As grown adults now, many of us often reminiscence the time we spent as naïve children, oblivious to the hardships of the world. And much of that has to do with our parents working hard to ensure that they could provide a comfortable and above-all, safe childhood for us when we were growing up. However, the sad reality is that not all children are granted the opportunity to do so, especially those who are from families living on or under the poverty line.
Woman encounters Sabah girl selling mangoes by the roadside in heavy rain
One such heartbreaking incident was witnessed by local netizen deylahabib94, whose retelling of her experience has since gone viral across the popular video sharing platform TikTok. As explained by Deyla, she had been driving on her way to collect an item, when she stopped her car at an intersection. Glancing outside her window, she was shocked to see a young girl who had fallen asleep likely due to exhaustion in a drain along a road divider.
Holding up a flimsy umbrella to keep herself protected from the torrential downpour at the time, she appears to have been selling mangoes in little plastic bags to drivers who stopped at the lights.
“When I called her and asked her where her mother was, she told me her mother was fetching her younger sibling.” Deyla said.
Returned to the same intersection to support the young girl
In a subsequent video that was taken after her initial encounter, Deyla decided to offer the little girl and her family some help and returned once more to the same intersection. This time, while the girl wasn’t immediately present, she did leave a small plastic container with snacks for sale.
She promptly went in search for her, and eventually stumbled upon the little girl under a highway overpass with other children, one of whom was her elder brother. In responding to a commentor, Deyla said that the children had a home.
Bought snacks, and urged her viewers to do the same
Sharing their plight, she herself bought a considerable amount of snacks from the children as a means to support their business, and informed her viewers that the children would sell their wares from 8.00am to 6.00pm, or until they ran out of stock.
“People of Kota Kinabalu, Sabah that pass by the traffic lights underneath the Kolombong flyover can come and show these kids some support.
They sell their snacks at only RM1.00 to RM1.50.” she explained.
Many netizens have since applauded her for taking the initiative to offer whatever aid she can in her position.
“You are a good person.”
“May Allah SWT ease all of your affairs sis, and may you continue to be blessed generously. Amin.”
“These kids should be going to school, but they have no choice but to earn a living. I’m so sorry sweetie.”
However, one netizen has raised concerns that the children may be part of a syndicate preying on the sympathy of Malaysians.
“I feel this could be a syndicate, sis. As there are so many children. Don’t the police take action? They’re just kids, but they’re on the roadside, this is really dangerous. I feel this is the work of a syndicate.”
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