KUALA LUMPUR, April 22 — Muslims during the Ramadan month could look forward to breaking their fast with food from the bazaars, and to feasting with their families during the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.
But many children in Malaysia’s capital city face hunger every day or have only plain rice to eat, causing them to be malnourished.
If you would like to help them and their families but are not sure how, Yayasan Chow Kit (YCK) can guide you.
The non-profit organisation operates a 24-hour crisis and drop-in centre providing meals to at-risk children and teenagers around the national capital’s Chow Kit area and has observed that the number of hungry children in Kuala Lumpur has “spiked” after the Covid-19 pandemic.
YCK CEO Ananti Rajasingam said there are many reasons for the increase in hungry children in Kuala Lumpur, mostly based on circumstances and with common reasons including poverty, food insecurity and lack of access to nutritious meals.
“KL being a city centre, food prices have hiked due to low supplies and higher demand as many Malaysians from other states tend to migrate to KL in hope of better pastures and a better life, not knowing KL being a city comes with many other challenges,” she told Malay Mail when contacted.
Based on data sourced from schools in the neighbourhood on children aged between seven and 18, Ananti said Chow Kit has an estimated population of 700 children, with at least half of them facing “hunger and difficulties in getting nutritious meals daily”.
RM252,000 a year
YCK has stepped in to help some of these hungry children get one healthy hot meal every day, but it is an expensive endeavour as the cost of goods have been rising.
“We currently feed 100 children a month between the ages 7-12. These children reside in Chow Kit and neighbouring areas such as Kampung Baru, Sentul, Ampang, Jalan Pahang and Jalan Ipoh. These children are registered with the centre. There are other NGOs who feed the homeless too.
“It costs RM700/day; RM21,000 a month and RM252,000 a year to prepare just one meal a day for these children. With a meal costing RM7, it can only provide the very basics of rice, a protein, vegetables and a fruit.
“We also have to supplement the caterer with 50kg of rice as RM7 does not help cover the full meal cost due to the rise in the price of things. Funds are always a challenge as many don’t see the individual costs that NGOs have to bear,” she said.
How have the meals changed the children’s lives?
While it is challenging to fund this effort of feeding hungry children with nutritious meals, Ananti said YCK has seen these children improve in terms of their health and also in terms of concentration levels at school.
“Through our years of support, we see the significant impact food has on children. We used to receive children who are malnourished as their parents could not provide healthy meals at home. Children used to live on plain white bread or Maggi noodles or sometimes not have anything but white rice.
“With the meals provided, we see children having healthy weight gain, proper nourishment and look much healthier. They are more focused in school as they have enough energy to last them throughout the day and their concentration is much sharper.
“With proper nutrition, we find that children fall sick less, maybe due to a stronger immune system,” she said.
YCK has been able to help provide meals for its centre’s children to break their fast during the Ramadan period and also for their “sahur” or pre-fast meals that are typically taken before dawn, but hopes for continued funding to be able to feed them throughout the year.
“Ramadan and other festive months are usually the months when the public are more generous in giving. We are blessed this Ramadan to be able to provide not just nutritious meals but also give children the opportunity to enjoy different menus for their fasting. We also give some additional food to children to help them with their ‘sahur’.
“However, the focus should not just be on fasting or festive months, the public should be aware of the importance of healthy meals for children and be able to provide continuous support to enable us to sustain our hot meals programme for our children,” she said.
Here’s your chance to chip in
On March 25, YCK launched a crowdfunding campaign on the Give.Asia platform, with the aim of raising RM50,000 for the campaign titled “Fill Hearts, Fight Hunger: Ramadan Food Drive for Kids”.
YCK said it hopes to supplement families with food aid to help them ease their financial burdens during Hari Raya.
“This way, children we serve will be able to enjoy the festive season as equally as the rest of the nation.
“We were planning to use the funds raised to buy food packs for the families to help them with their Raya celebration. We truly hope that we are able to do this to be able to give families and their children some joy and to be able to celebrate Hari Raya with much happiness without worrying about the lack of money.
“With funds raised, we will help purchase basic foods such as rice bags, oil, sugar, flour, noodles, condensed milk... etc. Families will be able to use these items to prepare nice meals or cookies for the festive season,” it told Malay Mail.
Here’s the link to YCK’s ongoing fundraising campaign.
You can choose to give a one-off donation or donate monthly, and can even choose a custom amount to give.
YCK said the donations will help change lives, as it will show the children that people do “care and want to help”, and offer them hope amid their poverty.
“You can be the hero who helps them fight hunger and poverty, building a brighter future for them and their families. Your generosity provides grocery packs, new clothes, and pocket money during Hari Raya for treats, toys, books, or whatever they like,” it said on the Give.Asia website.
