Year 3 pupil shows appreciation to Health DG with loom band 'weaved with love'

“The loom band for our Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was weaved with love and I made it based on measurement of my dad’s wrist,” said Lara Khadijah McAfee, a Year Three pupil who touched many hearts yesterday.

The young girl stirred the emotions of netizens after her letter to Dr Noor Hisham and his reply was circulated on social media.

The Sekolah Kebangsaan Seri Budiman pupil said she posted the bracelet and the letter on March 19 to show her appreciation and gratitude for the sacrifices made by Dr Noor Hisham and the country’s frontliners in fighting the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia.

“I took 19 minutes to weave the bracelet, using three colours namely dark blue, light blue, both represent cleanliness and white as a symbol of purity and sincerity of those who are taking care of the Malaysians' wellbeing during this pandemic.

“I hope this small gesture will further uplift his spirit so that he can remain strong and for Malaysians to continue to give support to our frontliners by staying at home,” she said when met at her home in Seberang Takir here.

The youngest child of University Sultan Zainal Abidin International Centre director Anuar McAfee, 55 and Terengganu Incorporated’s Strategic Communication senior executive Mutiara Jusuf McAfee, 46, has a keen interest in handicraft and has been sharpening her skills from YouTube.

Meanwhile, Mutiara said it was the first time Lara Khadijah wrote a letter to the country’s “dignitary”.

“It was a small gesture but I hope it would help Lara Khadijah to learn to appreciate the contributions of others, become more aware of the current situation and have high values of humanity.

“I did not expect the letter to go viral as our intention was only to share our gratitude and we expressed it in the letter to Dr Noor Hisham and his team.

“I hope this will lead to more positive things among Malaysians so that we can remain united and adhere to the government’s directives in facing the COVID-19 outbreak,” she said.

Meanwhile, despite busy with his task in dealing with COVID-19 pandemic, Dr Noor Hisham in his reply letter dated April 16 said he highly appreciated Lara Khadijah’s kind words and bracelet which is now worn by his granddaughter.

Saying that the young girl and fellow Malaysians have been playing their part in breaking the chain of COVID-19 by staying at home, Dr Noor Hisham hoped Lara Khadijah not to be too worried and have faith that the outbreak would soon end.

Dr Noor Hisham also advised the girl to study hard to achieve her dream as the day would come for the girl to help Malaysia.

Signing off the letter with “From your new friend, Dr Noor Hisham.”, the 57-year-old doctor touched many hearts with his humbleness.

In his short message to Bernama, Dr Noor Hisham confirmed that it was his letter to Lara Khadijah, and said: “That’s the least I could do to inspire her.”

As at 7.30 pm yesterday, the letter which was trending on Twitter had received more than 44,000 retweets and 45,000 likes after it was posted by Lara Khadijah’s third brother, Iman Cullen Cornelius.

Iman Cullen, when contacted by Bernama, said Lara Khadijah is a talkative petite lass who is very creative in doing things.

“She has been making these loom bands for two to three months now and she also likes to share TikTok videos,” he said.

Iman Cullen also tweeted that Dr Noor Hisham liked his tweet and thanked Dr Noor Hisham and his team for their dedication and hard work in dealing with the deadly virus in the country.

-- BERNAMA