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Tag: Noriza A. Mansor

  • Noriza A. Mansor – Singaporean Of The Year 2015

    Noriza A. Mansor – Singaporean Of The Year 2015

    A woman who went beyond the call of duty and stepped up to help an elderly stranger after he soiled himself at a supermarket is named The Straits Times’ first Singaporean of the Year 2015.

    Madam Noriza A. Mansor, 50, a salesperson with the NTUC FairPrice supermarket at Toa Payoh HDB Hub, was presented with the inaugural award by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at a ceremony held today (2 February) at UBS Business University. PM Lee was Guest-of-Honour at the award ceremony.

    Organised by The Straits Times and sponsored by global bank UBS, the Singaporean of the Year award seeks to honour extraordinary acts of goodwill, ingenuity or perseverance by Singaporeans that have made a positive impact on the lives of others.

    Madam Noriza, a mother of five, clinched the award for her extraordinary act of kindness towards a fellow Singaporean, Mr Tan Soy Yong, 76, in October 2014. When she came across Mr Tan at an NTUC FairPrice supermarket in Toa Payoh, he had clumps of faeces clinging to his shorts, legs and shoes. Instead of shunning him as others did, Madam Noriza helped him clean up and change into a new pair of shorts that she had bought for him. She also took him and his wheelchair-bound wife home in a taxi. A bystander, moved to tears by her selfless act, reported it to the media and the story quickly went viral. Following the incident, she continued to visit and care for the couple at their home and sought them out even after they moved into a nursing home, transcending the boundaries of age and race to treat them like her own parents.

    Madam Noriza beat nine other finalists, ranging from philanthropists and sportsmen to environmentalists and trail-blazing entrepreneurs (see Annexe A  for the full list of finalists), who were nominated for the award. The winner was selected by a panel of 15 judges including senior editors and correspondents from The Straits Times, as well as local celebrities and community leaders such as social entrepreneur and activist Saleemah Ismail, youth leader David Hoe and chef Willin Low (see Annex B for the full list of judges).

    Many ST readers also supported Madam Noriza in an online poll conducted by The Straits Times in January 2016. She was among the top choices, garnering 24% of 2,793 votes in the public poll.

    As part of the award, Madam Noriza will get $20,000 in cash and a trophy, while the other finalists will each receive $5,000 from UBS.

    In a video that The Straits Times recorded of Madam Noriza for the award, she said: “I hope that all Singaporeans will do what I did, to help those who really need their help. Please don’t turn them down.”

    Mr Warren Fernandez, Editor of The Straits Times, on The Straits Times’ Singaporean of the Year award, said: “This ST award aims to recognise those who inspire us all, through their actions and lives, to make a difference to our community.  It is not about finding the best entrepreneur, most outstanding social worker, top professional or some paragon of virtue.  Rather, each of the nominees, who come from a wide range of backgrounds, has a powerful story that will resonate with, and inspire, all of us.

    “As for Madam Noriza, our winner of the inaugural award, hers was a spontaneous act of great kindness and compassion, for a complete stranger. She crossed age, sex, language and racial boundaries to lend a helping hand when called upon to do so, and in a way that not many would have done. And, she followed through on this, tending to the elderly couple for many months as if they were her own parents. Her selfless act is truly a lesson for us all. It shows that any one of us can be extraordinary if we step up to help, in whatever way we can.”

    Mr Juerg Zeltner, President of Wealth Management, UBS, said: “We are delighted to present the inaugural Singaporean of the Year Award as part of UBS’s SG50 gift to Singapore. Through this award, we want to celebrate the triumph of the human spirit and honour those who have gone above and beyond their call of duty to make a difference to society.”

    “As a global firm, UBS seeks to adopt a responsible and sustainable approach to doing business, and to contribute to the communities in which it operates. Singapore has come a long way over the last 50 years. Its remarkable progress would not have been possible without the support, commitment and dedication of ordinary people determined to make Singapore a better place. Their efforts are a testament to the power of the human spirit and its capacity to enhance the quality of life across communities.”

    In addition to the 10 nominees, the judges also singled out for special mention the group of individuals who rushed to help a South Korean man trapped under a lorry on 22 July 2015, working together to lift it and free him.

    Said Mr Fernandez: “Their spontaneous and courageous response to help someone in urgent need went viral and made us all proud to be their fellowmen.”

     

    Source: http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg

  • Malay Single-Mother A Hero To Old Chinese Couple

    Malay Single-Mother A Hero To Old Chinese Couple

    Single mother Noriza A. Mansor gets only one day off a week from her job as a bedsheet promoter.

    Most would use that day to rest, but she spends it looking after an old man she met by chance as he stood in a Toa Payoh supermarket soiled by his faeces.

    Ms Noriza, 49, made headlines last October when she stepped forward to help Mr Tan Soy Yong, 76, who had soiled himself while buying groceries with his wife, who was in a wheelchair.

    Others had recoiled from the old man and his stench. But Ms Noriza not only bought him new shorts but she even knelt to wipe the dried faeces off his legs – an act which moved a bystander to tears.

    Since that day, she has made it a point to visit Mr Tan for at least six hours a week at his Potong Pasir three-room flat.

    Mr Tan has lived there alone since the start of the year, when his wife, Madam Lee Bee Yian, also 76, was hospitalised for cancer.

    During her visits, Ms Noriza cleans up Mr Tan, who cannot control his bowels, and washes his soiled laundry. She also mops the floor and tidies up the flat, while chatting brightly with him in a mix of Malay and Hokkien. Some days, she will accompany him to visit his wife in hospital. On other days, she will take him out in his wheelchair to the hawker centre to eat his favourite wonton noodles.

    Said Ms Noriza: “I only wish I could see him more often. Sometimes if I finish work at 8pm, I will go to see him. But I don’t always have the time.”

    She often works 12 hours a day, taking home around $2,000 a month. She has three sons and two daughters aged 11 to 26. Four of them still live with her.

    Yet she has no qualms about making time for the old couple. “In my life, I am never tired,” she said.

    Mr Tan told her he has a son and a daughter, but Ms Noriza said that, according to social workers, the couple have no children. She thinks they have a niece and a nephew living in Singapore, but has been unable to contact them.

    Ms Noriza believes Mr Tan was sent into her life by God, as she lost her parents when she was 21.

    Her father succumbed to cancer and her mother wasted away in depression eight months later.

    She said she treats the couple as “my own father and mother”.

    Mr Tan once asked her if she had a passport. “I said yes. He said when his wife is discharged, we can go on holiday together as a family.”

    She smiled wistfully. “I know this kind of thing is very hard, with their conditions. But of course I told him we would. He’s so sweet.”

     

    Source: www.straitstimes.com