Derek C Lalchhanhima is only 6 years old. And like any child his age, Derek is innocence personified. Not only he has a heart of gold, but also has the supreme courage to own up to his “mistakes” and try and make amends. The Mizoram boy exhibited all this and is being hailed by people across the world.
On Tuesday, 2 April, a Facebook post alerted the world wide web about the kindness of little Derek who had accidentally run his bicycle over his neighbour’s chick in Sairang near Aizawl. A post shared by a Facebook user, Sanga Says, along with a photograph showed the boy standing in a hospital holding the chicken in one hand and a Rs 10 note on the other, looking utterly guilty and seeking treatment of the poor animal.
“This young boy from Sairang, Mizoram, accidentally ran over his neighbour’s chicken with his cycle. He took the chicken, ran to the nearest hospital and with all the money he had, asked for help. (I’m laughing and crying all at the same time),” read the post that had been shared over 89,000 times at the time of writing.
According to reports, the Rs 10 he had was his pocket money, which he offered to the hospital staff begging them to treat the chick.
The Facebook post went viral in no time and words of praise started pouring in for the Mizoram boy from all over.
St. Pio school in Sairang, where he is a student of Class I, awarded Derek with a ‘Word of Appreciation’ certificate on Thursday for the “kind act”. Derek was also presented with the Tawlhloh Puan, a traditional Mizo practice while honouring anyone for extraordinary courage.