The Light of Cheer penetrated Kapar

Saturday, 6th November 2010

The Build-up towards Deepavali.

This year, Deepavali, was celebrated on Friday, 5th November 2010. All over the country, our Hindu & Indian friends welcomed this Festival of Light eagerly.

Kapar Folks were no different. They may be poor but they still looked forward to Deepavali. We, at FRIENDS OF KAPAR worked very, very hard to ensure that Deepavali this year, could be celebrated cheerfully by our Families. Many people were involved in this excercise. Current & past families assisted by FRIENDS OF KAPAR were enlisted into The Deepavali Feeding List. As there were allocation for 80 Families, we added more families into the List so that the cheer could be spread around wider and to many more needy and poor families. The potential families were introduced, visited & interviewed before they were asked to come for registration at THE CNC. At The CNC, they were registered and were issued a coupon to collect their food packages on the respective days. Registration went smoothly. Thank You to our Tutors - Mdm. Josephine, Ms. Barni & Ms. Prabha - who helped in the registration excercise.


Preparation towards Deepavali started very, very early. We started the mechanism of preparation & planning as early as in the month of July. Potential & interested Donors were contacted. Meetings & presentations were arranged. Pledges were made. In October, the food items were finalized. By mid-October, orders & purchases for the food items were made.

I really could not have done this excercise without the support of Ms. Norisah A. Rahman aka Liza as she is fondly refered to - a Store Manager with Speed 99 Convenience Store in Cova Square. She helped in the organising of the purchasing & ordering of the food items. This small statured young lady is a gem. She ensured that orders were fulfilled within the stipulated time. Some items were not available even after being ordered from Speed 99 Warehouse. Eventhough she was very, very busy, she took the time to drive with me around ALL Speed 99 Convenience Stores in Kota Damansara and personally purchased the required items, portion by portion until the quota was met! I will be writing to Speed 99 S/B informing them of her extra special services towards FRIENDS OF KAPAR.

By the third week of October all food items in the List were safely purchased and waiting, ready to be packed. 80 fresh chickens were also ordered from CP Chicken Shop, Uptown, Damansara. Instructions were given to ensure that the chicken were deep frozen and ready to be picked up on the respective Distribution Days.They opened especially early - 7:00am for FRIENDS OF KAPAR. Thank You So Much, Ain & Team.

On Sunday, 17th October 2010, FRIENDS OF KAPAR took The Kapar Kidz shopping to buy them a pair of sandals each. Out of the 150 children on our List, 120 children came on that day. They were taken to Pusat Pakaian Ekonomi VICTORIA : 31-33, Jln. Besar, Kapar. As there were so many of them, we had to divide these children into a group of 10 accompanied by 2 Minders at any one time. The children were delighted! Thank you to our Tutors & Volunteers at C3 - for organising the children. Thank you also to Mr. BK Chia for the generous discounts.

On the following Sunday - 24th October 2010, new tee-shirts were distributed. The Kapar Kidz @ The CNC were given priority. Sarees as well as Shalwar Kameez were also given out to the Mommies of Kapar. There were happy faces all around!

On Friday, 22nd October 2010 - we went to The Chow Kit Wet Market and ordered the fresh vegetables. These were to be collected a week later, just prior to the actual Deepavali Feeding Day.


From 25th - 27th October, the dried food items were packed. There were 160 bags of food items and these were distributed to 80 Families. On 31st October, half of these bags were transported to The CNC - which became a Distribution Centre. On that same day too, coupons were distributed to 42 poor & underprivileged families. These families were chosen based on the their very low income as well as income per kapita.

That night - we went to The Chow Kit Wet market to collect the fresh vegetables. We bought 80kg brinjals, 80kg carrots, 80kg potatoes, 80 heads cabbage.

On Monday, 1st November & Tuesday 2nd November, 2010 - the fresh vegetables were packed. Zaidi & Cynthia came to help, after work. In fact, they came on both Monday night as well as on Tuesday night, just to help in the packing of the fesh vegetables and fruits, as these had to be done at the last minute. Thank You, Zaidi & Cynthia - you took the effort to pack even though you were so dead tired after work. I really, really appreciate your assistance.

As there were 80 families - the Deepavali Feeding had to be spread out into 2 days, ie. 40 families on Tuesday, 2nd November & another 40 families on Wednesday, 3rd November 2010. In the morning from 9:30am to 12:30 noon - food packages were distributed to 20 families. After Lunch, the food packages were distributed from The CNC. 21 families came on each of the 2 days. FRIENDS OF KAPAR organised a lunch of very delicious Nasi Lemak & Chicken Rendang for the Donors & Volunteers on that day. Thank You Nasi Lemak Achi. It was yummy!


Each family received 2 bags of dried goods consisting of dhall, 2 packets curry powder,1kg sugar, MILO, fruit cordial, cooking oil, 1 kg flour, a big tin of biscuits, 2 cans sardines, fruit jam, Nescafe, jelly, 1 whole chicken, 2kg lamb, 1 head cabbage, 1 kg carrots, 1 kg brinjal, 1 kg potatoes, fresh juicy apples, 5kg rice. The little children were given tubes of Smarties, the Mommies of Kapar were given a batik sarong each. Some of the old men were given a sarong each. The 5 handicapped children of Kapar were also given a new set of clothing. The babies were provided with milk powder and where necessary a pack of disposable diapers. All in all there were something for everybody!