Local Gombak teacher known as a hero for the needy
Image adapted from: Mohd Fadli Salleh
Teachers are heroes in their own right, but Mohd Fadli Salleh, known simply as Cikgu Fadli, deserves a special mention for his noble charity work towards those in need. In fact, the Mathematics teacher from Sekolah Kebangsaan Gombak 1 had one of his Facebook posts go viral with over 47,000 likes and 10,000 shares.
He actively shares amusing stories of his encounters with students as well as the volunteering work he has done. The mentioned viral post on 20th January 2020 got the attention of Malaysians who were heartened to see Cikgu Fadli go out of his way to help a Chinese family. Prior to his help, they were living in deplorable conditions and were almost forced to vacate.
The family’s shocking living conditions
It all started when Cikgu Fadli was first reached out by Kak Yati from Program Perumahan Rakyat. He was told that she had been letting the kids from a Chinese family shower at her house before they go to school as their water supply had been cut off.
After visiting the family’s house around sometime last year, Cikgu Fadli compared the family’s living conditions to that of a “tongkang pecah” or as translated, a broken boat that’s stuffed to the brim with junk.
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
When asked about all the junk they store in their house, the father said that he cherishes each one of them. He had picked them up from the streets and they were meant to be recycled so that he could get some money out of them.
He had resorted to this as he suffers from several chronic illnesses, making him unfit for manual labour. The family relies on the mother’s income as a hotel cleaner.
Cikgu Fadli having a friendly conversation with the family’s 2 kids who were at home at the time
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
Cikgu Fadli was stunned by the situation, saying that the family’s house is situated on the 11th floor. It was crazy to think that the father had to carry his stash up and down the stairs every day. And even though he was constantly collecting these items, he never managed to sell them.
Bags of empty tin cans and other junk is crammed into a storeroom
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
After spending the day with the family, Cikgu Fadli got to know that their water supply had been cut off as the parents’ couldn’t afford to pay rent. The money they owed was well into the thousands and the family had even been given a notice to vacate.
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
Even though they weren’t financially well-off, the parents didn’t allow that to hinder their children’s education. Their children were all still in school and during Cikgu Fadli’s visit.
At the end of the day, Cikgu Fadli decided that he would help the family so that they would no longer have to live in a house full of junk and find a way so that they could at least get their water supply back.
How the big clean-up went down
First, Cikgu Fadli prioritised the family getting their water supply back. He got Kak Yati to present a report to Program Perumahan Rakyat and eventually, they succeeded to negotiate a deal to let the family have access to clean water.
The family had 3 trucks’ worth of trash stored in their house all this time
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
Once the water supply issue was resolved, it was time to address the biggest problem of all: the worrying amount of junk in the house. Cikgu Fadli sought help from the guerilla team of Dana Kita which comprised a group of youths who could be called in any time for volunteer work like this.
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
The entire process took 2 weeks, making it one of the most extreme gotong-royong the guerilla youths have probably ever participated in. They also needed 3 trucks to haul away the junk, and each vehicle was filled right to the top with discarded items.
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
Once the house was tidied up, Cikgu Fadli got the team to repaint the walls, put up new curtains, roll out a mat on the floor, and provided the family with new mattresses as well as pillows.
The newly refurbished living room after the big clean-up
Image credit: Mohd Fadli Salleh
In time for Chinese New Year
This heartwarming story was shared just days before Chinese New Year, which means that the family could now welcome in luck and prosperity with their house all tidied up. As Cikgu Fadli put it, “This family can now hold a proper celebration for Chinese New Year which couldn’t be done for so many years before. For years, nobody even glanced their way or cared.”
At the end of Cikgu Fadli’s Facebook post, he touched on the importance of putting aside racial issues to help everyone and anyone in need regardless of the religion or race they identify with.
Along with other fellow Malaysians, we applaud Cikgu Fadli and those who lent a helping hand to this KL family in need. While it can’t be helped that there will always be families out there in desperate situations, we can take matters into our own hands and offer to help better their lives in any way we can.
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