Paying It Forward | ** An Anonymous Journal **

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Paying It Forward

My sister told me that she has a new colleague, a Filipina who just arrived in the United States. She is just 33 years old and already has a 12-year-old son. According to my sister, this lady had to walk very early to the library to use the computer and internet access to chat with her son and other family members. Of course, Marissa plans to buy a laptop but that would require savings of a few months. I am sure she has to remit money home to support her family so her savings will be extremely slow.

To help her, my sister recently purchased a HP Mini netbook for Marissa so that she doesn't have to get up so early in the morning and walk in the cold weather and wait for her turn at the computer terminal to chat with her family and then rush to work. Marissa will repay my sister US$50 each month she receives her paycheck. The total cost of the HP Mini netbook, including tax, is US$400, still cheaper than Malaysian prices, if I am not wrong.

My sister says she is helping her adapt to life in the United States as best as she could because she knows exactly how it is for new arrivals. She was lost too when she stepped on US soil almost nine years ago but she had two Malaysian friends who went out of their way to help her. And she is doing exactly the same for Marissa and all the other new girls that her employer takes in.

0 comments:

Post a Comment