iQlas

Road to Selama

2010-05-07T13:35:00.000+08:00

From As's nephew, we got a list of the hardcore poor people around the country. The nephew/ cousin followed some NGO group to visit these places, so it is a first hand experience. Upon checking the List, we decided that our target for this year would be:

Ijok, Selama, Perak

The conditions that these people call these places their homes are quite appalling! Sometimes you do wonder where all the 'zakat' money goes too cause it seems that these people definitely deserved the allocations without a doubt.

Photos taken back in 2008.

Based on the List given, there were about 100 families that we can distribute clothing + food + etc. We set up a Committee to plan + organise the distribution, which took them about 2-3 months to plan.

This started about during the month of February 2010.
The whole process of planning, distributing, rearranging, packing was tiring, but it was worth it!! After all, it is for a good cause....

On 16 April 2010, all packaging were packed + ready to be shipped out the next day.
Now getting ready to load into the lorry

Yaatim

2009-12-17T16:17:00.000+08:00

Surau @ Kampong Kuala Krai

2009-12-14T12:57:00.000+08:00

Our prior post showed the poor families in Kubang Kerian, Kelantan. This now talks about a Surau in that particular Kampong. Looking at this photos, don't you just wonder......... Can't the Zakat money be spent here???????

The timber floor were all rotten!!!!

At a glance, can you actually even guess that this is a .........

Surau?

Imagine... this Surau is being used by the villagers daily, what more during the holy month of Ramadhan. During the rainy season, this place is flooded.

During this earlier visit in November 2008, we were only able to contribute some floor mats + fans only. However, we vowed to at least improve the conditions of the Surau, after all this is a place of worship.

So this year, we engaged a local contractor to upgrade the existing Surau. The villagers voiced their grievances that the rainwater usually seeped in + making the Surau not practical. So the solution was to demolished the whole Surau + rebuilding it on a higher base.

These are photos taken of the 'new' Surau, looking definitely more refreshing.... some non-mundande colors as well as some serious looking balustrates!

Given the limited budget that we had at that time, we were quite happy with the result + we sure hope the villagers think the same too. The Surau is even equiped with a PA System [ha ha!]

After the Surau was reconstructed, the villagers had a Kenduri with everyone coming together 'gotong-royong' cooking a feast!

Overall, it feels good to see the money being well spend without any extravagant..

Alhamdullillah!

Chenulang, Kuala Krai

2009-12-10T15:23:00.001+08:00

This is the first that we documented by taking photos while doing the deed. The earliers ones were not properly documented so it is not possible to show.

18 Nov 08 : As + Team had gone back to Kelantan [her hometown] to distribute packets of rice to the poor folks there in Kampong Chenulang, Kuala Krai.

On that day itself, there was no access to the folks' houses because it was flooded. So they distributed 14 packs of rice at this school to 14 families.

Looking at the condition of their houses, it is a wonder that families do live here and why they are not entitled to get the benefits of the zakat. However, at this time we only able to contribute rice, nothing more.

Total expenditure for buying the rice packets = RM

the beginings

2009-12-10T13:15:00.000+08:00

We have been doing our part for quite some time ago, but we believe this is the time to spread this through the net. By doing so, we hope that we can get more people out there to be aware + hopefully participate in this good cause.

Most of us do somewhat live comfortably [ok, many not rich, but not that poor]. Sometimes while we are busy making ends meet + get caught up into our own self-centered world, we do forget or we choose to ignore that there are people out there who are living in conditions that are beyond our imaginations [directing mainly to Malaysians, maybe in some third world countries, there is no need to imagine cause it's an everyday scene... i don't know]

We are a loose entity that hopes to give directly to the needy without going through red tape bueracracy + to actually know where our donation money is going to.... without a doubt. What prompted this was frustration of not knowing where our money went afterwards because some that should receive the benefits don't + some who should not be getting do.

What more in Malaysia, it seems that whatever 'zakat' that you contribute will stay in the state that you contribute.... Somehow this doesn't sound right cause what about the states that do not receive a lot of collection but have more poor people??? Should the money that is being collected be pooled + distributed fairly throughout, regardless whether you are poor anywhere? Definitely some glitch in the system. To add to this uneasiness, every year you see that amount collected from some states are in the hundred of millions but there are still so many needy people out there.. so why are not this money distributed?