The term “faith in humanity is restored” is loosely used on social media sites whenever we stumble upon posts whereby kindness is displayed to a fellow neighbour in need. The same could be said about Facebook user Stanley Yeong who displayed kindness to Hayati Abdullah, then 9, when she lost her parents in an accident.
In the past week, Stanley’s Facebook status update has gone viral as he shared the story of how his handy man and wife perished in a road accident. This caused him to symphatise with the situation of their daughter, as she is left without the care of her parents. Stanley subsequently fostered the girl and looked after her in terms of her well-being, welfare and finances.
Hayati’s late father Sudin, assisted Stanley when he laid the pipeline for the supply of clean water from Jerantut River to Taman Negara several years ago. Stanley shared in his post, that the pipeline was part of a programme by the state government of Pahang to improve the livelihood of those in the rural areas.
Hence, when Sudin and his wife died in a car accident a few years ago, Stanley recognised the responsibility he could play in another person’s life. He took the late couple’s daughter in, as his own. Today, Hayati is married and has her own family, whilst also running a food business with the help of her in-laws. However, her story is not a smooth-sailing one as she encountered several struggles whilst growing up.
When Hayati turned 12, she had troubles registering for a Malaysian identity card because her birth parents never registered her at birth. The process was an arduous one and it took two years but with the help of a senior police officer from Tumpat, Hayati was finally able to obtain her identity card. Hence, her story has been filled with kind people who have helped her along the way in her life.
These stories of unexpected kindness really warms the hearts of Malaysians, and Stanley’s story has already gained over 200 shares in the past week. In line with the recent Malaysia Day celebration on September 16, these stories of racial harmony have a tendency of going viral due to the fact that everybody loves reading about the good things that others have done with their lives.
Where negativity is always so prominently displayed in social media with people using status updates as their means to complain about anything and everything, these types of feel-good tales are few and rare.
Stanley who is a marine salvage diver and a recreational pilot by profession lost his own parents when he was young and grew up as an orphan in an orphanage. His life story would perhaps cause him to have compassion on a child whom he would not want to see have the same fate as him.
Stanley said, “By sharing this story, I trust too that people who read this, would be encouraged to spread goodwill among the races. In humanity, we are to be colour blind. We are not to look at their religion or culture. We are all created by God.”
If there is anything to learn from Stanley’s story, it is the fact that in order to lend a helping hand, all we need to do is open up our hearts to have compassion for another.
