Kechara on BBC!
I have just received news that Dato’ Ruby appeared on BBC news, representing Kechara Soup Kitchen!
I am very proud of Kechara Soup Kitchen and our team headed by Dato’ Ruby. Kechara is our Buddhist organization and we have 13 departments of which Kechara Soup Kitchen is one of them. Each department in order to be successful must be headed by a dedicated department head not afraid of hard work. Everything in life is achieved only by consistent dedicated hard work. Our Kechara Soup Kitchen has come a very long way.
Congratulations to Kechara on the whole!
Tsem Rinpoche
Socialite becomes a volunteer in Malaysian soup kitchen
By Jennifer PakBBC News, Kuala Lumpur
Ruby Khong says her mission is to feed the poor, as Jennifer Pak reports
In the Malaysian capital, Ruby Khong devotes her lunch hours delivering food to the needy, even when the tropical heat and humidity make it hard to breathe.
She and her volunteers drive in an orange and yellow van with the words: “Hunger knows no barriers” printed on the side.
They squeeze between the luxury condos in downtown Kuala Lumpur to arrive at a squatters area that has become so permanent, it has its own name – Bellamy Village.
Ms Khong says initially it was hard to find the needy because they were largely hidden in Kuala Lumpur.
“They are afraid of the authorities so they always hide in the alleys,” she says.
Her drive to find and feed the poor has led to the founding of one of Malaysia’s biggest soup kitchens called Kechara, which is a Sanskrit word Ms Khong says she borrowed from Buddhist teachings to mean a “heavenly place”.
The soup kitchen now feeds 10,000 people a month across Malaysia
‘Unwilling volunteer’
The Malaysian media have ranked Ms Khong as one of the most influential Malaysians and her work earned her a place among Forbes magazine’s heroes of philanthropy list in 2010.
However, her journey to become a full-time volunteer has not always been a willing one.
Before starting the soup kitchen, Ms Khong’s idea of charity involved dressing up in ball gowns and donating money.
Perhaps this was why Malaysia ranked below its poorer neighbours such as Indonesia and the Philippines in the 2013 World Giving Index, which judged a country based on its donation of both money and time.
The mother of three preferred to dine at luxury hotels, and at one point owned a tropical island in Myanmar with her husband.
“She was a socialite. She would go out clubbing, attend parties and events. She would have fancy dinners with her friends and play tennis. She really indulged in herself personally,” says Ms Khong’s son, Clifford.
Ruby says she was initially a reluctant volunteer at the soup kitchen
It’s rare for children in Asia to criticize their parents but Ms Khong doesn’t seem to mind.
“I admit it. I think being the youngest in the family meant that life was pretty pampered,” she says laughing.
“It was always about myself, what I wanted and that continued on for a while until 1994,” she says.
That year, she was on a quest for spiritual guidance in India and met a Buddhist monk named Tsem Rinpoche.
“I was decked out from head to toe in Chanel.”
Ms Khong says if he had discouraged her from wearing luxury brands, she probably wouldn’t have followed him.
Instead, he urged her to use her wealth and influence to do more charity and eventually suggested that she feed the hungry.
“I was very reluctant to give up my weekends with family and friends,” says Ms Khong.
She says she only committed herself to volunteer for two weekends out of the year. That was in 2006.
Now, feeding the poor is her full-time occupation.
“Once I started there is no way that I could pull out because these people are there and they need us,” she says.
The Kechara soup kitchen has branches across the country in the capital Kuala Lumpur, north of the country in Penang, Johor Bahru in the south and Kuantan in the east.
They provide counselling and basic medical services for the homeless and feed 10,000 hungry people a month.
Ruby says she was on a quest for spiritual guidance in India when she met a monk who helped change her life
Asian tradition
It is a small percentage in a country with 30 million people, but Ms Khong’s operation is catching the ones who fall through the system.
Wong Yuk Kei is one of them. She doesn’t qualify for any of the 200 state-run old folks homes because her children are alive.
The country’s welfare system is still rooted in Asian tradition and expects each generation to be responsible for their parents.
However, Ms Wong’s children are struggling with the high cost of living in Kuala Lumpur and cannot help. She gets less than $100 (£63) a month in welfare payment. It’s just enough to cover her and her husband’s medical bills but not much more.
Ms Wong relies on the Kechara soup kitchen for a hot lunch.
On the menu that day in October was hard boiled eggs in curry, green vegetables, and potato with tofu meat on a bed of rice wrapped in pandan leaf. They also had bottled water and biscuits for dessert.
This is food that can be served to Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or anyone with religious dietary restrictions in the multi-faith country.
Ms Wong says she enjoys the meals and collects two rice packets from the volunteers at Bellamy Village.
“My husband and I have only eaten lunch from the Kechara soup kitchen for the past four years,” she tells Ms Khong in the Cantonese dialect.
