KOTA BARU, March 15 — Meet Kelantan’s Norita Ali, a local hero with a big heart.

Norita, known affectionately as Kak Ita, is spurred on by her desire to help those going through hard times; something she herself is very familiar with.

Born to rubber tappers who could not afford to raise her, Norita was a bright student who had to quit school at Form Four and work to pay the bills. She later married at 17 and had her first child a year later.

A friend to all since her school days, small acts of kindnesses come naturally to Norita who had in the past dug into her own pockets to help needy students.

Even with the loss of her husband to cancer late last year still fresh in her mind, the 43-year-old helped with relief efforts after the worst floods to hit her state in decades.

To her, it was as simple as offering shelter to those trapped in the airport as floods cut off access to their houses, and arranging transport for them to reach their families when the flood waters subsided.

Syed Azmi Alhabshi, whose FreeMarket team closely collaborated with her on their trips to help flood victims in Kelantan, told Malay Mail Online that she is “a hero and a darling” who simply does not give up.

Norita, the key local co-ordinator for FreeMarket’s efforts in the state, went all out during a recent trip, calling in favours and connecting volunteers to other locals who could help them reach flood-hit areas, and even sourcing for cheaper vegetables at a wholesale market at 2am.

But for her, nothing beats the memory of helping a 90-year-old man named Haji Mahmud. Forgotten by his children, the elderly man with failing eyesight was living alone in a house with no electricity and no running water, drinking from collected rainwater that had mosquito larvae.

Before he died, Norita managed to help improve his living conditions with the help of her friends and family members, saying that it was a “big relief” to be able to do so.

The mother of four, who recently became a proud grandmother, continues to give and share.

In her own words:

  • I was a dropout. My family... they just couldn’t afford it… Kak Ita was staying with an uncle, he took care of me ever since I was born. So at that time he was sick, he was not working, he couldn’t even pay for the house rent. When ayah (father) was jobless, I told the teachers I was changing school, but actually I quit school, I just didn’t go to school. I started working at KFC. Even when I was working there, the managers — they quite loved me, everyone just loved me because I was like a sister to everyone. They encouraged me to take exams, they asked me to take SPM privately but I just didn’t… I would have to cut my working hours and I needed the money you know, so I just forget about it.
  • The last eight years I was operating a school canteen. I’m looking at the faces of teenagers everywhere, they remind me of my school days, my life those days. They are very troubled, they need guidance. They are not to say wild, they don’t know what they are doing so they need people to tell them… actually to guide them… just to show the way, if they want to follow or not is up to them. They don’t need us to judge them. Teachers they are always like that, they are very judgmental. It’s like once you are caught being naughty, doing bad things, it’s like forever you are a bad person.
  • Now parents are all so busy now, leaving the children just like that, all they know is just leave the money, but the rest is up to you whatever you want to do. As I was at the school canteen, I saw a lot of possible damage if we don’t really watch out. Be good to these teenagers. I don’t like it when students are suspended from school, expelled from school. I don’t think that’s the right way, if we expel them from school, where are they going to go next? Of course they are going to go back to friends, doing drugs, I think we need to keep them at school, no matter what.
  • We are only thinking about how we don’t have enough money, things like that, but life is much more than that. I think we have to look at life in a new way. We have to be positive no matter what situation we are in. My hope is everybody must start to take care of other people too, maybe you think this person is very bad, their children take drugs, steal, but still — respect them, just say hi. Show love, that’s what I’m trying to say... we are living in a world that is very lacking in love.
  • Kak Ita got to know some students, sometimes they just buy keropok, so I asked them, “Why don’t you eat rice?” They said, “Tak apa mama, tak bawa duit.” The children in school call me Mama. So that’s how it started... in the beginning, I just gave out rice for free at the canteen. I’m trying to be helpful in no matter what way, any way I can help, that’s it. Then I ask the teachers what’s wrong with the kids. And then I get some money, I pay for their school fees, my own money at that time. I have a friend in Kuala Lumpur, my former schoolmate, I always tell her what I’m doing. So she said, “The next time I’m doing it with you too.” So every week at school, every Monday, I make chicken rice, I give away 20 boxes of chicken rice for free at lunch time without anybody knowing actually, not even the teachers.
  • When people came from KL during the floods, they just couldn’t go anywhere because it was flooded everywhere. To go from my house to the airport, it’s ok. So my friend from KL said, “I’ve got a friend stranded in KB, she’s at the airport.” Ok fine, I’m going to fetch her and take her to my house. So there you are, they are staying at my house, six people in my house, people I don’t even know.
  • I feel I can connect people… even though I don’t know them actually but I know that he knows this person, so when we want to do something, I just go and approach this person. We ask sincerely from the heart. When I think positively, he will actually take what I want positively, he will accept, he will try to help, that’s how. That’s how, it’s not hard. It feels good even though I won’t gain anything out of it, it feels good to make two ends meet, like one end is providing and another end is needing, so we just put them together and they get linked.
  • One thing you have to have is faith, you know that God will make it work, He will make it work, so nevermind, just proceed. That’s the thing, you have to have faith. Even if you don’t have any religion, still you have to believe. I think that’s it... believe, that is faith.
  • I don’t like to think badly of people because actually I think everybody is fighting his/her own battles. Maybe if they say harsh words to you, maybe they are in some kind of trouble. On our part, just let go, when people scold you, just keep cool.
  • What we see, that is the problem we have to settle. Don’t ask why his children don’t want to help. If you want to help, just help. If you say that, later Allah would be overly petty with you, do you want Allah to be petty with you?.