Singaporean activist Gilbert Goh spotted close to about 8 rough sleepers during a homeless outreach programme.
Goh shared how he met a brought sleeper who was the same guy who broke down the last time they met when they handed him a $50 angpao.
Here is what he said
Another difficult night to fathom as the homeless population seems to increase steadily over the years at Bedok North during last weekend’s homeless outreach.
We saw close to eight rough sleepers in just a small circumference area of not more than 2 km.
Bedok North is a old silver-haired estate filled with many government subsidized housing units both at Bedok North itself and nearby Chai Chee area.
Tee shirt, rain coat, mask, mosquito patches, torchlight and angbao (3) were given out to our elderly rough sleepers who have no proper roof over their head except the outdoor hard cold benches.
A elderly man asks for some bread and we went to purchase at the nearby Sheng Siong supermarket after which we spent some time talking to him. He was the same guy that broke down the last time we handed him our $50 angbao.
I am sure as he rests his head to sleep during Father’s Day on the cold hard bench, he will be reminiscing about the happy moments with his family in the past.
He has being sleeping rough for close to five years and is in his mid seventies.
Another rough sleeper we met is a Malay elderly woman whose bodily stench could be smelled more than ten feet away. She has a tiny pink-coloured radio softly tune in next to her for companionship.
A walking aid nearby signalled the fact that she may also be experiencing walking difficulty.
This is the first time we saw her during our outreach in Bedok during the past few years.
Others are mostly elderly men in the 60s to 80s spending their twilight years in the wilderness of homelessness and misery as they wallow in their unforeseen situation.
Many could not envisage they will live out their remaining years in such abject circumstances and some do lament at their situation.
Others are more sanguine and took everything in a positive stride waiting to ride the first wave when it goes their way.
As the economy bites hard with the current sky-high inflation, we foresee more elderly Singaporeans will be homeless as families living in poverty will find it hard to make ends meet.
Relationship within our small nucleus family network will also get more porous and friction will occur easily causing some to leave home for the long haul.
We left the area close to 1.30 am as some simply just wanted to talk to a sympathetic person who is properly in short supply these days.
All is not well in our tiny red dot.
Do something good for Singapore – a charity movement to alleviate the hardships of displaced elderly Singaporeans.
PS: if you are living in Bedok North and want to actively help out the elderly rough sleepers over there, please let us know.
Source: Gilbert Goh on Facebook