Every Friday night at 8pm, a group of church members from St Mark’s Church Seremban leaves in a van with 20 or more food packets.
Calling it the Street Ministry, we distribute food to the homeless and vagrants in Seremban.
The Lake Gardens, the Lorong Java back-lane of pre-war buildings, Dataran Seremban, shopping centres in town and the city’s dark lanes are where they can be found.
The Seremban bus terminal used to be another favourite haunt but since last month, after its refurbishment, it has been closed to vagrants and beggars.
Lately, we noticed that the number of homeless and vagrants in Seremban has greatly reduced.
When we started the Street Ministry in the beginning of the year, the 20 food packets would be gone in a few minutes.
But lately, things have changed.
Now we have to really scout around for the homeless and vagrants in Seremban.
Dataran Seremban is devoid of vagrants sleeping on benches in the park.
On occasion, we would spot someone sleeping in the back lane of a shopping complex.
We see that the number of homeless and vagrants has dwindled in Seremban.
This must be due to the national policy of eradicating hardcore poverty, which Negri Sembilan government has adopted seriously.
These vagrants and homeless people in Seremban have been rounded up and placed in welfare homes.
These days we still go on our rounds, but there are fewer homeless persons to be found sleeping on the streets.
So, our 20 packets of food are distributed to shopping complex security guards, carwash workers and some B40 families.
Since the government’s call to eradicate abject poverty, there have been positive signs that measures and action have been taken to wipe out poverty.
Samuel Yesuiah
Seremban, Negri Sembilan
