Indonesian woman in Australia feeding growing numbers of needy

Yayah Scaf says it is her way to heal from childhood abuse as well as fight Islamophobia 

PERTH, Australia (MNTV) —Perth is one of Australia’s least affordable cities to rent, and a growing number of its residents are experiencing homelessness. One Indonesian migrant is doing what she can to provide free food to those in need, reports SBS News. 

At a small cafe in Perth’s south-east, Indonesian migrant Yayah Scaf is preparing chicken, rice and noodle dishes. The meals are not for her customers; they’re given out for free to those in need.

“We are going to Perth city, where we will hand out the free food today,” said Scaf, 63. “We have a total of 200 packs of hot meals.”

It may sound like a lot, but Scaf said that, in the current housing crisis, all the food will be gone in less than one hour.

“When we arrive there, many people will be waiting,” she said. “When they are hungry and you offer them food from the heart it helps their [problems] disappear. They say: ‘Oh, thank you.'”

Scaf is known affectionately as ‘Ibu Ade’. Ibu is an Indonesian word for mother or married woman. Ade comes from the name of her business.

Among the recipients is 51-year-old Brendon Benell. “Homelessness is getting worse, and there are many more people on the streets now,” he said. “A lot of people are quick to judge. They don’t understand what we’re going through.”

“We like that we get fed here, and we can get together to talk and even see a street doctor as well,” he said.

Scaf knows something about hardship herself, having suffered abuse as a child in rural Indonesia. “I had a very bad experience, and no justice [was] given to me. Unfortunately, I’m an abuse victim.

“So, at that time, being a village girl, nobody asked me anything. So, I had to go through that for years and years and years,” she said.

“It is why I have time for other people who are struggling. The more I help people, the more peace I find in my heart.”

The meals Scaf and her team distribute are provided free of charge, through her business, KwikFud Cafe by Warung Ade. And the service is growing steadily, thanks to donations and a small army of volunteers.

“We have roughly 40 volunteers,” Scaf said. “They cook the rice and then different people will come to do the packing.

“By four o’clock every Friday afternoon, I’ll be driving the van to the city with more volunteers there to do the serving as well.”

As a mother of three and proud Muslim, Scaf says that, by giving food, she’s also helping to ease Islamophobia and bring the community closer.

And she remains determined not to let prejudice — or wet weather — slow her down. “Hunger does not disappear when it rains,” she said. “So, even in storms we just continue our work.”