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Social agency reaches out to Alif, the boy who has salt and rice for 'iftar'
It had been an ordinary day for Tika Lestari when she met a child named Alif on a commuter train.
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illustration (Antara/Yulius Satria Wijaya)
It had been an ordinary day for Tika Lestari when she met a child named Alif on a commuter train.
The two started talking during their trip and Tika later described their conversation in a social media post that has since gone viral.
Tika wrote on Instagram that Alif had asked her what time it was.
“It’s 10 a.m.,” she told him, to which he replied, “Wow, there’s still a long way to go before iftar [breaking-of-the-fast meal]”.
The boy proudly told her that he was fasting and he had had rice and salt for sahur (pre-dawn meal). To break his fast, he usually drinks only water.
“Water is enough for me. I don’t have money to buy food,” he told Tika.
The boy was on the train with his grandmother, Heni, who explained that Alif’s parents had died in a traffic accident when Alif was 11 months old.
They currently live in a small rented house in Tanah Gocap, Karawaci, Banten province.
“All Alif wants for his meal is chicken cooked in soy sauce and a box of milk. I never thought that eating chicken and drinking milk are a luxury for some people,” Tika wrote in her post.
Alif’s cheerfulness in the face of hardship has tugged at the heartstrings of netizens, including officials of the Tangerang Social Affairs Agency, who have stepped forward to help him.
“Our agency representatives have visited Heni’s house. Heni is apparently a Jakarta resident, but we still feel that we have the responsibility to help them,” said Tangerang regional secretary Dadi Budaeri as reported by tribunnews.com on Tuesday.
“We’re trying to have Alif enrolled in our Tangerang Cerdas [Smart Tangerang] program, which covers school tuition fees for the less fortunate,” he added.
Residents of Tanah Gocap, meanwhile, were surprised that a child living in their area would only have rice and salt to eat.
Neighborhood unit (RT) head Kadir said Alif and his grandmother had moved into the area four months ago.
“They live in a house that belongs to Ozy [another resident]. They previously lived in Kapuk, West Jakarta. I’m waiting for Heni to give me copies of her ID card and family card [KK] so they can officially become part of the neighborhood,” he said. (vla)
