This CHILD Was Dangling from A Window. None Expect This To Happen
Sabit Shontakbaev (Guban Kumar) is the absolute definition of a Good Samaritan. This humble meat seller became a true hero of his country’s television in a matter of minutes due to a terrible event that kept the residents of a poor neighborhood in Nur-Sultan, a small town in southern Kazakhstan, on edge for more than an hour. It was an unexpected event that we usually see in action movies in which actors like Tom Cruise save the good guys in a fight against evil, equipped with the best weapons and with the help of a great team behind them. However, our protagonist today has neither the looks nor the training of a CIA agent, but he will receive the same results without needing special effects.
The adventure of our protagonist begins one ordinary working morning when Guban was on his way to his stall selling meat at the Central Market. Kumar was the youngest of seven siblings in a humble, hardworking family from the slums of Kazakhstan. Every day, Guban walked a long way from his home on the outskirts of the city to the Central Market, where thousands of people struggled to get by selling their products at the best price. It was a very long walk of almost two hours, during which Kumar crossed the whole city on foot and took the opportunity to buy goods from some of his suppliers. His parents were already very old, and his other siblings had already married and had formed their own families in other places, so Guban was the only son who remained unmarried to take charge of the family business—a task that the young man took on without complaint and to which he devoted himself body and soul every day from dawn.
For Kumar, every day seemed the same. He got up with the first rays of sunlight, got dressed, ate breakfast, and headed to the market in search of a little money that would allow them to continue subsisting. However, that morning would not be the same as the others. That day, something would happen that he would never forget and that would mark his life and future forever. In fact, that day, Guban would do things he had never done before and would never have thought himself capable of doing. And best of all, everything he did was not even for his own benefit but to help someone else—someone he didn’t even know, but who would have the power to change the course of his destiny and that of his entire family.
It all started around 8:00 a.m. in one of the neighborhoods near the Central Market. It was a poor but crowded area where chaos always reigned among the market vendors, the people who came in search of the best deals at the best-located food stalls, cab drivers, clueless tourists looking for help, and a scorching sun that illuminated everything and created an almost suffocating atmosphere in which Guban was used to living. However, that morning there was something that was able to attract attention above all else, something that managed to make hundreds of neighbors in the area begin to swirl around at the same point and shout in anguish, pointing to the top of the building.
Kumar, who was about to enter the market to start selling his meat, couldn’t overlook the amount of people that were congregating there and looked up to see what everyone was watching so intently. As he did so, the young man was stunned and felt his blood run cold. A little girl between four and five years old was dangling from her window sill and was about to fall out.
“Something must be done! She won’t last long and she’s going to fall!” cried a desperate neighbor who knew the girl and her family and watched helplessly at the chilling scene.
It turned out that while her mother had gone shopping, the four-year-old had used cushions and toys to climb out of the window, after which she was left dangling by her fingertips from the window of her apartment. Guban agreed with the man; something had to be done as soon as possible if they didn’t want to witness the girl’s death. It was then that Kumar made the almost suicidal decision to save the girl.
“I’ll save her! Everybody stand back! I need to get through! Watch out, I need to pass! Ma’am, make way!” shouted Kumar, pushing his way through the crowd who looked at him as if he had gone mad.
“Will you save her? Are you a policeman?” asked a neighbor, intrigued by the young man’s attitude.
“No, but someone has to help, don’t you think?” Guban answered and continued walking towards the building.
As he was about to enter the building, the neighbor from before, who claimed to know the family, intercepted him and offered his help.
“I have the key to the house, follow me!” the man shouted as he opened the door of the gate and guided him to where the girl was.
As they climbed as fast as his legs would carry him, Guban realized that he had never been this high before and realized he might not be ready to save the little girl. Kumar’s family had always lived in a small house at ground level; it wasn’t much, but it had everything they needed to live and shelter from the cold in the winter. The only thing it didn’t have was height, and Guban began to feel that was starting to be a problem. Arriving at the door of the apartment where the girl lived, Kumar froze and needed to catch his breath.
