A Strange Encounter at the Airport

I was on my way to the bus stop at Changi Airport basement car park when a lady stopped me. She was lost and trying to ask for direction in a very poor English. Lucky I caught a glimpse of her passport, which told me that she's Indonesian. Quickly I told her to speak to me in Indonesian so I can help her.  

Her friends left her behind when she was caught up at the immigration line. She passed me her passport for me to check. From her passport I gathered that she arrived in Singapore from Jakarta and was going to Qatar next. She didn't know where to go since the officer at the check in gate refused to let her in. From her look, I assumed that she's a domestic helper being sent to Qatar for work.  

She passed me her passport twice. Without a tiniest doubt. That's when I decided that she wasn't a con woman. Besides, her face looked really worried.  

"My group leader told me to just show this piece of paper to the officer when I want to check in. I showed it to the officer, but he just waved me away. I wonder what's wrong and my friends are not with me. Can you please tell me where I should go?". The piece of paper she talked about was a document in Arabic letters which of course I can't read. But I got a feeling that it was just a visa document for her to be allowed entry to the country. 

I thought she just merely didn't know where the departure area and the gates are. She looked really lost when I told her it's at Level 1, so I decided to just accompany her there.

On the way, I asked where her ticket to Qatar was, so that I know which airline and which gate that airline was at.

"The officer also asked me the same thing, but I don't have it. It's with the group leader and I don't know where he is." 

...  

I could only ask what airline she planned to take, was it Qatar airways and whether she really needed to fly today. She just answered yes to both.

D***  

What I thought was just a simple lost person case quickly became complicated.

"You need to buy the ticket on the spot if you really need to fly today, and I tell you, it's not going to be cheap." 

"Yes, I know", that's all she said.  

I asked the airport staff where I could buy a plane ticket on the spot for Qatar airways. The staff told me that I had to go to Terminal 3. We were at Terminal 1. So I led her to walk towards the sky train connecting Terminal 1 and 3.  

While walking, my mind was in a mess.

What should I do once I reach Terminal 3? With what money can she buy the ticket? She didn't look like carrying a lot of money with her. If she can't buy the ticket, what should I do next? Leave her with the police? Get a place for her to stay? Where? How? God please help. I really don't know what to do. I only wanted to help. Why must it become this complicated?  

"Mbak*...no need to send me to Terminal 3! My friends are here! Thank you so much mbak!!", suddenly she exclaimed and hugged me, full of relief. Her friends were all sitting at the seats near the sky train area to Terminal 3.

Her exclamation cleared my cloud of thoughts in a matter of seconds. I didn't know who helped whom anymore. I felt relieved as well by her words.

Thank God I didn't have to send her to police nor to pay her ticket to Qatar. I hugged her back, silently thanking God for taking care of it for me.

Well, I think the phrase "You will receive happiness when you help someone" really is true, though I experienced it in an unexpected way.

What a day.

*Mbak is a term in Indonesian to call a young female person. Similar to Miss in English.