Society for Kuching Urban Poor (SKUP)

The Society for Kuching Urban Poor (SKUP) is a non political, non racial, and non religious group. It's a society where volunteers gather to help the urban poor. On the 4th of January 2011, my parents and I followed the food distribution group. It was a very interesting experience for me. :)

At 9a.m, we waited at St Joseph's school canteen.

There were 200 packets of food packed ready for the distribution.






First, we loaded the Society's van with the packed foods..



And the journey to the 6 distribution point began....


Our first stop was at the Song Kheng Hai, the place where they sell nice ice kacang.
It was easy because we just pass the food to this lady...



and she distributed among themselves.

The second distribution point was at Petanak market and the thrid was at Sg. Apong. Then, we visited one of the houses.

The gate was rusty

The side of the house

The bathroom and toilet :(

Next stop was to Kpg. Desa Wira.

The houses

I was distributing food to them :)

The pathway to visit their house

You just need to keep a firm balance to walk on the narrow pathway.

One of the houses

I was told that when it floods, the water reaches the house! And it floods almost everytime it rains!

The 5th distribution point was at Poh Kwong Park. It was an easy task too as we just passed a few packets to a guy, and a few collected it from us.

The final stop was at Kpg. Kudei.

A photo with the kids and the mothers who received food

Food for the kids

The way to Kpg. Kudei

It was an uneven pathway with puddles of water :(

One of the houses at Kpg. Kudei

The inner pathway that linked the houses

The planks were not neatly placed!

Thinking will the planks take her weight

The villagers ride motorcycles on these planks while most of them just walk. The planks were very scary, uneven, and totally (in my opinion) unsafe! Yet, these villagers are using it every single day!

Cardboard Ceiling





One of the houses

When it floods in this Village, the water reaches the windows. Hard to believe but that was what I was told.

When we were at Kpg. Kudei, I was lucky to be able to meet Mr. Fabian who is the secretary and the person in charged of the mobile soup kitchen.

Caught a picture of Mr. Fabian when he was talking :)

The villagers know him as 'SKUP'. They thought that is his actual name!!! :D

Walking out of the Kpg.

After the trip, I asked Mr. Fabian a few questions about the society and found out that:

1. There was no one real founder. It was a few friends who shared the same idea of healping the urban poor of Kuching that mooted the idea. One of them was Datuk Lily Yong and another is Ir. Peter Wong Hung Huang and the rest are the founding committee members. That include Lai Lim Hon, Dr. Francis Sia, Mr. Fabian, and some others. However, when the committe was formed, it appointed datuk Lily Yong as its advisor.

2. The committee motivated the move although some are more a sleeping partners. They also invite volunteers to join. Some write-ups in the newspapers had somewhat provided information to keen-volunteers to join SKUP.

3. I was very concern with the amount of food given for free to these people and how long will SKUP continue giving them food. Mr. Fabian assured me that SKUP will provide as long as they can, with the support of the generosity of the public. He sees it as a continous affair/operation for many good years to come.

4. The first phase of the operation is to feed the poor and the second phase is to identify those who can work, to train them to work and earn their own living. SKUP aims to help the poor to break out of their vicious cycle of poverty and be on their own two feet, not just by feeding them.

5. When this committee started sometime in September 2010, they supplied 100 meals per day. Now, they are giving out 200 meals per day! It is estimated that it will reach 300 meals per day by end of March! Although they have not started campaigning for fund-raising and donations, people are generally generous and willing to contribute to help the poor.

6. The Society do not just give free meals to anyone. They did their survey after giving the recipients meals for a week or so. Most recipients with 3 to 6 children, have household income of less than RM500 a month.

7. Currently, there are 80 volunteers. The Society expects to have 100 volunteers by end of March 2011. They will be divided into various sub-committees such as:

(a) Mobile Soup Kitchen

(b) Welfare

(c) Education & Training

(d) Projects

(e) Chinese/Mandarin Speaking

(f) Dayak/Malay Speaking

(g) Religion

(h) Logistics

(i) Others

From what I see, the society is doing a good job. It was very different from what I experienced in KL 2 years ago, where it was more of the rich stealing from the poor.

For those who are interested to volunteer, you may do so you may contact the number on the van - 017-8515225

Or donate via cheques payable to: The Society for Kuching Urban Poor
EON Bank Account No.: 0057-10-021320-7

P/S: Please scan and email or fax the bank slip to SKUP for ease of record and audit purpose. Should you need an official receipt, it will be issued and sent.

Email: siafran@yahoo.com
Fax: 082-463518