PETALING JAYA, April 7 — A mother of four who resorted to selling homemade doughnuts during the movement control order (MCO) to earn a living has been capturing the hearts of Malaysians all over social media.

Norhasdin Pakiluddin’s story made its rounds on Twitter after a young man, Mohd Aznil Ashikin, documented his exchange with her.

Mohd Aznil placed an order for the Bangi resident’s handmade doughnuts to support her business seeing no one had responded to her Facebook advertisement.

In his series of tweets, Mohd Aznil wrote about the modestly priced fried snack and the seller’s sincerity when she delivered the goods without charging any delivery fees.

Advertisement

 

The 31-year-old who is originally from Sabah told Malay Mail today she and her husband have been selling doughnuts to friends prior to the MCO to earn extra income.

Advertisement

But since the MCO came into full effect last month, Norhasdin who works as a promoter at Evo Mall in Bangi had to rely on her basic salary to make ends meet as malls across the nation have temporarily shut.

So she decided to promote her doughnuts on Facebook.

“If I want to sell doughnuts, will anyone buy? Hard to earn an income with the condition now.

“Don’t criticise me, just asking,” her initial Facebook post read.

Since going viral, Norhasdin told Malay Mail she was caught by surprise when many customers have been contacting her to buy the homemade doughnuts.

“I make 1,000 doughnuts a day and have received more than 300 orders so far.

“I have stopped taking orders because I can’t cope with the demand,” she said when contacted today.

She also noticed donations being made to her bank account after many read that her youngest child was critically ill but said this wasn’t true.

“This was not my intention at all and I don’t want people to misunderstand,” she explained.

She clarified that her youngest child who is a year old was not in critical condition, as was previously reported, but would use the respiratory tube from time to time.

The sole breadwinner of the family added that her husband quit his job as a security guard to care for their youngest child with special needs.

Norhasdin said she will be spending the next three days sending out 150 orders in Serdang alone and 300 orders in areas surrounding Bangi.

Asked about her delivery charges, the home vendor said it was up to customers to pay whatever amount they could afford for the delivery fee.

“If they can’t afford it, all I ask for is a simple prayer for my children’s health,” she said.

Norhasdin wakes up at 5.30am to start making the doughnuts and cooks breakfast at the same time.

“I make the doughnuts five times a day from preparing the dough to frying them and cooling them down.

“Then my brother helps me with the packing before they are sent out,” she said.

Mohd Aznil’s viral tweet showed screengrabs of his conversation with Horhasdin who generously gave him extra doughnuts as no one bought them at that point.

The tweet which was posted on Sunday has since received 8,200 likes and 20,600 retweets including from social media figure Neelofa.

 

The sugar-coated doughnuts are priced at RM1 for three pieces and come in fried or frozen form.