A Mother, A Wheelchair, A 4AM Bus Stop — And A Life-Changing Gift Of A Brand-New Chery SUV

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Every school morning for years, she was already awake at 4 AM.

By the time most of the city was still asleep, Fadhilah — known to those around her as Kak Fad — had already prepared her children, strapped her son into his wheelchair, and stepped out into the dark to catch the first bus.

The journey to her son’s school in the city centre took two hours each way. A bus. An MRT.

Then twenty minutes of pushing a wheelchair through the streets on foot.

Rain or shine, fever or not, every single day.

She did it alone, and she never told anyone how hard it was.

Kak Fad has been a single mother for 13 years, after her husband left without providing any financial support.

She raised four children on her own, with a primary school education and an income that came from sewing clothes at home — some months RM400, other months nothing at all.

Among her four children, one has a physical disability requiring a wheelchair, two others are hafiz — having memorised the Quran in full.

Her eldest is currently pursuing a degree in medical science at an international university.

His reason, quietly stated, is to one day find a cure for his sibling’s condition.

In the months when money ran out entirely, Kak Fad made sure her children ate first; she went without.

Earlier this year, an NGO brought Kak Fad’s situation to the attention of Nurul Izzah Anwar, the eldest daughter of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.

The question put to her was simple: What can we do to help?

Nurul Izzah wrote letters seeking assistance; most went unanswered, but one did not.

Chery Malaysia responded by sponsoring a Chery Omoda E5 SUV for Kak Fad and her family.

“At first I couldn’t believe it,” Nurul Izzah wrote in a Facebook post that has since circulated widely.

Kak Fad did not know any of this — she was brought to a Chery showroom blindfolded — and only when the blindfold came off did she understand what had happened.

For Kak Fad, the car is not a luxury — it is the end of the 4 AM alarm, the end of standing at a bus stop in the rain, the end of two hours of commuting before the school bell rings.

It also opens a practical door, with Kak Fad now able to consider driving for e-hailing platforms to supplement her sewing income.

But the deeper significance is harder to quantify.

For over a decade, this family existed almost entirely outside the reach of formal support — not because they were not struggling, but because Kak Fad never presented herself as someone who needed saving.

She carried it quietly, the way many mothers do.

This Raya, she had already accepted she could not afford to go home — not because she did not want to, but because she simply could not.

She will be going home this year.

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