What A Day- The Better Bits.

And from a fairly interesting, if somewhat stressful start, (not good for my blood pressure which is why I wasn't feeling so great in the first place), things just got better.

Better in a sort of strange way. I mean the work on our second run last night was fairly tough, and somewhat unusual.

The tough parts....well being down the river at the Lost City and seeing sound asleep one of our girls who we had helped get off the street some months ago to give birth was back, sound asleep and next to her, her baby. Under a flyover, on the riverbank. Let them sleep and follow up was the decision.

One of our street friends at Bangkok Bank, wrapped up in a blanket and suffering from a flu and fever. Quick examination, normal flu symptoms, some medication and extra water and on to the next location.

Watching the water rise in the river at the Lost City and ensuring that some of the street folks were keeping watch to raise the alarm if it came too high.

Being asked to examine a chap at McDonalds Kota Raya who had just been in a fight with some Indian guys. He was bleeding slightly from his nose, cut lip, cut above his left eye, left eye swollen and bruised. Problem was he had been drinking and heavily.

He would not respond properly to allow me to 'repair' him.

An examination revealed no broken bones, breathing normal, pulse rate normal, no lacerations to vital areas.

 He resisted this examination and so I left some painkillers, iodine solution, bandages, plasters, and cotton wool to his friend to get him cleaned up when he woke properly. Nothing abnormal about his condition which looked worse than it actually was. Left him some clean shirts to put on after his friend cleaned him up in the morning.

Then there was the good stuff.

I got the micky taken out of me by some of our street friends at the Lost City for losing the plot earlier in the afternoon which Feexa found most amusing, bless her.

One of the guys at Bangkok Bank who had been unwell for a couple of weeks and who we treated for his flu symptoms was much improved and back to his normal self.

We got an amazing 130 packs of beautiful food from our volunteer Sharul from Bank Islam who had left his wedding reception to bring them down to us at 11.30pm. I can only image what  his 'abandoned' new wife must have thought hehehehehehehehehe!!
Seriously though, what compassion from Sharul. Respect.

And then there was the Masjid India incident.

We had delivered some boxes of clothes and the street guys were going through selecting what they needed. One of our 'ladyboys' who is on the street there stepped up and began selecting some gents shirts.

The guy then went to a box of ladies clothes, selected a blouse and handed it to our "ladyboy".

The conversation went something like this:
Ladyboy... " why you giving ladies clothes to me? For what?"
Guy... "cause thats what you wear right?"
Ladyboy... " who says so?"
Guy... " this is more suitable for you".
Ladyboy... "you wanna make fun of me?"
Guy... "just trying to help. Its pretty and your style".
Ladyboy... "so you wanna make fun of me. You dont make fun of me. Maybe your parents were same as me you know".
Guy... "huh?"
This was related to me by Feexa who observed this. I was off with the crew at the other end of Masjid India at the time. Feexa giggled a lot after this incident!

One of our homeless at Masjid India wrapped up in his blanket with his cat also wrapped up in his blanket sleeping side by side together.

Stopping at the Lost City to be met with one of our furry friends who runs up to me as soon as he sees me, every time, without fail. I get a meow, a bit of rubbing on my leg and a welcome that makes your eyes tear up.

Listening to Melvin's stories from Klang operations some that really crack me up.

Standing and watching our volunteers go about their work and knowing that every night our boys and girls are out there doing the same.

There is a camaraderie in Reach Out that goes beyond words or writing.

I had a note from Amin in Germany before I set out on our 2nd run last night. It said that it was Saturday and despite the time difference he knew we would be setting out for our run and that he missed us. He just wanted to say that he missed us.

No words, no writing can really explain properly the ups and downs of what we do.
But we do it. Again and again, and again, and again.

Because we can. Because we care. Because they need our help.

What a day!

What A Day- The Early Part!

I suppose that everything happens for a reason.

Ive given up trying to understand why and just accept that, well, that is how it is.

Yesterday is a good example of the highs and lows, the tests and balances of working with Reach Out.

I was not in the best frames of mind yesterday, (what do you mean that's normal for me)? I am normally quite sensible, (yeah ok its a 50/50 shout on that), but I try!

Ive been a bit under the weather recently and was in no real mood to be screwed about.

You see, I will never accept rudeness or nothing less than the truth. That's just who I am.

So when I get confronted with that I tend to do my 'Hulk' thing.

And so it came to pass that yesterday afternoon 'The Hulk' came out in full force.

We have had a particular 'difficulty' with one of our lady street folks before, trying to steal food, bitching and complaining about everything. She is well known amongst the street folks for her bad attitude.

So yesterday she receives her food from us as normal together with the other 200+ we served at Bus Stand Klang.

We decided to donate some clothes we recently got over the last two weeks and last Saturday and yesterday we arranged queues for ladies and gents, got the clothes out and began to distribute. Actually, what we do is have them queue up and then help them one by one select suitable garments from our clothes boxes.

This particular lady is first in the queue. She selects some items and then moves off. All is good. but then she comes back pushing others out of the way. So I stop her and ask her to rejoin the queue at the end of the line.

I then see her going to the side of the mens queue and snatching clothes from one of our elderly gents who is in the queue selecting his clothes. I snatch them back and then ban her from the line. She is told to go away and that we will not serve her.

She then accuses me of not providing food, which I refute as I personally served her about 30 minutes earlier. I am then subject to a torrent of filth, to which, as this is a Chinese lady, I respond to in some fairly street Cantonese I know, (one of the great things the Royal Hong Kong Police taught me)! I am then forced to follow her up and down the street to make sure she does not rejoin the queue and disturb those who have been queuing patiently.

Filth after filth is spewed from this womans mouth, I'm a "bastard', a "fucking uneducated Australian", (which amused me being Scottish), told to "fuck off bastard you don't belong here", a "fucking asshole European", to "get out of my country bastard you dont belong here", that my wife was a "filthy fucking whore", to name just a few of the lovely expressions thrown my way.

I must admit I raised my voice slightly ( well actually she got the full force of my flowery Scottish vocabulary, and of course the said Cantonese).

Amazingly enough I was approached by numerous of our street friends after this who thanked me for putting her in her place as they were fed up with her attitude.

You see, rudeness wont be tolerated. Lies wont be tolerated in the work that I do.

We are volunteers. We do this out of our care and our compassion.

Others may say well just walk away. I don't think so.

Why?

Because if one person is allowed to get away with that the whole fabric of what we do disintegrates and others will become the same as that lady. The trust is gone as others on the street will think that we don't care about order, commitment, care, fairness.

I hope that the lesson she learned yesterday will change her but I doubt it as she has done this so many times before.

What a start to an amazing day.