Making a difference: Bus captain comforted distressed passenger
We are featuring six everyday heroes have made a difference in the lives of strangers. Their heart-warming deeds are celebrated in the ongoing Good Man Good Deeds Good Rice campaign, a collaboration between Chinese evening daily Lianhe Wanbao and Tong Seng Produce, which will donate 500kg of its SongHe rice and 60 litres of canola oil each to charities of their choice
Bus captain Azlillawati may be only four months into her job but the 40-year-old has already made an impact.
In October, the bus captain was on her Ang Mo Kio route when there was a commotion on the bus. An old lady was crying to be let off, so Ms Azlillawati, who goes only by one name, stopped the bus.
The wheelchair-bound woman in her 70s had lost control of her bladder and wet her trousers and the floor of the bus.
The embarrassed and agitated woman, who was with her daughter, wanted to alight from the bus.
Seeing this, Ms Azlillawati approached the elderly woman, knelt in front of her and told her in what little Hokkien she knew: "It's okay, it's all right."
Ms Azlillawati cleaned the elderly woman's hands with a wet wipe to calm her down.
Ms Azlillawati said: "I sayang (comforted) her and told her that we were almost at her stop and asked if she could wait till we got there."
The bus captain even gave wet wipes to the woman's daughter so she could clean up.
Ms Azlillawati said the incident happened quickly and the other passengers were understanding.
She added: "Actually, she didn't wet a large area, it wasn't a big deal. I wanted all my passengers to get to their destination. When they alighted, they smiled and thanked me. That is enough."
The woman's daughter later wrote in to compliment Ms Azlillawati for her actions.
Ms Azlillawati, who completed her bus captain training in August, used to be a factory worker.
She said: "I didn't think that someone would write in to praise me. I am happy and I hope my children are proud of me."
Ms Azlillawati's choice of charity is Sunlove Home.
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