Living on hope and charity

PETALING JAYA: Leaving the house shattered by the brutality of war and not knowing whether you and your family will live to see another day is bad enough.
Worse than the horrors of war is to face an uncertain future, not knowing when the next meal is coming from and no accommodation to shelter from the bone-chilling sub zero temperatures.
This is the plight of thousands of Syrian refugees who fled their war-torn country and ended up in the sleepy town of Tabanovce in Macedonia where they will walk about 4km across the border to Serbia in freezing conditions to get to their refugee camp.
The refugees arrived from Gevgelia, situated four hours away from Tabanovce at the Macedonia-Greece border.
It was reported that in 2015, more than 850,000 people entered Greece to seek refuge and many more are expected this year.
The United Sikhs Malaysia Humanitarian Aid organisation volunteers are have been in Tabanovce since December to provide these refugees with hot meals as they disembark from trains.
Its aid coordinator Rishiwant Singh said most of the refugees had not had a hot meal for more than a day after arriving in Tabanovce.
"Our volunteers help them on their arrival in 'The silent train of Tabanovce'. Silent because the refugees are in a state of shock as they have to endure temperatures which they have never faced before and have to deal with," he told theSun in a telephone interview from Macedonia.
He said each refugee pays 25 euros (about RM100) for their train journey, which is five times more than what the locals are charged.
"There is also a deafening silence when they get off the train when they learn that they have to walk 4km in the cold to get to the camps in Serbia," he said.
Three NGOs have joined hands to serve these unfortunate people. This task is compounded by the fact that the communities that run these NGOs have been on opposing sides in conflicts.
"We have Kastriot Rexhepi of NUN Culture Civil Association leading a Sunni Muslim organisation. We have Arben Sulejmani, a Sufi Muslim, chief of staff of the Bektashi community of Macedonia, leading the Bektashi mission and we have the United Sikhs," said Rishiwant.
"We have come together to serve humanity showing how various religious groups can work together in times of human tragedy to serve some 25,000 refugees in the last seven weeks," said Rishiwant.
He said the hot meal of lentils that they serve the refugees is the most important hot meal they will have as they journey to Serbia under extreme conditions.
Rishiwant, however, expressed concern that their mission could come to a grinding halt with funds dwindling with every meal served.
"We need funds to sustain this mission and it is running very low at the moment," he said.
Rishiwant urged Malaysians during this festive period, to donate what they can for people who have nothing but the hope of a better life.
"We want to help them irrespective of caste, religion or creed. This is a human cause and we should help them. Let's not forget those with no food this festive season."
Donations can be wired to United Sikhs Malaysia Humanitarian Aid Organisation's CIMB Bank account (80-0755672-4).
Donors can send the transaction slip to unitedsikhsmalaysia@gmail.com for receipts and accountability.