Sharing Our Love With Tangerang

Due to family reason, this article is late. But I am happy to finally had the time to sit down and to write this long overdue article and published it. This event happened on January 19, 2008.

Our next visit was a small settlement outside of Jakarta in the city of Tangerang. We were late, way late. Initially, the plan was for 2.30 pm. We didn’t leave until about 3.30 pm. This time we traveled in a 4-car convoy; mostly because we have more packages to deliver. Our initial pledge was 100 packages, but due to a mishap in our earlier charity, we had extra packages to donate. A priest, who we contacted prior to the event has pre-selected 100 families, based on their need to receive our donation.

The trip was pretty fun. Coordinating direction for a 4-car convoy in a Jakarta traffic jam is no easy task; especially when the only person who knows the direction drove like a maniac while the rest of us were catching up. We arrived around 5 pm. We were apologetic about the timing of our arrival but all is forgotten because today is a happy day for everyone involved.

The priest opened the event with a short speech, proceeded with a speech by a friend of mine Julie; who apologized yet again for being late. The priest’s wife led a sing-together and followed by a prayer by the priest.

After the prayer, we distributed the food and packages to the family. Each of the 100 families receive a ticket, which they exchange for a package of food. Since the priest only distributed 100 tickets, we had about 20 extra packages. We left the food with the priest, who agreed to distribute them to the other 20 families.

We walked around the neighborhood for a bit. It’s similar to some villages in my hometown. Come to think of it, I haven’t walked around in a village like this in a long time. You feel the closeness between the neighbors; where everyone knows each other and greet each other. I don’t even see that in my small hometown anymore. It’s a shame really.

It’s time for us to take a lesson from the ‘less-fortunate’. Why can’t we take a little time to observe people around us who might not be as fortunate and all we have to do is just say ‘how are you doing?’ Just treat others with a little dignity. I don’t think it is too much to ask.

There was a lady outside the church who didn’t have a ticket. We asked her to come in but she hesitated because she didn’t have a ticket. In a time of need, she could definitely use a helping hand and yet she didn’t want to appear greedy. I was so touched by her humility and at the same time I was so ashamed of what this world has become. The greed, the rat-race, the power-struggle, etc.

Nonetheless, today was a great day. We shared our love with 3 communities. A friend I haven’t seen in more than 15 years came out to help out as well. Thanks to Julie, Danny, Xiang, Hui, Grace, Handa, Hendrawan, Jeffrey, and Patricia who took time off their busy day to help make a difference in others life.

Thanks to all the donors whose generous contribution make this event possible.

You can read about the other 2 events earlier in the day here: