Quaden led out the Indigenous All-Stars. (Screenshot from NRL twitter account)
Indigenous All-Stars team invited the Australian boy who had been bullied at school for Saturday night's game. It has become the best day of the nine-year-old's life and people sharing the same pain voiced their support.
CANBERRA, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- Holding a ball, nine-year-old Quaden Bayles led a team of footy players into the stadium amid cheers and applause, with a smile on his face.
The scene formed a sharp contrast with a video clip from him a week ago, in which he cried and yelled "I want to kill myself … I just want to die right now."
Bayles was born with dwarfism. His mom Yarraka posted the video of the distressed indigenous boy in the car after a day of being bullied at school on social media last week, saying "this is the effect bullying has." "Can you please educate your children, your families, your friends?" she asked.
The footage soon went viral. It had been viewed 8 million times as of last weekend. Many people voiced their support for the boy.
Among them was Australian actor Hugh Jackman, who posted a video clip on his Twitter account last Friday. In the video he said, "Quaden, you are stronger than you know. No matter what, you've got a friend in me. Everyone, let's just please be kind to each other. Bullying is not OK, period."
Bayles once had a dream of becoming a footy star. But "that's not going to be reality and he knows that," said his mom.
The video of Bayles being bullied at school went viral on social media. (Screenshot from internet video)
Indigenous All-Stars team of the National Rugby League (NRL) invited the boy to lead the team out in Saturday night's game on the Gold Coast.
The video showing Bayles's dream-fulfilling moment was posted by NRL on its official Twitter account, garnering one million views.
"He said it was going from the worst day of his life to the best day of his life," his mom said.
The pain of Bayles was also felt by American comedian Brad Williams. "I myself have dwarfism. I myself was bullied as a child and with social media sometimes continue to be bullied. It really broke my heart when I saw Quade and I want to do something about it," he said.
"I've set up a GoFundMe to send brave Quaden and his mother to Disneyland. Let's show a bullied kid that he is loved," he tweeted.
As of Monday evening, the page has shown that more than 468,000 dollars were raised, way exceeding his originally goal of 10,000 U.S. dollars.
"The video broke my heart. There is no room in this world for bullies … keep your head up Quaden my Indigenous brother and be strong," Jarrod McCarthy left the message on the page.
Indigenous All-Stars team of the National Rugby League (NRL) rally behind the bullying victim. (Screenshot from NRL website)
"Quaden, you have enlightened me, thank you for that. You should keep on fighting the people that bully, educate and cause awareness. Have a great time at Disney and the journey of your beautiful life. You are beautiful, strong and loved!" said Fredrik Asberg.
According to a report by the Murdoch Children's Research Institute's (MCRI) Center for Adolescent Health at the end of 2018, around half of students in Years 3 to 5 reported some level of bullying and more than 20 percent were bullied across two or even three years.
MCRI's Professor George Patton said it is likely that every Year 3, 4 and 5 classroom in Australia has at least one child experiencing persistent bullying.
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), many Aboriginal families in Australia have similar stories, with an estimated quarter of all indigenous households having someone living with a disability.
Alice Patten, a mother of five, told the ABC that the video of Bayles brought back memories of discrimination that her children once faced.
"People are just cruel sometimes and I hope that changes -- for Quaden, for us, for everyone," she said. ■