Eve Lim
Eve Lim's photo of Sania's family. Hisham (left), Sania (second from left).
Last Thursday night, on Jun. 15, after finishing his shift at McDonald’s on Cross Avenue at 11 p.m., 17-year-old Hisham Bajwa found his e-scooter missing. The previous night, a thief tried to break the lock on it, but wasn’t able to.
It appeared that the thief came back for it and was successful this time.
Worried about his mother’s reaction to losing his new e-scooter, Hisham decided not to tell her. Instead, he walked back home, which took 40 minutes.
“He couldn’t call and tell me, ‘Mom, come pick me up," said Sania Aslam, Hisham’s mother.
“I was scared to tell you that it was gone. I didn’t know how you would react.” - Hisham said to his mother.
Sania, however, was more concerned about him walking home alone, in the dark, than the stolen scooter.
The next morning, she went to her son’s workplace and looked at the surveillance cameras. It was the same thief who attempted to steal the scooter the day before.
Sania is a single mom of four kids and works two jobs. She bought the scooter with her credit card and hadn’t paid off the debt yet. And now, she'd be stuck struggling to pay for a scooter that they don’t have anymore.
Heartbroken, she took to Oakville Talk, a Facebook group, and pleaded with parents to check if their kids came home with a scooter that they couldn’t have paid for themselves.
“It was $799 + tax. It’s such an emotional day. I’m so so hurt. I can’t even see myself replacing this again. I’m still paying off the bill for something that isn’t even ours anymore” - excerpt from Sania's Facebook post
The response was overwhelming.
Many offered to send money, and some contemplated pooling together enough cash for a new scooter.
But one person pulled out all the stops. Eve Lim took it upon herself to buy a similar scooter from Amazon and personally deliver it.
Sania’s situation as a struggling single mom struck a chord “on so many levels” with Lim, who was in a similar predicament at a point in time.
Buying the scooter was “a decision in a blink,” Lim said. “I know how it feels. My daughter was 16 when she was working as a cashier at Canadian Tire, and she got scammed. She cried her eyes out. We were newcomers, then, with no help at all whatsoever.”
Moreover, Lim had just bought a birthday present for herself right before the incident, which she returned so she could get the scooter.
“It’s such a meaningful gift.” - Lim
Lim soon went over to meet the family and deliver the scooter herself. Sania insisted that Lim hand it over directly to Hisham, who was happy to learn that “there are good people out there too.”
Sania acknowledged our youth’s desire to obtain things quickly but wants parents to teach their children the value of hard work and the impact that stealing can have on a victim.
“Keep an eye on your children. And find out where they’re getting their stuff from. Parents know whether their kids can afford something or not. There’s too much temptation out there.” - Sania
