2016: Three times a week, the Pertiwi Soup Kitchen served food for the homeless in the city center. The meeting point was at the homeless shelter at Medan Tuanku, Kuala Lumpur. We were told to not bring anything valuable. Before we started, the regular volunteers did a headcount on us and briefed us on what to do. We then took our place at the assigned stations.
Soon, the gate was opened and the crowd quickly formed a queue while we handed them the food, drinks and snacks. Once a month, the soup kitchen would distribute goodie bags containing toiletries, shavers and sanitary pads. There were also a few volunteer doctors who provided basic healthcare to the homeless. Sometimes there would be a barber too.
We stayed there for about an hour. After that we moved on to our second stop, near Kotaraya, where we repeated the whole process. Most of the homeless people were polite, although I heard they could get rowdy sometimes.
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| The soup kitchen truck |
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| With the founder of the soup kitchen |
Unfortunately, I have to say that my volunteering experience was rather disappointing. Some of the regular volunteers made it obvious that they didn't want us around. Perhaps I set my expectation too high. I expected to be surrounded by positive and cheerful people who were passionate in what they were doing. Instead, I met many grouches who snapped at every little mistake we made. They complained when there were too many new volunteers. They complained when there was another group also giving out free food for the homeless. You couldn't help feeling discouraged when all you wanted to do was offer help, but were treated like a nuisance instead.
Granted, having too many new volunteers can be challenging. Most of them were sent by big companies as part of their CSR. Some were students sent by colleges. And I guess most of them only came because their bosses or lecturers made it compulsory for them.
So it is quite understandable that the regulars became annoyed by this. Plus, they had a lot more work to do than the rest of us. They had to prepare and pack the food, they had to drive the truck, they had to buy paper cups and plates and plastic bags, and they had to take care of the leftovers. On top of that, they also had to train the new volunteers. It must have been very tiring to do all that several times a week throughout the year.
But if you feel it's such a chore, then why do you keep doing it? What's the point of doing a good deed if you're going to be cranky about it the whole time? Might as well ban all new volunteers or make them go through interviews first, or something.
Go ahead and call me a whiner, but hey, this isn't my first time volunteering. I've met many of other volunteers with better attitude than this lot. It's not that I demand a special treatment. I just think new volunteers should be made to feel welcome so that they'd want to come back. I'm sure a lot of people have the intention to volunteer at the soup kitchen, but when it comes down to it, only a few can motivate themselves to do so. So when they do, I think it's only fair that they get a little appreciation and encouragement.
I only went twice. I'm not much of a people person anyway. I think I prefer volunteering at animal shelters.
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| With some of the other volunteers |
