Malaysian Media Personnel In London Spends Weekends Distributing Food For The Needy

By V. Sankara KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 10 (Bernama) -- A Malaysian media personnel based in London is making a difference in the lives of people in the city by distributing food to those who are facing challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sivagami Vinayagan, who is currently doing television shows for IBC Tamil (The International Broadcasting Corporation for Tamil) in London said it is important for the people in London to feel whole again. “Approximately, 900 food parcels are distributed per week ever since the first lockdown started in the United Kingdom (UK) in March last year. “I have been doing my part for the food distributions during weekends. It is truly heart-wrenching to personally see how many people are struggling for food. “These hot packed distributed food boxes have lifted up the spirits of many unfortunate,” she told Bernama via an email interview. The Kluang, Johor-born media personnel who is doing volunteer service with a charity organisation called the World Shirdi Sai Baba Organisation in East Ham, London, said she is still continuing with her noble cause distributing food in London during weekends despite the lockdown, with many Malaysian students benefiting from her cause. Johor is Malaysia’s southern state. The freelance stage and TV presenter, who has been involved in charity work for the past 10 years, said many homeless in London have been going through a hard time during these unprecedented times, with students supporting themselves working part-time to cover their course fees. “Due to lockdown, many students have lost their jobs and struggling to make ends meet on daily basis. Besides students, many working adults have also lost jobs and finding it difficult to cope,” said the UKM graduate. Commenting on the restrictions in London, Sivagami said among the restrictions are that people must stay at home but allowed to only go out for "a reasonable excuse”. “They can go out for exercise with one person from another household in an open public space’ however, they should stay two metres apart from each other,” she added. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the third lockdown in England on Jan 4 in a bid to rein in the surging coronavirus cases associated with the fast-spreading (coronavirus) strain. Asked on the vaccination process in London, Sivagami said generally, people are welcoming the vaccination in the UK as they are aware that it’s important to be vaccinated to be able to get things back to normal as soon as possible. International media reported that the UK government plans to vaccinate almost 15 million people in the top four priority groups by mid-February, and millions of more people aged 50 and over and other groups by spring. So far, three vaccines have been approved in the UK – Pfizer/BionTech, Oxford/AstraZeneca, and Moderna. Those on the vaccine priority list include people aged 16 and above with underlying health conditions and those aged between 50 and 80-plus, as well as frontline healthcare workers. Sivagami said people should take this pandemic very seriously and take the responsibility to adhere to the guidelines. “We have to look after ourselves as well as everyone around us including our family and friends. Hopefully, things will change and we will get back to our normal life soon,” said Sivagami who has been living in London since 2004. -- BERNAMA