‘Prepare for the best, prepare for the worst and expect the unexpected.”
– Gary Busy, American actor.
DEAR friends, the Scout Motto “Be prepared” is a good motto in life.
It means you are always in a state of readiness in mind and body to do your duty. You are also always prepared mentally for any eventuality in life.
This motto came to my mind when I read the story of a university student who said he had to starve for 24 hours because his campus management closed the cafeterias during the recent Hari Raya celebration.
A senior later came to this student’s rescue by buying him some food and refusing to accept his money.
Apparently, according to the story carried by the New Straits Times, the student and his friends depended on the cafeterias for their daily meals.
Like the netizens who followed his viral emotional video, I wondered why he did not stock up on some dry food like biscuits or other food with long shelf life that could be eaten right out of the boxes.
Why didn’t he prepare himself for the days when the cafeterias would be closed?
When asked by a Tik Tok user why he did not order takeout through FoodPanda or Grab, the student replied that the FoodPanda service was not available in the campus area while Grab orders were often cancelled.
Some netizens then suggested that in future, perhaps he could sneak in a rice cooker and get some dry food like eggs, noodles, onions and rice to cook.
Another pointed out that there should be a cooking hall on the campus to prepare simple dishes like eggs and rice.
Yet another suggested that perhaps the students should pool some money and buy a stove and cooking gas.
I don’t know whether Malaysian students have access to cooking facilities on their campuses.
But in Wales, United Kingdom, university students who stay on the campuses have access to their kitchens.
I was there for three months while pursuing a summer print journalism course conducted by the Thomson Foundation in 2005.
My coursemates and I had classes from Monday to Friday and during the weekends, sometimes we were free and sometimes we went on trips to other parts of the United Kingdom organised by the foundation.
I won a RM50,000 scholarship to pursue the course and received a weekly allowance of 20 pounds. I used the money to buy food. Most of the time I cooked. Sometimes I ate outside.
I never starved while I was studying there. I looked forward to the weekly visits to nearby supermarkets with coursemates who came from different parts of the world including Africa, Mexico and India. Those were the times we bought fresh vegetables, meat and dry food.
When I was pursuing my Lower Six and Upper Six studies at St Thomas’ Secondary School in Kuching in the late 70s, I was a boarder at St Teresa’s School.
I stayed there with a dozen other girls from St Elizabeth’s Secondary School, Sibu.
At first, our meals were prepared by the cooks at St. Teresa’s Convent. Later on, we depended on a kind lady who operated the nearby St. Bernadette’s School canteen for our meals. Of course, we paid for all the meals.
Again, my friends and I never went hungry when we were boarders in Kuching. We always had simple biscuits to turn to.
In those days, instant noodles or rice cookers were not in fashion yet. So we ate simple basic meals consisting rice, soup and some meat.
Life was simple then. We accepted life as it was — quietly and gracefully without much ado.
The university student who posted the viral emotional video later apologised to the campus management for claiming that no food was provided during the public holidays.
He admitted his misunderstanding. He said although the cafeterias were closed, the management had arranged plans for students with financial issues or those facing problems in getting food supplies.
He added that the university had provided food and beverages for students but he was not aware of this.
Anyway, I hope this particular student has learnt a valuable lesson in life from his recent experience. That it pays to be prepared.
I hope he will be more prepared in future so that he does not go hungry again when the cafeterias are closed.
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
