KOTA BHARU – When Covid-19 hit the country in March, Mohd Shahril Hamzah – who had been working as a costumed character for birthday parties, events and celebrations – suffered a sudden loss of income.
He had been entertaining customers while donning superhero costumes for two years before the pandemic.
However, instead of feeling down and depressed, Mohd Shahril, 27, decided to use his experience by donning the Marvel's Spiderman costume to sell balloons of various shapes and sizes – without price tags.
His customers only need to pay ‘seikhlas hati’ (any sincere amount that they can afford).
The second child of four siblings said that he decided to sell balloons in such a way because he did not want to burden the general public who were also adversely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“When I first started in June, I charged my customers around RM1 to RM2 for each balloon, depending on the shapes and sizes, but there was an incident where a father did not have the money to pay for the balloon for his young son.
“The incident touched me deeply and since then I decided to sell the balloons without any fixed prices, as I also realise there many out there who are having a really tough time due to the pandemic,” he said when met by Bernama in front of McDonald’s Pengkalan Chepa, here.
Mohd Shahril who hailed from Kampung Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, said that he took three months to learn the skills to produce balloons of various shapes.
“‘Alhamdulillah’ (praise be to Allah), with the knowledge and skills I learned from a friend and YouTube, I have a source of income.
“Thus far, I have been able to sell around 40 to 100 balloons daily of different shapes and sizes (including heart, rabbit, giraffe, swords, pistols, flowers and horses) and earn around RM40 to RM50.
“Even though customers only need to pay what they can afford, I am grateful as I can still earn a living to cover my daily expenses,” said Mohd Shahril, who sells balloons from 5pm to 10pm daily.
Noor Ellashi Mohd Suhaimi, 32, said she decided to buy the balloons for her three young sons after spotting Shahril in the Spiderman costume. The note stating that balloons can be purchased with any amount helped, too.
“Mohd Shahril’s action should be commended as he is helping others who are less fortunate and as customers, we can give a little extra to him when we are paying,” she said.
Recently, Mohd Shahril’s story was uploaded by Facebook account owner 'Syarifah Ezzah' and the post had received more than 1,000 likes and over 500 shares. – Bernama, December 10, 2020
