Another homeless to return home after a good meal
I received a multimedia message from Liaison Su Ming today:
Dear Rinpoche,
Martin took this homeless person who was discharged from the hospital yesterday for a meal now. Justin Cheah is arranging for this homeless to return to his hometown to be with his family.
Thank you.
Su Ming
cc Ruby, Justin Cheah
This is Kamalrul’s first decent meal in a while. I’m glad Kechara Soup Kitchen and volunteers are helping many homeless people to get back on track or reunite them with their families. As Kechara Soup Kitchen grows bigger with more staff and volunteers, it will be able to do more to help these people.
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Many people who are on the street are there out of their own choice. They are there because they are helpless when their destiny to face such harsh circumstances arise. We must always show compassion towards people in this lesser condition for, we too, could be in their shoes. Therefore, it is imperative to learn Buddha Dharma so that we understand the workings of Karma, hence appreciate our good fortune that we enjoy in this lifetime. We will also appreciate the need to start doing good deeds to help others so that we can collect good karma and merits to help us in our future life. Thank you for this sharing.
From humble beginning of Rinpoche and his students feeding a few homeless to Kechara Soup Kitchen of today, where they give out more than a thousand meals a week.
And Kechara Soup Kitchen stalwart, Justin Cheah is still in the thick of it. Kudos to the team for working so very hard to help the homeless in more than giving a hot meal. The urban poor have also benefited from the Food Bank started by Kechara Soup Kitchen as well.
And not the mention the medical care given and all the re-homing and job placements and a lot other services to help the urban poor and homeless.
So happy that Kechara Soup Kitchen is doing so much.
Thank you to Rinpoche for the concept, and the encouragement for it to grow.
I remember Kamarul well and have thought of him regularly. Kamarul was diagnosed with AIDS a few months after he went back to Kelantan and subsequently passed away. I would like to think that at least he had a few weeks with his family and at least he didn’t have to die on the streets but that is actually very little consolation. No one deserves to have to go through such a difficult life and endure such physical and mental anguish.
When I think of Kamarul, I think that help came too late for him and unfortunately that was his karma. Just when there were people ready and willing to help him get back on his feet, his illness took over and he died. It was as if, he was born, went through suffering and died without anyone taking much notice. Looking back, I thought that I had helped him but with a bit more Dharma knowledge I know that it was lucky for me to have the opportunity to help him slightly and collect some merits. Every time we are able to do something good for another, its our positive karma at work giving us the chance to earn some merits. We all need it as did Kamarul but his opportunity ran out just like ours will one day.
I have Kamarul has taken a good rebirth. In the meantime KSK has gone from force to force and now do even more for the homeless including having regular mobile clinics to seek out and help those in need like Kamarul.
Wow ! It great heard that En. Kamalrul is glad to be heading home soon, Mr Martin and Mr Justin did a good job , you are all show good example for our KSK Johor . Thank you Rinpoche sharing ! Rejoice !
Kamarul from Kelantan came to Kuala Lumpur to look for greener pastures. But because he came from a small town he was exploited by his employer who did not pay him. And he had not enough to pay for his trip back to his family in Kelantan. He had no choice but to live on the streets. Martin and Su ming found him sleeping on the streets with high fever. The kind hearted Martin called an ambulance and sent Kamarul to GHKL where he was warded and found to be having TB and lung disorder. He was treated and after 3 days was discharged. Upon his discharge Martin took him for a good meal and arrange to send him back to his family in Kelantan.
Thanks Wee Liang for making me sound like a hero.
Here are the facts: It was on a KSK round together with Julia, Carmen and wee Liang when i met Kamalrul. He was located across the road from the Homda Showroom, too sick to walk. Another homeless friend told us about Kamalrul and we went to investigate.
It was JULIA who liaised with Justin on the phone and then called the ambulance whioh came quite promptly.
When the ambulance arrived, Kamalrul tried to get up and stumbled, and without any hesitation Wee Liang hung on to Kamalrul like one would do to a friend. That touched me deeply.
