Mere days after the story of Zin Mar Oo — the Myanmar housemaid who jumped from the 18th floor of a condo in Singapore — spread across social media, Myanmar netizens rallied to set up a fund for the young woman’s family back in Rakhine State.
Yesterday, writer Wai Hun Aung shared on his Facebook page that Zin Mar Oo hailed from a small village in the township of Mrauk-U. An only child, her mother passed away while she was still a kid and her father left their family to marry someone else; she was raised by her grandparents — aged 78 and 73 at the time of her passing — and in recent years, was the family’s sole breadwinner.
Hours later, the Facebook page Salone got in contact with Wai Hun Aung and put up the details of a Singaporean account to which people could donate money that would be sent to Zin Mar Oo’s grandparents.
This morning, Salone admins put up a screenshot of a message that they received from a woman named Sandar Aung, who contacted them to express her sorrows as well as offer to donate a whopping SGD5000 (approximately MMK5 million).
In the message, Sandar Aung expressed her hopes that any other housemaids finding themselves in the same situation as Zin Mar Oo will reach out to someone and get help, even if that means going back home. She also stated that she would gladly help any workers who wanted to come home but were facing difficulties doing so.
According to the Salone post, Sandar Aung and her family are quite well-known for their generosity, reportedly having donated thousands of dollars over the years to cover hospital costs for Singapore-based Myanmar workers who didn’t have the finances to pay the bills, as well as most recently to the families of the passengers who were in the military aircraft that went down last week.
At the end of her message, Sandar Aung actually thanked the Salone admin for providing the opportunity to help out Zin Mar Oo’s family.
While the circumstances surrounding this story are obviously horrific, it’s good to see a small beacon of light shine in the midst of the sadness. Although as Sandar Aung said, we hope that no tragedies like this will ever take place again.
