Food from the Heart💖

I finally had the chance to help Raksha out with the food distribution, a collaboration between "Food from the Heart" and NUS CARE. And I must say, what an experience.

We collected the food packages (which weighed a ton btw) from the warehouse of "Food From the Heart" and set off to the first destination where we had to deliver the packages to their homes. Each house was entitled to a bag of food and a tray of eggs. When we delivered the food to their homes, their smiles and heartfelt gratitude really warmed my heart. Many invited us in for tea or just to chat. One of the beneficiaries was an elderly man who lives alone. He was extremely excited when he saw us and insisted for us to come in for tea. Of course we rejected but I could sense his loneliness and desire for company but he was still smiling and thanked us profusely for the food.

The second location was a pick-up system where the beneficiaries would collect the food from the pick-up point. As Raksha knows most of them, they would engage in casual conversations and this was when I heard more stories from the beneficiaries. One of them was an extremely bubbly lady who talked about her life and health issues in a very positive tone. She was also laughing and talking about her friends in the community and I just felt that she's really an admirable person- to be able to still be so cheery despite her circumstances.

Upon hearing that I needed to talk to ex-offenders, she directed me to another beneficiary whose husband have just got released from prison. I delivered the food package to her house, explained the entire purpose and approach of our project and asked if her husband would be willing to talk to me. She was very forth-coming and supportive of the bottom-up approach. She felt that that was the right way to know and understand the community instead of just looking from the top/outside. She agreed to the interview immediately and gave me her contact number to schedule for an interview with her husband. We talked briefly and she shared a lot with me about her family's circumstances.

We will be scheduling an interview with her husband soon and we are all very looking forward to it.