[forum456]

https://www.facebook.com/goh.gilbert/pos...3797883975

Bumped into this elderly rough sleeper in her seventies who cut a pitiful spectacle during yesterday's homeless outreach. She was slowly pushing a trolley down a slightly-sloppy walk-way and we went to help her.

She survives by collecting smashed tin cans and resell them to the wholesalers for a small allowance fortnightly.
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.

She suffers from a huge corn underneath the left foot and our kind-hearted young volunteer helps to apply some ointment taken from the polyclinic earlier by the elderly herself on the painful lump. It is apparent that the corn is causing her much discomfort as she has to take a Panadol later to ease the pain.

As she hasn't eaten yet at the late hour of 11pm, we bought her favourite roasted pork meal and she quickly tucked in hungrily.

After distributing our stuff to other rough sleepers nearby, we came back to her and decided to pass her some cash so she can get herself some nice proper meals for the week. We also help her bank in the money at the nearby ATM so that it is safely-kept.

We will be contributing $50 to her weekly for a year of commitment so that at least she can have $200 monthly to count on for meals and other necessities.

If you have a empty room and wish to house her out of compassionate ground, please let us know - we can pay some rent for her to offset the cost.

She is probably our saddest rough sleeper case so far and her extreme ill-health makes her a vulnerable target not only to the elements but also COVID-19 viruses.

Do something good for Singapore.

[forum456]

https://www.facebook.com/goh.gilbert/pos...0238208975

A late-night distribution proves to be troubling as we saw many new faces sleeping rough at the central part of Singapore.
Many are elderly men in their 60s upwards with one even boasting of closing on 88 in a few weeks' time. He looks not a year beyond 70 though with his athletic lean frame.

Everything was gone in record quick time and my three big bags of blankets, sleeping bag, mask, jacket and biscuits were quickly emptied out. The chicken rice owner who brought along 15 packets of her own cooked food also managed to give out everything.

The usual suspects were there but it's the new additions that are worrying - rough sleepers who have being there for the past six months.

Are they victims of the COVID-19 pandemic? One or two whom we managed to speak with reveal frequent spats at home leading to their solo venture out in the street to escape from the domestic torment.
Another one told us that he bought a cheap suit case at nearby Little India to keep all his stuff and he has being sleeping rough since six months ago.

The sheer numbers are mind-boggling and troubling and I reached home quite late and tired but just couldn't sleep as their faces flashed by whenever I closed my eyes.
I am more shocked than tired frankly.

A elderly man shivering in the bench underneath a thin mattress is probably the saddest spectacle of the night plus a man whose legs are of very bad diabetic condition add on to the horrors of the homeless debacle.
Is Singapore regressing?

When we were living in the 80s to 90s, we hardly see so many rough sleepers - there are the odd one or two here and there but never in clusters of five or six like today.

The rich-poor divide is just too scary to fathom - I saw in the news how the wife of Grab owner bought $30 million worth of property here when I reach home late last night jumping in pre-maturedly to reap the fruits before the forthcoming IPO brings her family great fortune.

The arrival of foreign rich business tech warlords will probably widen the gap further.
All is not well in our little red prosperous dot.

Do something good for Singapore.

[forum456]

https://www.facebook.com/goh.gilbert/pos...1715308975

Thanks to a volunteer's effort yesterday, we could help this homeless elderly to sleep better with the distribution of our safari bed.

He looks very haggard and disoriented especially with his long locks of curly hair and unshaven disposition.
It's a sad sight to behold and he climbs on top of the bed in gratitude as the cardboard makeshift bed only provides a temporary respite from the cold hard floor.

Two cups of leftover drink and a loaf of bread were the only possessions he had when we spotted him at his usual hide-out.
We heard from another nearby rough sleeper that his wife recently passed away and he has moved out to sleep rough ever since.

He is probably one of the saddest if not the saddest rough sleeper we have met so far in our charity outreach.
Four safari beds were distributed out in total yesterday together with our usual mask, blankets, bicycle locks for the bed and jacket.

One other rough sleeper requested for food and we rushed to the nearest food stall to get him his favorite Hong Kong noodle.

He broke our heart when he asks if we will visit him again soon - his eyes moistening in between mouthfuls of the food we bought him.

The homeless charity work is not easy as it pulls all the heart-strings of even the strongest person and I must admit sometimes it does get into me.

There are occasions I went home sobbing at some of the pitiful conditions of these elderly folks sleeping rough.
That's probably also what drive me to plough on despite the late night hours and roughness of the work.

[SotongOngTee]

The onus lies on the government.