When Brent and Ellen Byggdin set out on their ritual morning walk around Niverville on September 6, they had no idea that a small child would set them on a whole new course for the day.
That same morning, as Abdul Baten and his partner Sumaia Parvin sent their two older children off on their first day of school, the couple had no idea how the two strangers out walking would change their world.
They also learned that it really does take a village to raise a child.
Child on a Mission
Jibran is a precocious five-year-old and the son of Abdul and Sumaia. On the morning of September 6, he woke up late. Too late to see his older siblings off to school.
He had anxiously been awaiting the first day of Kindergarten for some time. But unbeknownst to him, his first day of school wouldn’t happen for two more days.
In Jibran’s mind, if the bus had picked up his siblings for school that morning, it must have come for him too—only he’d missed his chance to get on it.
Sumaia was busy with her three-year-old and other household chores when Jibran got out of bed, dressed, and fed himself breakfast. He chose to wear a T-shirt that said “Mama’s Boy.”
Without a word, Jibran threw on his backpack, opened the garage door, mounted his tricycle, and headed down the street for school.
He made it about four city blocks before he was spotted by the Byggdins.
It was 10:20 a.m. and the couple was headed south along Five Avenue. Just before turning right into Hespeler Park, they witnessed a small child on a tricycle at about the midway point of the busy highway.
“What was fortuitous is that we were planning to walk earlier that morning, in which case we’d have missed him entirely,” says Brent. “We arrived at [the crosswalk by Hespeler Park] just when we saw him crossing Fifth Avenue on a trike by himself. We just instinctively went to him.”
The Byggdins guided Jibran safely across the street and then grilled him for answers. They learned his first name and a partial home address: 16 Niverville. They also discovered that he was on his way to Kindergarten.
“I asked him, ‘Is your mommy not walking with you?’” Ellen says. “And he very adamantly said, ‘I don’t need my mom.’”
Parents themselves, the Byggdins quickly clued into the situation. Brent admits that he, too, had escaped home as a young child on a mission to get to school.
Little Jibran was agreeable when they asked his permission to accompany him on his journey. The Byggdins considered a phone call to the RCMP but decided to wait and follow first.
“If it was a child who didn’t know what he was doing and didn’t know where he was going, then we probably would have called 911,” says Brent.
Brent walked on the child’s right, keeping Jibran from peddling into the ditch or over the curb every time he spotted a passing school bus.
Ellen followed, noticing that Jibran would occasionally pedal with only one foot in order to silence an annoying squeak on his tricycle. It was a slow, arduous trek.
To try and speed the process, the Byggdins encouraged Jibran to stop as they passed by their own house on Fifth Avenue. Brent found a can of WD40 and went to work on the pedal, only to discover that it was a broken seat mount causing the squeak. There was nothing to be done.
In the meantime, Ellen contacted the principal of the school, indicating the situation and letting her know they were on their way.
Frantic Parents
On the morning Jibran went missing, Abdul was in Vita where he’d dropped off a friend who needed a ride to work. He became aware of the situation when Sumaia, through frantic tears, called to ask if Jibran was with him.
Discovering the clues Jibran had left behind, the couple quickly surmised what had taken place. Abdul wasn’t altogether surprised that his son was capable of such a feat.
“He’s a very intelligent child,” Abdul says. “We’ve never taught him math or anything, but he can read, he can multiply and divide. He’s learned by himself.”
Abdul says that Jibran also takes an active role around the house, helping with chores and caring for his baby brother. Abdul describes his son as a natural born leader.
Abdul’s first response was to reach out to the Niverville Community Group on Facebook to see if anyone had seen their son. This same group, he says, had responded with more than 300 welcoming comments when the couple had first moved to Niverville just seven months earlier.
Next, he contacted the school principal, asking her to keep an eye out for his son.
Abdul later learned that the principal, Tracy Beaudin, instructed the students heading out for recess to watch for and report back if they saw a small child with a backpack on the school grounds.
In the meantime, local residents jumped into action in response to Abdul’s plea for help.
According to Abdul, some were out in their cars scouring the streets. Others who’d spotted the boy earlier announced where they’d last seen him. Still another reported seeing the boy go by their home, accompanied by an older couple.
“I got almost a live broadcast of what was going on,” says Abdul. “I’m thankful to the community. It is such a vibrant and helpful community and they champion each other.”
Happy Reunion
The Byggdins stayed the course with young Jibran, astounded at his ability to find his way without any coaching.
Had he been on his own, the only mistake he’d have made would have been to cross the four-lane Main Street at an area without a crosswalk. Here the Byggdins stepped in and steered him to the crosswalk for safe passage.
Arriving at the school, the principal quickly took over and thanked the Byggdins for their help.
“We did nothing that any other caring adult, especially a parent, wouldn’t do,” Brent says. “We’re just glad we were at the right place at the right time.”
In the end, the Byggdins estimate that the boy, both solo and chaperoned, would have pedalled that broken tricycle for about an hour, and the equivalent of ten city blocks, to get to school.
Abdul arrived on the scene after the Byggdins had moved on.
Jibran was more disappointed about having to go home than he was fearful about his situation. Still, Abdul is proud that his son kept his composure throughout the ordeal.
He’s also enormously thankful to the Byggdins for the role they played in keeping Jibran safe. As for the principal, Abdul says she followed all the right steps to see to Jibran’s safe return.
New Bond Created
Brent and Ellen received a phone call from Abdul later that day, inviting them for a visit over tea and traditional Bangladeshi food.
They were greeted at Abdul’s door by the eldest son as he held out a bouquet of hand-picked flowers and offered words of gratitude.
“Abdul said to us, ‘I want you to be grandparents to the children,’ and they immediately started calling us that,” Ellen muses. “Instantly, as we walked away down the street, we’d become grandparents.”
Bangladesh to Niverville
Abdul and Sumaia had found reasons to love their new community of Niverville even before this event. The rural lifestyle was tranquil compared to that of Winnipeg, their former home.
But it was Hespeler Park and town council that ultimately convinced Abdul that Niverville would make a great place to live.
Abdul has been highly active in the Bangladeshi and Muslim communities in Manitoba. He’s also an avid sports fan, organizing soccer, badminton, and cricket tournaments for players of every background.
“I’ve organized many events in Hespeler Park,” Abdul says. “It’s a beautiful park. In 2019, I saw the park and it motivated me to eventually come settle here.”
Abdul describes Niverville’s council as very friendly and welcoming, even before his family’s move. He’s hoping, along with significant funding from the Muslim sports community, that council will allow cricket fields to be established in the park.
According to Abdul, cricket was Canada’s national sport in the early twentieth century and Manitoba had its own cricket association back in 1935.
Abroad, cricket surpassed soccer to become the number one sport in Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan in the late 1990s. In recent years, a resurgence of the sport is happening in Manitoba as well.
If Abdul has his way, Niverville will become the next big hub for cricket enthusiasts from across the province.
