Actor gives out 100 free meals to students
BANGI: Actor Fizo Omar kicked off Sajian Negaraku, a suspended meals programme, by giving out 100 free meals to students at his Thai restaurant FizoMawar Kitchen.
A suspended meal is one that is paid in advance by those who can afford it, to be utilised later by those in need of a meal.
Sajian Negaraku is an idea that Fizo, 36, whose real name is Wan Hafizol Wan Omar, came up with in collaboration with the community initiative Negaraku.
Anyone can donate to help a needy Malaysian have a good meal at participating restaurants through the crowdfunding website www. negaraku/sajian.
The Negaraku movement was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in February to instil the patriotic spirit in Malaysians while Sajian Negaraku is an ongoing project targeted at feeding the urban poor.
FizoMawar Kitchen is the pilot restaurant under the project which is likely to be expanded to other restaurants throughout Malaysia soon. For the first instalment of 100 meals served at FizoMawar Kitchen, the goal was to raise RM1,000 in two weeks, but response was so good that the money was raised in just five days.
In the future, a live feed feature on the website will track the donations that come in and the amount of meals prepared daily.
“People in need can all come and collect meals here. Even with this single meal, they can save on their daily expenses,” Fizo said.
Fizo, who is known for films like Kongsi Cinderella
(2011) and (2013), said he was inspired to start the programme because he, too, was once a poor student.
Student Nurul Dayana Qistina, 19, who came with her friends from Kolej Polytech Mara Bangi to collect the free meals, said she would be spreading the word to other needy student friends.
“My food budget is RM50 for five days, so I’m very careful with what I eat. But there are other students who only have RM5 a day to spend on food, and they eat very, very little to save money. So I will definitely be telling these friends about this programme,” she said.
Fizo also called on restaurant owners who wanted to come on board to be genuine and offer quality food.
For Sajian Negaraku, he spent a week in Thailand learning how to make a special Thai-style daging masak merah to serve recipients. Each person who receives a suspended meal at FizoMawar Kitchen gets rice, daging masak merah, some vegetables and a packet of milk tea. This meal is not available on the restaurant menu.
“Free food normally doesn’t taste that nice. But for me, if we really want to contribute, we should give something special,” he said.
Fizo also said that each of his suspended meals costs about RM15, but he only takes RM10 for each meal and tops up the remaining RM5 per meal from his own pocket.
“I believe that the more you give, the more you get back,” he said.
Restaurant owners interested in participating in the Sajian Negaraku programme can e- mail the Negaraku team at malaysia@negaraku.com.