masterwordsmith-unplugged

Despite my recent accident, I have been helping a girl for a few weeks now. An old friend asked me to help this girl who has been living in a shelter home for 11 years of her life. Her dad passed away and her mom abandoned her.

When she turned 18, she was discharged from the shelter and she got her bank book to her savings account which had more than 6000RM. Thereafter, she went to stay with a relative who subsequently secretly withdrew her money via her ATM card. Feeling helpless, she never dared to assert her claim to her savings as she needs a roof over her head and a room to stay. Currently, she is in Upper Six in a premier secondary school.

Today, she met my other student whom I am helping - the nephew of my hairdresser. You can read about his sad story HERE. Well the good news about Chor Ding is that I helped him in MUET and he was the only boy in his school to score Band 5/6 in the November MUET. His English has improved by leaps and bounds and I confess it was not an easy journey but certainly worth the sweat and tears. I am thankful both of us did not give up on each other.

Back to the girl.

I really don't know what to say.

Today is my mother's death anniversary and instead of my annual pilgrimage to the sea of tears, I spent this evening encouraging the girl and to tell her that no matter what, she has to be resilient and to work hard. After the lesson, I asked her to stay back for dinner but she was just too shy. I asked if she had dinner at home and she said no. I wonder if the poor girl has a hot meal to enjoy each day. :-(

Truly, she cried and cried when I told her that hers is not the worst case I have seen and reiterated that at this point, she had to be strong and to really go all out to score in her STPM to increase her chances of getting a scholarship. Chor Ding is an inspiration for despite his circumstances, he excelled in his SPM and scored many A* (including English of course!) and I know in time, she will also be a shining example to other less fortunate ones.

It is a pity that she came to me at such a late stage but I will try my best to help her. To cheer her up, I gave her a pair of Doraemon bedroom slippers which I had bought for my younger son. The smile that reached her eyes when she saw the gift really lit a thousand light bulbs in my heart!

This girl has such a sweet character despite her tragic circumstances. However, she is in dire straits now and I wish there is someone out there who can help her. My friend has found someone who has been giving her pocket money on a monthly basis. It is saddening that because she lost her savings to that relative, in a bid to recoup her losses instead of asserting her ownership of the $$$, she has been working part-time on weekends.

I am writing this post because of a few reasons:

1. Is there anyone out there who is kind enough to give her some $$$ each month?

2. Can anyone in Penang offer her a place to stay?? I do worry for her. If a relative is unscrupulous enough to siphon off her money, I dread to think what else could happen!

3. Can anyone give her some part-time work?

4. Can anyone in Penang offer any guidance in her studies? Previously, she was in a Chinese secondary school and her foundation in many areas is weak.

5. Is there any other way anyone can help?

My heart goes out to her and I worry what may befall her in the future.

Please, if there is anyone out there who can help her in anyway, do write to me at :

writetomws at hush dot ai.

Thank you for reading this post. Take care and God bless you.