The socialite smiles politely and nods even though she doesn’t understand the language.
Wong Yuk Kei and her husband rely on the soup kitchen for food
Positive change
Ms Khong walks further down the unpaved path sporting a stylish pair of flip flops, which reveals perfectly manicured toes.
After eight years, she still sometimes struggles in her role.
She told a local magazine recently that she has a “major hang up” about shaking a strangers hand and hugging, which can happen when people are grateful for the free food.
Her son, Clifford, sees a positive change in his mother. He says feeding the hungry has made her more kind, patient and giving.
Ms Khong’s transformation comes at a crucial time when many Malaysians feel that the country’s elite is detached from people’s suffering.
“It is not about the packet of food but by giving it, it shows them that we care to step outside of our comfort zone,” she says.
It’s this idea that has moved the socialite from the back covers of glossy magazines, to grace the front cover.
Source: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29986205
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Congratulations to Rinpoche and Kechara team for your achievements. It is not easy and definitely a lot of hard work by many people along the years in making KSK a success. I hope this news will bring awareness to many more to offer help to our communities. There are many homeless and urban poors in the city. We should not neglect them and give our helping hand be it financial or time.
Dato Ruby is a good example that nothing can’t be done if we have the persistence to continue and importantly for the benefit of others.
謝謝您仁波切的共享。拿督Ruby和克切拉香積廚團隊，為我們呈现绝好例子，幫助不幸及生活条件差的人们。如果我們能夠花時間和精力做一些利人之舉，它是如此的有意義。
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this wonderful BBC news with us. Wow.. This is really a big thing! Kechara Soup Kitchen has come a long way. Dato’ Ruby worked very hard everyday to oversee the operations of the soup kitchen from Penang, Kuala Lumpur to Johor Bahru to make sure the food is always good and enough to serve the needy. Other than that she is always busy on raising fund and looking out for sponsors to support the cost of the soup kitchen. She once told me that we cannot stop feeding, we cannot let them (the needy) go hungry because they depend on us. I respect Dato’ Ruby a lot in her determination, from day one the soup kitchen started until today, she puts in so much of efforts and over come so many obstacles and problems over all these years, she never once say give up but work on it continuously.
In her free time she loves to stay a few nights at Kechara Forest Retreat in Bentong, Pahang to cook her yummy Penang style Mee Hoon Soup for the staffs and volunteers to eat and spend time doing her meditation here. Dato Ruby set a perfect example for all of us. Let go of fear, jump out from comfort zone, go all the way, and let results speak on its own. All these because of her strong faith in H.H. Tsem Rinpoche.
Thank you Dato Ruby… we are very proud of you.
Great coverage by BBC.
Dato Ruby has brought Kechara Soup Kitchen to a new level of recognition. The public and the World are now more aware of Kechara and what KSK as a whole does for the needy.
And I agree that if everyone steps out of their comfort zones and touched just 1 person’s heart weekly… this World will be a totally different World.
Thank you.
Thank you Rinpoche for setting up Kechara Soup Kitchen for the homeless. Congrat to Dato Ruby and her hardworking team for successfully making KSK a famous charitable organization in the country so that more less fortunate people can benefit from the sevice provided by KSK.
Thank You Rinpoche for reminding us to use our life to benefit others. That is the only way to lasting happiness. Rinpoche has our best interest in mind always!
Thank You Dato’ Ruby for being an inspiration and an excellent example that one can transform to benefit others with the Guru guidance, perseverance, effort and faith in the Guru. Of course the flip flops too LOL.
Thanks again Rinpoche!
Thank you Rinpoche for the sharing. Thank you Dato Ruby Khong and Kechara Soup Kitchen team for showing us good examples of what can we do to contribute to our society and the poor. It is so and meaningful if we can devote time and effort to do something meaningful for others.
Thank you Rinpoche for setting up the 13 departments in Kechara so that we have the chances to volunteer in the departments, to help others to help us, to learn dharma and also collect merits.
What a wonderful, inspiring interview by BBC!
Congratulations Datuk Ruby for your hard work, passion, dedication and Guru Devotion that we has created the success of Kechara Soup Kitchen.
Can’t believe that KSK which started by Rinpoche making a aspirational wish and randomly feeding the homeless has created the gigantic cause for KSK to be feeding thousands today! This just goes to show that whatever projects that Rinpoche first starts, encourages and wishes to have, can become huge if we the students who take it up whole hearted, trust our Lama and go all the way with it. Because none of Rinpoche’s project is ever about the self, it is always to benefit others, hence why wouldn’t it be successful? There is no reason for it not to actually and at the same time it serves us and transforms us just like how in this BBC story, it tells the world how Rinpoche and KSK has changed Datuk Ruby positively.