DESPITE the presence of charities and government agencies helping the homeless and the poor in Kuala Lumpur, many of them, especially senior citizens, still slip through the networks of aid and live hand-to-mouth every day.

Organisations operating food banks and soup kitchens said this desperation drives the hardcore poor to go after every chance to get free meals as they are constantly worried about not having enough to eat.

The incident where two elderly women died in a rush for food coupons illustrates this desperation as poor people scrambled to get help in an event handled by an ill-prepared and inexperienced group distributing aid.

Aid groups, which have been feeding the poor for close to 10 years, said the incident should be a wake-up call to the public on the persistent problem of poverty and the need for those who want to help the needy to work with established organisations.

“There’s a lot of elderly out there who do not have a safety net, who don’t have children or who have children but their children are unable to support them,” said Kechara Soup Kitchen operations director Justin Cheah, on the problem of poor senior citizens.

These individuals usually live in low-cost flats throughout the country’s urban centres and while they have a roof over their heads, they struggle to pay the bills every month and buy enough food.

“Being poor, even a RM100 food coupon is valuable, because even if it doesn’t help them today, it can help them tomorrow or at the end of the month when they know money runs out,” said Cheah, whose organisation has been feeding Kuala Lumpur’s poor and homeless for the past 10 years.

In the last decade Kechara has been in operation in Kuala Lumpur, it has identified 8,000 homeless individuals.

Of that number, more than half or 59% are between 50 years and above. About 49% is made up of elderly aged between 50 and 65, while those above 65 comprise 10%.

Cheah said 36% comprise those aged between 30 and 50 while 15% are aged between 18 and 30.

More than 83% of these individuals are dropouts.

“It’s the poor that are hardest to target compared to the homeless because you can easily spot the homeless. Sometimes it’s hard to get information and aid to the poor,” said Cheah.

Kechara distributes between 600 and 700 food packets per week in KL. Its nationwide food bank helps 500 families with dry provisions, while its surplus food programme distributes food to 12,900 individuals.

Pertiwi Soup Kitchen founder Munirah Abdul Hamid said ill-prepared programmes, such as the one on January 28 in ICC Pudu, showed that the organisers did not understand the feelings of the poor.

“When the distribution is not organised systematically, there will be a scramble because the poor are afraid that they will miss a chance to get help,” said Munirah, whose organisation has been distributing food to the hardcore poor and homeless for the past nine years.

In the incident, two women, aged 85 and 78, suffocated while waiting in a crowd that flooded the ground floor of the ICC Pudu mall for free coupons.

Police said there were only 200 coupons, handed out by ICC Pudu’s hawkers’ union to senior citizens in the area. But about 1,000 individuals had shown up to claim the coupons.

Munirah said the deaths could have been avoided if the people behind the event had asked experienced charity groups for advice.

“This is what happens when people who have no experience doing this attempt to do it on their own. I don’t see why these people did not approach one of our groups for help. There’s really no need to go beyond the established networks.”

The city’s established soup kitchens, such as Pertiwi and Kechara, have teams of experienced volunteers who ensure that the process of distributing food is done safely and systematically, she said.

Pertiwi distributes about 600 food packets four nights a week in four spots in Kuala Lumpur and operates a medical aid station for the homeless in Lorong Medan Tuanku Dua.

“And in all the eight years we’ve done it, we’ve never had any problem,” Munirah said. – February 4, 2019.