Small acts of kindness

Hello and welcome.

Still thinking about friendship, I wanted to share an incident from my accommodation that has stayed with me and continues to feel special. One lazy weekday afternoon, I was trying to take a nap, or what English people call a siesta, when the fire alarm went off. Perhaps because I was half asleep, I felt disoriented. I grabbed my phone, took my jacket from the hook, and ran outside the building, as security had repeatedly advised us to do. Although our accommodation has about four exits, I used the one closest to me and stood slightly away from the crowd, still trying to make sense of what was happening.

 

It was during the second ring of the alarm that I noticed my phone was ringing. My flatmate was calling me. I answered, confused about why he would be calling at a time like this. He said:

“Hi Mercy, I remember you saying you would be working from home today. Are you home? The fire alarm was triggered and we are all outside. I am here with [let's call them Jacob and Pravin], but we cannot seem to locate you. We knocked on your door while leaving, but you did not respond. We just wanted to check that you are outside and safe.”

I was stunned.

 

I replied, and within two minutes they had found me standing at the corner. We waited together until security confirmed that the alarm had been triggered by kitchen smoke and allowed us back into the building. You get used to this, by the way.

But there is something about that day that has stayed with me.

They knocked.

They called.

And they came to me.

 

Living abroad as an international student can be isolating. You often feel like you have to do everything on your own and constantly remind yourself to be the adult. But when relationships are built intentionally with flatmates, small actions like this can make a big difference. In that moment, I realised that my safety mattered to someone in my flat. That if something were wrong, they would notice. That someone was looking out for me. This is the beauty of building friendships in accommodation. It is not just for the good times or the difficult moments, but for all the time in between. The moments when it is comforting to know there is an extra pair of eyes watching out for you.

They called.

And that was all that mattered.