysia to communicate with the old Chinese ah peks and Indian old men, just in case people wonder what pulak.)

Around minute 1:51, you can see the red shirt man who is the gentleman I interviewed the other day. Yesterday, when people asked me how I know him, I told them he is my friend. He proudly told them, “Yes, she interviewed me the other day.” I quickly told him, “Yes, I gave the interview to the Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng and I believed he heard what you said. Hope the government can help you and your other friends.” Wah, I must pray really hard that something good will go his way or else, it is just omong-omong kosong. I am going to find the way to get him registered for welfare.

I hope all of you who viewed the video will better understand what a soup kitchen is and know that in Penang, we have many people who would go hungry if not for these selfless people who serve the poor daily, on a voluntary basis. You can find the official page of The Lighthouse over here. Please note the video I made is not associated to the Lighthouse but merely my own initiative.