Kembara Kitchen, a social enterprise made up of hardworking volunteers, was among those organisations that quickly got to work during the first Movement Control Order (MCO) in March.
Besides distributing care packs to families who lost their income, they also delivered hot meals and personal protective equipment (PPE) to members of the police force and Fire and Rescue Department, as well as medical staff at hospitals.
Now with Malaysians battling the third wave of Covid-19, volunteers at Kembara Kitchen have once again rolled up their sleeves to answer the call of duty.
Its co-founder, William Cheah, told FMT that his team is divided into three groups, each tasked with one major responsibility; organising care packs, cooking and delivering hot meals, and raising funds for those in most need of financial assistance in Sabah.
“Care pack aid is where we provide basic groceries to fulfil the requests of individuals and partner NGOs such as OKU Sentral, Hope, Anak Kami and others,” Cheah said, explaining that there are over 30 NGOs that his organisation works with.
He explained that these partnerships, forged during the MCO period in March, has continued to this day.
Each care pack consists of essential items such as 5kg of rice, cooking oil, salt, sugar, flour, sardines, biscuits, milk, noodles, soy sauce, chicken and vegetables.
Kembara Kitchen has received over 3,000 requests for care packs, and the team has managed to supply 800 care packs so far.
Cheah explained that the team responsible for cooking and delivering hot meals work from their individual premises if help is required within the Klang Valley.
However, if food assistance is required in areas such as the East Coast, a field kitchen is set up there instead.
“We provided 110 packs of food twice a day for those in the Tropicana cluster, mainly to the caddy staff who were under lockdown until Oct 18.”
Meals were also sent twice daily to nursing students and emergency department personnel of the University of Malaya Medical Centre (UMMC).
According to Cheah, everyone has pitched in wholeheartedly to make a success of Kembara Kitchen’s contributions to society.
He said the kitchen crew and volunteers cook and pack food from 7am to 6pm every day and have been at it for the past two weeks.
Cheah said the situation in Sabah was among the worst he’s seen so far.
He cited its geographic location, population, lack of education coupled with little awareness of Covid-19 as contributing factors to the severity of the situation over there, made worse by the recent Sabah elections.
He told FMT that the Covid-19 situation there today is far worse than it ever was even in Peninsula Malaysia when the outbreak was at its peak in March.
Back then, he said, the SOPs for volunteers included wearing face masks and gloves. However, in Semporna today, volunteers must don full PPE suits when distributing care packs and aid.
Furthermore, many of those in dire need of assistance live on islands and floating villages only accessible by boat. Other areas don’t even have proper roads.
To raise more funds, Kembara Kitchen launched the sale of recyclable face masks at RM18 apiece. Cheah explained that each mask will generate about RM9 profit that will be channelled to Sabah for much needed aid.
“We have sent about RM60,000 in funds to our partner distribution teams in Kunak, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Tawau.
“Right now, we are also working out a more comprehensive aid programme which includes a goods donation drive. We hope to send the aid via a flight direct to Tawau Airport,” he said.
Malaysians interested in helping Kembara Kitchen can do so by donating cash, goods or volunteering their time when manpower is required.
Help can even come in its simplest form, such as sharing the cause on social media.
“We must realise that we are in this together and the only way we are going to get out of this is by being together. Help those in need if you can, but if you can’t, don’t make things worse,” Cheah says.
You can check out Kembara Kitchen’s Facebook and Instagram for updates. To support their fundraising cause, you can purchase their wearable face masks here.