Singapore ― A 72-year-old man living in a hawker centre only eats one meal a day – a bowl of S$1 porridge.
As part of activist Gilbert Goh’s initiative to help displace elderly Singaporeans, the elderly man was given S$50 to tide him over.
In a Facebook post on Sunday (Sept 26), the money the elderly man was given is part of the $100 homeless support scheme he will be given over a one-year period.
Mr Goh shared that the man sleeps on a bench together with others who also take shelter there in the night. “He is rather unclear on how he ends up in the street at his advanced age”, Mr Goh wrote. The man also said that someone in his fifties passed away two months ago at about the same spot where he sleeps.
“He says he will eat one meal a day usually and in the morning a nearby stall will give him free kopi. He drinks from the tap regularly to quench his thirst and will fill up a water bottle.
As he has a weak tummy, he could (sic) only eat porridge where he can buy at $1 a bowl at a nearby stall.”, Mr Goh wrote. The man said that he planned to use some of the money given by Mr Goh to get himself a haircut and shave.
In July this year, Goh encountered an elderly woman whom he called probably our saddest rough sleeper case so far.”
In a Facebook post on Sunday (Jul 25), Mr Goh wrote about and shared the photos of the auntie, whom he said “cut a pitiful spectacle” during the homeless outreach he and his team conducted the day before.
They met the woman, who survives by collecting and selling used tins, as she was pushing her trolley.
The auntie has many health issues, as can be gleaned from his post. He said that some volunteers even had to help her change her adult diapers.
“WE HAVE TO HELP HER STAND UP SO THAT SHE CAN CHANGED HER PAMPERS AT THE NEARBY TIOLET ALL THE WHILE HOLDING HER HANDS AS SHE AMBLED SLOWLY ALONG.”
/TISG
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