Bringing Xmas cheer to the needy to end 2020

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

Over Xmas eve and Christmas yesterday, we delivered food aid to 34  needy households on Semporna island, Sabah, Malaysia. 

Most of these people have not had rice for some time and some of their babies had to go without milk. They had been surviving on whatever they can fish from the sea.  Sabah is the worst Covid-affected state by far in Malaysia and they are still pretty much under lockdown.

Semporna which means “ideal” is a very nice island off the east coast of Sabah and is one of the top diving sites in the world. It also happens to be near to the Philippines. As such, it’s also a place where many of the stateless people of Sabah stay – most of whom are descendants of refugees fleeing civil war in the Philippines during the 70s. The economic hardships caused by Covid-19 have hit them hard. Below, you can see some photos of the conditions they live in.

It’s been more than 2 months since I last shared of our social upliftment activities. Mostly it’s because I ran out of funds to continue providing food aid to the needy. Also, I have not been sharing as much of these social upliftment activities as I used to. 

Some people gave feedback that I shared too much, or said unkind words with regards to my postings. Other times, I felt I was drowning in the pleas of so many needy people approaching me for help. All the while, we were also facing financial challenges of our own (much like most people during these difficult times).

Anyway, we were glad to be able to bring some cheer during Christmas to these 34 families on Semporna island.

The above children were so happy to have biscuits and Coke as a Christmas treat.

The rest only received rice and milk for babies. It’s a good thing that they have access to fish. With the limited funds we had, we just managed to buy rice and milk for every family who needs it, and the little extra went to biscuits and some soft drinks as a treat for the children.

The above baby will be drinking condensed milk just like many of these stateless babies did. Most of them are too poor to afford infant formula milk powders, so they go for the much cheaper canned sweetener milk instead.

As we end the year, I’d like to report to all our donors and supporters on the upliftment that you’ve enabled. 

Since Jul 2020, we have given out 796 food packs to the needy people of Sabah, most of whom are stateless and hardcore poor. A total of RM38026.20 (RM = Ringgit Malaysia) of donations were received and we end the year with a balance of only RM7.20. Every single cent went to purchasing food aid and the logistics required to deliver them to the recipients. All the recipients were vetted and photos or sometimes videos are taken as proof. All purchases are backed by receipts and photos of recipients receiving food aid. 

These needy people and children couldn’t have received much needed food aid without your support. They gave thanks and prayers to us and this goes out to all of you too.

(translation: We all thank you for being willing to help our families. We are grateful to be able to receive aid. Thank you very much sir, may God bless your kind deeds and may your abundance grow and grow. Thank you sir)

Have a good weekend and Happy New Year!

Ket

Sat 26 Dec 2020

Kuala Lumpur

CordyKet@gmail.com

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