This sweet old lady was selling some banana cakes at a night market in Thailand and a gift from this artist is exactly what she needed to cheer up.
There are a lot of elderly folks all over the world who do not have a chance to retire from working and relax. Even in their 70s and 80s, they continue working hard to make ends meet. Artist Samalia Swan–who goes by @samalia.swan on Instagram– often makes sketches of random strangers on the streets and she encountered a sweet old woman in Thailand's Koh Phangan Saturday night market. She was selling some banana cakes from her humble stall. Swan sat at a distance and observed her while jotting down a quick sketch with a pen.
When she finished the sketch, she went ahead to buy a banana cake from the lady at first and then handed her over the sketch she had made. The grandma seemed surprised and overwhelmed when she felt getting noticed by someone who had taken their sweet time to make her a sketch. As Laurie Darmon's "L'exil" song played over the video, the old lady repeatedly looked at her sketch and flashed a hearty smile at the artist as the video cut off.
Swan even made a whole Instagram highlight dedicated to the "Banana Cake Lady," where she shared further details about her encounter with the woman. The artist had heard that the lady was working every day at the night market of Koh Phangan, but when she visited the spot, she couldn't find her stall. After that, Swan figured out that the lady would only put up her stall at the night market on Saturdays and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, she could be found selling her banana cakes near the Big C mall.
Also, Swan added to her highlight that she had not eaten the banana cake immediately after purchasing it. "I still have the banana cake and I am going to try it now because I was fasting earlier," Swan showed her viewers the banana cake and said in a video. "So it was in the fridge and I am pretty sure it's still good." Then she takes a bite of the cake and admits it is pretty good because it is made with love.
The comments section of the video proved how there are still a whole lot of beautiful souls out there in the world who are eager to help the old lady in any way they can. Some people wondered how they could go ahead and buy all her banana cakes and others took pity on her as she still had to work hard in her old age. @shine_dok9 complimented, "You chose the right song too the lyrics are kinda related to the video too. It made me cry." @aitebeet wrote, "I don't think some people under how powerful it is to make others feel seen. You definitely made her day and she's going to remember that for a long time."
@bettybyebye noticed, "She has glaucoma or Fuchs Dystrophy as the iris in her eyes is cloudy. Maybe we could raise enough money for a very basic surgery?" @staisytap added, "To tell you the truth, I’ve been having a pretty hard time with my health, the wars, and just how horrible everything’s been looking these days. I woke up today feeling down again. I found your page by pure accident and binge-watched many of your videos just now and I finally understand what people mean when they say they feel recharged. Thank you. What you’re doing is amazing. It makes me so happy to see that people like you exist to make this world a little less ugly. You are one of the best (and rare) examples of what it means to be human."
View this post on Instagram
You can follow Samalia Swan (@samalia.swan) on Instagram for such heartwarming content.