Homeless girl scores 6As, fundraiser launched for further studies

Farah Marcella Bandie managed to obtain 6As in her SPM examination despite her family being forced to squat in a snooker centre in Johor.

Following this, two siblings, one of them Farah's teacher, are raising funds to finance her tertiary education.

Zaikhan Abdul Rahim said he and his sister Suraya Abdul Rahim decided to fund Farah's studies themselves but when they posted about the student's plight on Facebook, others wanted to contribute as well.

“So I thought we should open a bank account for this purpose,” he told Malaysiakini.

Suraya, who is the disciplinary teacher at SMK Seri Kota Puteri in Johor, had attempted to track down Farah when the latter was frequently absent from school.

“That is when she found out that Farah doesn't have a home. So Suraya took her in and somewhat adopted her because she saw Farah's potential,” said Zaikhan.

Farah was living in the storeroom of a snooker centre where her mother, a single parent, worked as a cleaner together with five other siblings.

"Farah is a young woman and she had to stay in that small storeroom with her siblings. Her father left them some time back,” said Zaikhan.

The businessman also addressed concerns about the bank account being opened in his name.

“If we give (the money) to Farah directly, who is going to manage it for her? People say this and that but it is always easy to talk instead of doing something,” he said.

Zaikhan, who revealed that RM8,000 had been collected as of yesterday, said those who have doubts are welcome to check with him on how the sum is spent.

“For the sake of transparency, I will post a screen capture of the latest amount debited into the account on a daily basis as well as other relevant details on my Facebook,” he added.

According to Zaikan, Farah's brother also did well in his SPM, scoring 5As, two years ago but did not further his studies and works at the same snooker centre.

Therefore, the businessman said they hope to use the funds collected to help the brother obtain a tertiary education as well.

Those who wish to help Farah can channel their donations to Zaikhan's Maybank account (account number: 3611 4522 7076).- Mkini