During one of my train journeys up to Chiangmai, I met a man who was born in UK but grew up and worked in Australia. He went on a round the world back-packing tour and stayed in Penang for two years. Whenever his social visit visa expired, he would take a train journey to Bangkok. After a night or two, he would travel on the train back to Butterworth(the main land side). He spent his two years as an unpaid volunteer to feed the street people in Penang.
He considered his time well spent as his way of contributing to society. When I asked him if he had any difficulty entering and reentering that many times, he said none. After all, most of the immigration officials in my country are Muslim and they believe in good deeds to the poor. While they worked at jobs that feed their big families, they have no quarrel to pick with this foreigner who has his own means that enable him to do charity work in our fair land.
That was about ten years ago. I saw the feeding station he mentioned from my hotel window. I was surprised that it was still open and some people were still eating at 10:30 pm. Food prices are still going up but wages remained very low. With thousands of foreign workers flooding in to take most of the low level jobs, locals who work at menial jobs would be hard pressed to earn enough to feed, clothe and educate their children without any aid.
No comments:
Post a Comment