Acts of Kindness: Soy Milk Superstar

February 17th is Random Acts of Kindness Day, a day where people around the world celebrate kindness, with the intention of making it the norm in society.

But kindness doesn't have to be random. Indeed, this act of kindness from one of our interns, whom we'll call N, was planned and deliberate.

This is N, one of our interns. He quickly picked up the skill of making soy milk, becoming the HUB's resident expert. He even made some innovative products such as hummus out of the bean paste!

Every week, we have Soy Milk Wednesdays. So on Wednesdays it's an early start for N, who leads soy milk production at the HUB. He comes to work at 6am, 2 hours before everyone else, to prepare the soy milk which will be delivered to and collected by many different migrant schools.

Why soy milk? You might ask. Well, it is very high in nutritious essentials such as protein, vitamins and healthy fats. For the children of migrant farmers, who have limited access to a range of foods, soy milk can help to fill the gaps in their nutrition, particularly with protein since meat is an expensive commodity.

Soy milk is filled with micronutrients, meaning that even just 1 cup a week can give children the much needed nutrition that they would otherwise lack in their daily diets.

N starts by weighing and soaking the beans. They have to soak for two hours! In this time, they can expand up to 3 times in size.

How many kilograms of beans do you think are in this picture?

Then, he grinds the soy beans to a powder, helped out by his trusty assistant, D. Water is added to this and mixed. The mixture is then strained, releasing the milk and leaving behind the soy bean paste. Finally, sugar is added for a little sweetness.

It's a big job for sure, and N does it all with a smile on his face!

However, something was bothering him. He said,

'I can't bear to see the children at some schools who have no soy milk.'

Indeed, since we visit some schools on our Friday outreaches, and the soy milk must be drunk on the same day, the children in those schools didn't have any.

So, N's kindhearted solution?

'I can come early on Fridays to make some more.'

That's right, he offered to come in 2 hours early on another day of the week, just to make sure that our 3 Friday schools could also have soy milk. That's about 350 children in total, benefitting from his kindness! These are not his normal working hours, the extra time he spends on a Friday morning is entirely voluntary. And just look at the children's faces - they are so grateful for it!

So, in this Acts of Kindness Week, we are grateful for N's example of going the extra mile in showing generosity to others. How will you show kindness this week?

Partner With Us