Heidy Quah the Founder and Director of Refuge for The Refugees has seen a surge in people seeking food aids during the pandemic. Their weekend food aid distribution has double in numbers from giving away 500 food packs to 1000 food packs due to demand.
The team at Refuge for The Refugees are on the ground feeding 1000 families every weekend, the families consist of refugees, migrants and local Malaysian B40 group who have lost their jobs due to the pandemic.
We catch up with Heidy Quah to find out what’s happening on the ground.
You are on the ground, getting food aids ready every weekend to distribute to refugees. Tell us, What’s the situation really like?
When the lockdown continued this year, we saw an increasing number of families reaching out for help. At one point in time, our hotline was ringing every 10 minutes. just been really worrying about what’s happening on the ground. Each and every time we go into the communities. Into PPR flats and low-cost communities to give out aid. We would end up having about another 100 families trying to stop us to be registered on to our system. So that they can receive aid as well.
What goes into your food bags?
The food packs we distribute are valued at Rm60 for a family of four. The supply is sufficient to last a family between a week and a half to 2 weeks. What typically goes into our bags would typically be basic necessities such as rice, bihun, flour, eggs, potatoes, onions, dhal, garlic, vegetables, chicken, can sardines and curry powder. When their supplies run out, they can then reapply and reach out to us once again.
Where do you get your funding from?
We usually get our funding from public donors, just people, well-meaning Malaysians that want to do their part in helping other people who are struggling this season. If anyone would like to contribute, you can write to us at Refugetorefugees@gmail.com, or check out our Facebook page drop us a message there and we will get back to you.
What’s your opinion on the Bandera Putih movement?
I think it’s a really heart-breaking movement. It’s been really heartbreaking knowing that people are at the brink of desperation. It’s also been really heartwarming actually to see Malaysia come together to meet the needs. In the past two weeks, you’ve seen everyone coming together to try and meet the needs of those who are struggling and that has been really encouraging to me.
Volunteers with the team at Refuge for The Refugees preparing Food Packs for distribution.
How are you staying safe during this pandemic?
It has been really worrying going out on the ground given that cases are so high at the moment. And the variant has been really bad. For my team and I, we make sure that we double mask and gear up as much as possible each and every time we go into the community. Health-wise it making sure that we try our best to stay safe when it comes to Covid-19. But for me, mental health has also been a huge thing. I stay safe and sane. For me what really helps is knowing when to seek professional help when I feel that I’m on the brink of a burnout. And this is very real just because of being in the frontline of constantly receiving requests for help, witnessing suicide cases within low-cost communities. I think my mental health has taken a severe impact but I’m really thankful for access to just being able to reach out to seek professional help, each and every time I need it. And I really encourage people to do the same. We need to stop stigmatizing mental health. I think more than just keeping ourselves safe in terms of just preventing ourselves from catching on to Covid 19. I feel that we also need to keep our, mental health in check.
What’s your message to the people?
The only thing I’ll say is to check in on the community around you. Check in on your friends especially those you have not heard from in a while. Even if they seem to be ok, make sure that you reach out. I think it’s really important now that we depend on one another. The only way we will get thru this is if we get through this together.
