SINGAPORE – At 4.30am, when most of Singapore is asleep, a shophouse in Little India stirs to life.
The clanking of rice pots breaks the silence of the early morning, as the aroma of masala fills the air.
By 5.45am, soup kitchen Krsna’s Free Meals is already serving breakfast to migrant workers, some of whom travel to Little India to collect their meals after the night shift.
The initiative was started in 2018 by Ms Latha Govindasamy, her two sisters and their husbands with the aim of serving breakfast, lunch and dinner daily for migrant workers in the area.
While there are organisations that help these workers with medical issues or disputes with employers, Ms Latha felt that there was a lack of affordable food options for them on a daily basis.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, her soup kitchen delivered food packets to migrant workers who could not leave their dormitories.
In 2023, Ms Latha, 56, quit being a private tutor to devote her energy fully to running the soup kitchen, which is now a charity. She had taught in a secondary school before giving tuition.
Her sisters, Ms Chandralatika Devi Dasi, 62, and Ms Gandhini Devi Dasi, 59, had been volunteering as cooks at the temple where Ms Chandralatika’s husband, Mr Raghupati Das, 62, had worked as an accountant.
Ms Gandhini’s husband, Mr Lee Chee Seng, a 59-year-old logistics supervisor, collected vegetables donated by vendors at Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre twice a week.
The family dipped into their own savings to start the soup kitchen, declining to disclose the amount, but they have been able to fully rely on public donations since 2021.
Some 5.5 million meals have been given out by Krsna’s Free Meals, and the number of migrant workers it serves each day has grown from 80 in the beginning to about 4,000 today.
The intention was to provide free meals for migrant workers, said Ms Latha, but many of them wanted to pay.
So a donation box was set up, and those who want to can give a token sum of 50 cents or more.
“The donation gives them a sense of dignity that they are contributing to their food and paying it forward,” she said, adding that some workers will put in extra money to help pay for those who do not have the means to pay.
It has been a particularly busy few days for the soup kitchen preparing for its Deepavali Fiesta for migrant workers, many of whom cannot celebrate the festival with their families back home.
Over 5,000 migrant workers are expected to attend the event at an open field in Hindoo Road on Oct 20.
Cookies being baked for the Deepavali fiesta.
This is the fifth year of the fiesta, and attendance has grown every year – there were 5,100 participants in 2024.
Attendees will enjoy hot briyani and receive care packs containing items like sweets, snacks and a water bottle. Minister of State for Manpower Dinesh Vasu Dash will attend the event and help distribute care packs to migrant workers.
“Last year, we gave them umbrellas because we saw them running around with cardboard boxes (to shelter themselves from the rain). This year we decided it would be water bottles, something in line with sustainability,” said Ms Latha.
“We noticed that they were using plastic water bottles that were all crushed up and out of shape. So we thought that it would be meaningful to give them their own water bottles,” she said.
Ms Latha Govindasamy (centre) and volunteers peeling potatoes in preparation for Deepavali Fiesta 2025.
Ms Latha said the soup kitchen’s menu changes daily, offering migrant workers something new to look forward to, from chapati and mee goreng to sambal fried rice.
She added that the ingredients are carefully selected to ensure that the meals are healthy, tasty and suitable for everyone.
For instance, ponni rice is preferred over a cheaper option like jasmine rice due to its nutritional value. All meals there are also vegetarian and do not contain onion or garlic so that it is palatable to all.
Ms Latha and her family members do not turn anyone away, and recently, more local senior citizens have come to the soup kitchen looking for food.
She and her sisters were inspired by their parents to give back to the community.
At least 24 volunteers, some of whom are migrant workers, help out at the Krsna’s Free Meals kitchen every day.
As a young girl, Ms Latha recalls coming home to find strangers in her house – hungry salesmen invited to the family table by her generous parents.
“They instilled in us that helping others and seeing the joy on their faces when we serve them food is very meaningful,” said Ms Latha, who also noted that her parents would serve guests first. Her father was a driver and her mother was a homemaker.
Serving food to strangers has since been a recurring activity for Ms Latha and her family. Her sisters, their husbands, and their children will all spend Deepavali at the soup kitchen with migrant workers, to show their love and appreciation.
“We feel that it is time we show our appreciation to them on this critical day, to let them know that you are not forgotten. We know you are sacrificing a lot. You can’t go back, you are stuck here, so on this day, at least let us cheer you up,” Ms Latha said.
Serving food to strangers has since been a recurring activity for Ms Latha Govindasamy and her family.
From fund-raising efforts and sourcing of vegetables to cooking, running Krsna’s Free Meals is possible because of help from the community, and even strangers from abroad who chip in with donations, said Ms Latha.
She relies on her neighbour, a private-hire driver, who sends her daily to the soup kitchen in the wee hours. Some of her ex-students volunteer their time to help with administrative and outreach efforts.
At least 24 volunteers, some of whom are migrant workers, help out at the kitchen every day.
For Deepavali Fiesta 2025, 160 volunteers are expected to help out, double the number in 2024. These include around 26 students from Hwa Chong Institution and Singapore American School.
Ms Latha said she is grateful to everyone who has reached out to offer help.
“When people started coming forward to help, it gave us the encouragement and motivation to continue.”
Source: The Straits Times © SPH Media Limited. Permission required for reproduction
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