We followed up on Kamalrul’s progress and although he was treated well, the hospotal lacked resources and decided to discharge him after 3 days of treatment with a whole bunch of quite basic medication.
Kamalrul was better but still in no state to travel and had nowhere to go and no money. Fortunately we had requested that the hospital call us before discharging him.
We decided to put Kamalrul up in a cheap hostel in the Tong Shin area and he was there for almost 5 days. For the first 3 days, he did not recover very much and a very kind man called Raafar who works at the hostel helped us look after Kamalrul and bought food for him when we could not visit.I had chronic asthma before and from that experience i knew that the medication the hospital gave him was very basic meds. After consultation with my doctor, i got him the meds i had personally used.
On the following Saturday, during yet another KSK round, Su Ming, Yek Yee and Dr Chiang visited Kamalrul in the hostel after our food rounds. Dr Chiang diagnosed that Kamalrul had severe slipped disk (which was another reason Kamalrul was in such pain) and out of compassion treated him on the spot.
The next day Kamalrul was MUCH better and could walk. During the 5 days in the hostel Justin visited him regularly and made arrangements for him to return home to Kelantan.
We finally put Kamalrul on the bus to be reunited with his family.
The problem is Kamalrul comes from a very poor family with almost 13 people living in a small house.
UPDATE: We have been in constant communication with Kamalrul and his mother. Kamalrul is back in hospital again (Hospital Raja Perempuan Zainal II, Bendahara Wad, 4th floor) as of yesterday. He is suffering from asthma again and the throat is closing him making him unable to consume food. His slipped disc is back and now one leg is immobile. We are now looking for some solutions. The family is very poor and family members have their own problems to manage.
I wish we can do more and we are looking for solutions. And i feel sad that we cannot do more for now.
However i rejoice that i am part of the Kechara family and able to do my little bit. Thank you wee Liang, but we are ALL products of being touched by a very compassionate and loving Guru, Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and being taught by example by Rinpoche.
Kamarul is from Kelantan. Martin found him at Chow Kit area. He was really sick and wasn’t able to even walk. He was also running a high fever. martin then called for an ambulance. The ambulance came and took Kamarul to HKL. Kamarul was followed by Martin to HKL who ensured that he was well taken of.
We later found out Kamarul was down with TB and another lung disorder. After 3 days of treatment, Kamarul felt better and requested for Martin to find him a way back to Kelantan to be reunited with his family. Kamarul was later discharged from HKL, treated to a good meal and got a bus ticket back to Kelantan.
Kamarul came to KL in search for a better prospect. He was exploited by his employer and was not paid. He had insufficient funds to find accommodation or return to Kelantan. He then had no choice but to live on the streets, where he got involved with drugs and everything went down hill from there. Kamarul has been off drugs for 2 months and it has made things really tough for him emotionally. I am very glad that he met KSK and Martin. Now Kamarul has a second shot at his life.
It never stops becoming old news to hear of KSK’s success stories of how they’re helping people. It shows real compassion in action – how people are reaching out to people and touching others’ lives in such a real and tangible way.
When you work in an organisation like this, under Rinpoche’s guidance, you always hear of success stories, be it literally of saving someone off the streets, to reuniting someone with their family, to helping someone get out of depression, to helping someone overcome a fear or mental illness or relationship problem. The different departments complement each other in the way that they each help people in different aspects – a healing of both body and mind.
This is the best kind of reward there is to work in a place like Kechara – knowing that what you are doing could literally give someone a whole new life. Beats a paycheque any day. Thank you Rinpoche for giving us this honour and opportunity to serve the world in such an immediate and real way.
Oh wow, this is really heart warming to know.
Thank you, Martin and Justin. I am sure Kamalrul is glad to be heading home soon.
Many people are stranded in the city and are homeless for a variety of reasons. Many people are sometimes too embarrassed to even go back home as they were supposed to come to the city and get jobs.
There are too many sad stories from the streets. It is very encouraging to have NGOs like KSK and wonderful volunteers like Martin who go the extra mile for a good cause.
Helping someone’s life is always a good cause.
Like Rinpoche always say, “Doing good never gets tired. Never gets old.”