Singaporean activist Gilbert Goh shared how he met an elderly man who is living in a flat with nothing much, save for 2 makeshift mattresses.
Here is what he said
A household with nothing much except for two thin layers of foam under a soft blanket for resting at night.
We spotted the empty house when we distributed our weekly halal bento meals to subsidized government housing yesterday afternoon at the western corner of Singapore.
The person only moves in less than a month after sleeping rough for more than five years and he repeated twice how fortunate now he has a roof over his head.
“I used to sleep in Sembawang Park even though it’s supposed to be haunted” he told us as we surveyed the emptiness of the one-room rental flat.
There are no white goods such as fridge, washing machine, bed, stove and though there is a TV lying against the wall it’s not working due to the lack of a bracket.
Most stuff are stored away in big storage cabinet and commonly-used clothes are hung up as a make-shift cabinet at the bamboo stick.
A rice cooker sits on top of a chair whereas a kettle rests at another corner also on top of another chair.
Midway through the home visit, his mother drops by and we spoke about how supportive mothers are especially when the chips are down at some point in our life.
We decided to bless the empty house with two mattresses, a small brand-new fridge and a plastic five-foot storage cabinet which will likely costs us close to $250 to $300.
We also blessed the household with our halal meals and $50 angbao before leaving.
Do something good for Singapore – a charity movement to alleviate the hardships of displaced elderly Singaporeans.
