Dishing out dignity

Unable to get funding for its initial set up, Koh has invested about S$600,000 of his own money to keep Dignity Kitchen going.

Koh had wanted to call it quits some time back, but when he saw how the disabled children and their parents had benefited from Dignity Kitchen, he persevered. Today, Dignity Kitchen has several corporate sponsorships for its social projects.

His noble effort has been recognized. He has been asked to replicate this project in China. In the second half of this year, Koh will be traveling to Hong Kong and Taiwan to share his experience in setting up Dignity Kitchen with several corporations and universities. The Hong Kong Jockey Club has already expressed interest in the idea.

If Koh had ended the project, 19-year-old Tan Jian Ning and his mother would have found it harder to accept their situation.

Tan has Down Syndrome and is a naturally withdrawn child. But since starting work, manning the "Mama Stall" selling books and knick-knacks at Dignity Kitchen, Tan has come out of his shell.

"He is now more willing to take the first step and greet customers," his mother says. "He is also more willing to interact with people and to talk, even though he may not be very articulate," she says.

If not for Dignity Kitchen, Tan would probably be spending most of his adult life in a center for people with similar issues. "He'll have less exposure to the outside world, and he'll be in his shell all his life," says his mother.

For Koh, setting up Dignity Kitchen is less about teaching the disabled how to fish, but giving them back their dignity.

"It is not right for the elderly to be cleaning toilets or dirty dishes, or be treated like useless people. It is not right for disabled people or people with health issues to be shunned. They are humans too, and they should be accorded the dignity that 'normal' people get," he says.

"I cannot save the world, but I can help one person at a time," he says.