M e d Y u s o p e , o h a r a t u A i n M

NNo one should go hungry during Iftar (the daily breaking of fast during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan). When a friend told me in April that a group of Bengali Muslim migrant workers from Bangladesh had no money to buy food after fasting all day, I sprung into action the next day.

I ordered fast food for these workers for two days via Grab Food, spending $400 a day to feed 30 workers. As

I couldn’t sustain it, I reached out to my friends for help.

Though social media and word of mouth, we raised over $50,000 in six weeks. I ordered a variety of food from caterers for the workers. Redmart on Lazada and SDI Academy offered help with the logistics and donations. Eateries like Hany’s Cookhouse and Rojakstory also sponsored meals.

I was juggling my job as an IT consultant and coordinating this after work. It was tiring but fulfilling. From a onewoman show, it grew into a team of more than 45 volunteers

Ican’t imagine being stranded in another country alone with no money. This was the plight of many Malaysian workers in Singapore when Malaysia announced the Movement Control Order in March. They were given little more than 24 hours to return to Malaysia in the wake of the pandemic. Many faced financial difficulties with job losses. I read about their plight on social (30 home cooks and 15 delivery drivers) working on a weekly rotation to cook and deliver food to workers in different locations.

We managed to feed around 400 workers every day till June 8, providing Iftar meals throughout Ramadan, and lunch and dinner two weeks after Ramadan. I still can’t wrap my mind that we managed to feed 800 workers on Eid al-Fitr (the one-day celebration marking the end of Ramadan), exceeding the goal of 600 workers! I was very touched when they thanked me via text messages for the media and learnt that many needed food. The workers were used to having or packing their meals in Johor Bahru before commuting to Singapore, where food cost much more. Their savings depleted quickly. I told my husband, “Let’s help as much as we can”.

We formed an informal initiative to deliver daily meals like fried rice and briyani. To reach out to the affected workers, I posted the initiative on my Facebook account to provide us with their names, numbers and addresses in Singapore. The post caught on with so many people! Through word of mouth, food sponsor Dignity Kitchen, reached out to us.

Every day, we set off food. They said, “We’ll never forget the help you’ve given us.” Some wrote poems for the volunteers.

Although my goal was to support the migrant workers during Ramadan, I’m now focusing on a new initiative. That’s helping those who’re still not drawing a salary, with their medical expenses, rent and other bills, through donations by word of mouth.

The whole exercise has made me realise how fortunate we are, not having to worry about basic necessities. I’m glad to have met many generous people who made a difference. in our car at 4pm to collect the sponsored meals by different eateries as well as the public, who paid for it in advance. Then, we distributed the meals to about six locations like Alexandra and Sembawang. By the time, we were done, it was 10pm.

We relied on food donations and paid for the travelling expenses from our own pockets. From delivering 80 packets of food daily, it went up to nearly 500 packets at one point.

One family even paid for 100 packets of chicken rice... I was so touched by the many who came forward to help.

It’s tiring having to juggle this on top of my real estate job. But as long as I’m healthy, I’ll keep helping them.

What I enjoy most is meeting new faces during deliveries. I can see the smiles in people’s eyes even though they’re wearing a mask. I’ve become friends with the workers... they call me, “kakak” (Malay for sister). They’d come up to me to give me a hug... it moves me to tears each time I think about it. It shows how much they trust us even though we’re complete strangers.