“Are you all right? You still want to save her, don’t you? The girl will die if we don’t do something,” the concerned neighbor said.
Guban nodded. He was having a hard time concentrating, and as he entered the apartment and saw the height they were at, he became a little dizzy. The apartment was on the eighth floor and the height was frighteningly high. However, there was something that managed to bring Kumar out of the state of shock he was in and make him react quicker: the screams of the girl, who was becoming more and more nervous and who barely had a few minutes to live before falling into the void. The desperate girl cried for help. All the fear Guban felt was nothing compared to the terror that girl was living. Hearing her scream like that and seeing her hanging from the edge of the window a few meters away from him made Kumar react and realize that his fear of heights was secondary compared to what was happening at that moment.
“Do you have a plan? How do you plan to save her?” asked the concerned neighbor as he saw him hesitate and stand still in the middle of the room.
Kumar was thinking as fast as he could. In a matter of minutes, that girl couldn’t hold on any longer; her strength would fail her and she would fall. The distance he was at that moment made it very difficult to hold her from the inside without increasing the risk of her slipping while trying to grab his hand. He had to find an alternative quickly if he wanted to save her life and for neither of them to end up crushed to the ground in the attempt.
“I have a plan, of course I do, but I need you to help me,” Guban told him, trying to convey confidence even though deep down he was scared to death.
Kumar told him that he would try to grab the girl from the floor below. It was the least risky option, and one in which if the girl slipped, she would at least have a chance of survival. The neighbor who accompanied him went back to the street and, along with other neighbors who were there watching for the girl not to fall, went to get cushions and mattresses from their houses to place on the floor to cushion the possible fall of the girl or Guban in the worst-case scenario.
When everything was ready, Kumar went to the window on the lower floor, which was just below the window where the girl was hanging. The girl was getting more and more nervous; her screams could be heard for miles and she barely had enough strength left. Guban’s heart was pounding, his mouth was dry, and his hands were trembling. He was terrified and didn’t feel like a hero capable of saving anyone, but the truth is that there he was, about to risk his own life to go out and grab her before that girl died.
“Don’t think about it, just grab her. Don’t hesitate,” he said to himself before jumping out the window.
What happened a moment later is history. Guban stepped over the edge of the window nimbly, reached around, and grabbed the girl by the arm. He put her gently down, and when she was safely in his arms, she quickly slipped inside. It was only a few seconds, but it seemed like an eternity to him. Once inside, everything calmed down and Kumar began to be aware of what he had just done.
“You saved me, thank you,” said the girl in tears, giving him a big hug.
Everything had gone well. Both were in perfect condition, and Guban had overcome his fears. Now he just wanted to get out of there and get to work as he did every day, but it was too late to go back to being a normal person. After saving the girl’s life, Guban tried to get back to his life and go unnoticed, but it was impossible. His act of heroism was not only seen by the crowd outside the building that morning but by many, many more millions of people.
As it turned out, his brave action was recorded by many of those present there and was then shared on the internet through different social networks, quickly becoming one of the most viral videos of the moment and catapulting Kumar to instant stardom. His video of him climbing out of the window ledge and saving the little girl at the risk of his own life was everywhere, and everyone wanted to know who he was and ask him how he did it.
“This is one of the most harrowing videos I’ve seen on the internet. The man was on his way to work when he noticed the crowd watching the girl, so he went to the apartment below, climbed out the window, and rescued her. What a hero!” commented a celebrity on his Instagram account upon seeing the video.
“Watching this, I couldn’t breathe until the little girl was inside the window. Award for bravery to the rescuer! That is the definition of bravery and selflessness. Well done!” said another in the comments of the video that was posted on YouTube.
At first, Guban was overwhelmed by his sudden success, but he soon understood that it was happening because he decided to take a risk. He put his life on the line when everyone else stood by and watched that little girl about to die. His bravery earned him the respect of thousands of people around the world. Not only that, it also served to earn him a lot of money with which his family would never again have to live in poverty nor walk several hours to work in the market every day.
That morning, Guban Kumar saved the life of a little girl who was on the verge of death, but his generosity in doing so did everything else.
