Humanity : Trader moved by woman’s plight

GEORGE TOWN: When mother-of-two Soong May Sin learned about the plight of Firdausiah Khalid on Facebook, she got into her car and drove all the way from Ipoh to Penang.

She presented the family with a table, foodstuff and clothes collected from her neighbours and also wrote Firdausiah a cheque for RM300.

Firdausiah and her three children, Mohd Sazwan Daniel, one, Nurul Iman Nadia, two, and Mohd Zamarul, nine, have been relying on her neighbours for food because her husband had been in and out of rehabilitation centres for drug abuse since 2007.


Fruitful trip: Soong (in purple) bids farewell after presenting
Firdausiah (right) with foodstuff, clothes and a table.

Soong, a 48-year-old businesswoman, said she was touched by 29-year-old Firdausiah’s plight after Bayan Baru Barisan Nasional coordinator David Yim posted about her on his Facebook account last Friday.

“I can empathise with her as when I was small, my parents were also poor and we had to rely on our neighbours’ generosity to survive,” Soong said after spending an hour at Firdausiah’s house in Jalan Mahsuri, Bayan Baru, here yesterday.

Yim, who is also Bayan Baru MCA division secretary, later brought Mohd Zamarul to SK Bayan Baru where the Year Three pupil had been studying.

“He stopped attending school in January as his mother thought the school fees were not paid. Actually, Firdausiah’s husband had settled the fees.”

Firdausiah’s husband, an odd-job worker, was rearrested for a drug offence last month.

During the visit, Yim also helped the family to pay the house rent in advance until July, totalling RM600. He also gave her RM400 for household expenses.

“We are also using RM1,000 from the Bayan Baru Welfare Association’s fund to buy mattresses for the family as they currently sleep on the concrete floor.”

Anyone wishing to help the family can contact Yim (012-480 2725) or his assistant, A.A. Rajah (019-475 8374).