COMMENT | Like clockwork, the volunteers begin the day. Even if you are there as a newcomer, it is easy to jump straight into the routine as makeshift workstations and packing sites spring up.

Trucks begin to arrive bearing supplies – rice, dhal, potatoes and cooking oil – all of which must be unloaded, repackaged and distributed. But off-site, work has been ongoing long before the volunteers arrive, and it must necessarily stay that way.

Lists of recipients are compiled, suppliers and deliveries confirmed, addresses and phone numbers of those who have fallen through the cracks of Malaysia’s existing safety net are saved on hand, the recipients ready to receive the packages that will last them and their families another two weeks. They are all over the Klang Valley: Ampang, Kajang, Selayang, Ampang.

Regardless of whether packing goes on in a school hall in Cheras, or a community hall in Kepong, a complicated chain of logistics and funding is always in operation, enabling an ongoing food aid programme to stay running. Its avowed goal is to keep on supplying emergency aid for as long as possible, only possible through the labour of its volunteers and the generosity of donors.

This requires flexibility in planning and operationalisation: in addition to conventional sources of...