The Rescue.

There is never a dull moment in Reach.
But sometimes odd moments take your breath away.
There was one such moment on Saturday worth relating as this is one of the clearest indications to me of how all those volunteers in Reach come from the same compassionate world.
I was at Bus Stand Klang with Feexa, Datin Sury and Lucas just finishing off our late food run.
It was about 4.am Sunday morning.
Enn, Jaja, Amin, Jeff and Ling had gone to finish another part of the route and we were going to meet up for our final sort of debrief before heading home and getting some well deserved sleep.
However, other plans were afoot!
Datin got a call from Enn who was at the KMT. She had come across a family sleeping down some steps and under a set of arches close to the main road. Enn asked for some assistance.
So off we sped.
On arrival, and this is really difficult to explain in words, I was met by a scene of some distress.
A mother and her six children were asleep on the concrete and the father was sitting guarding his family.
They were very poor, shabbily dressed and in some distress. Enn had already provided some food for the family.
We learned the families story from the father, that he had been thrown out of his home by his daughter in law after she had used all his money to pay bills, and when they had gone there to help take care of her and her house as she had been injured.
The father had no money left and had originally gone to the Mosque in Bangsar (the one next to Bangsar Village 1), where he was denied entry by the duty security guard despite having his full family with him.
At this stage it's important to note that the children ranged in age from a 7 month old baby to the eldest being 11 years of age!
They then made their way into town and sought somewhere to hide as they were awaiting the opening of JAWI offices on Monday where the father was going to apply for a loan of cash so that he could get his family back to their original home in Sungei Siput, Perak.
Before our arrival the father had been accosted by the Police who accused him of kidnapping the children. He sorted that one out and the Police left offering no help!
Later in the evening a "good samaritan" stopped and offered to help them get back to Perak but wanted the baby in return.
Again the father managed to get his way out of this and keep his family safe.
Due to these circumstances, we made a decision that they could not hang about until Monday as they were become easy prey for those that may want to harm them, so we agreed to take them to a hotel and give them a good nights sleep, while arranging for transport to get them home to Perak later on Sunday.
After searching three hotels who were all full we managed to get them into a down town hotel, very nice place and settled them in for the night.
Enn fed the kids to give the father and mother a break.
Feexa spent a lot of time with the Mum, while the rest of us made sure they had extra blankets, enough food, and made some arrangements for the forthcoming road trip.
Amin volunteered to stay with the family to ensure their safety but as they were safe in the hotel he instead gave the father his handphone with Enn's number in case of emergencies.
The father had earlier sold his handphone to get some food for the kids.
Once settled we left and later that morning Jaja, Daisy, Eric and Fen drove down to the hotel, picked up the family, and drove them to their home in Perak, a 4 hour journey up.
Despite being tired, having little or no sleep, having been on operations since 3pm on Saturday, these Reach volunteers pushed themselves to assist a family of eight in distress.
This type of compassion and total selflessness is a beautiful thing to behold.
It is pure and honest and done for no reward.
Again I say I am privileged to work with such human beings and humbled by the experience.
Sury, Enn, Feexa, Jaja, Amin, Lucas, Jeff, Ling, Eric, Fen, Daisy you stand out with all our other Reach volunteers as a beacon of light and hope in the ever growing darkness of poverty, discrimination, pain and suffering.