Under The Angsana Tree: Singapore’s Elderly Poor

Ploughing on: The faces and insecurities of Singapore’s elderly working poor

'Eddie', 63, and his brother who is 68 , deaf-mute and diabetic, both make a living picking and selling cardboard

They get taken for beggars sometimes as they poke through the trash, by people who exclaim “eiyuh!” in disgust. Impatient drivers honk as the duo push their laden trolleys along the road. “My brother cannot hear the cars horn,” said the man who asked to be known as ‘Eddie’. “When I tell them he cannot speak or hear, most say sorry. Others curse and say, ‘****, lah, I don’t care’.”

The 63-year-old has long since learned to swallow his pride and let such comments slide, over 20 years of doing what he must to look after his deaf-mute brother, who is 68 and diabetic. This includes scrounging for odd jobs, in between forays to pick and sell cardboard around their Serangoon one-room rental flat, in any weather. “We’ve collected in the rain. I got sick. It's okay when (my brother) falls sick; I cannot fall sick, because I am basically his ears and head, so he’s in trouble,” said Eddie, who pushes a trolley stacked with cardboard higher than his 1.5-metre frame.

A good day is when the brothers collectively make about S$20. That’s with a haul of nearly 200kg, depending on price fluctuations. Said Eddie: “After a long time, our bones start to ache. It really hurts.”

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Lonely and 'waiting to die', Singapore's elderly poor find hope in many helping hands

Care executive Ahmala Rajoo with Helen Fernandez

Her one-room flat was a cluttered mess, and Madam Helen Fernandez herself never seemed to bathe, said her neighbours who always saw her in the same set of clothes.

When case workers first visited the unkempt and confused elderly widow, they had to rush her to hospital for very high blood pressure – which resulted because she hadn’t been taking her medication and had been missing doctors’ appointments.

Since her husband died 17 years ago, Mdm Fernandez had been living alone with no friends or family – and slowly falling prey to loneliness and dementia. There were times when she’d even call up the police just to talk. It was how her case got referred to the Social Service Office, and then to case worker Ahmala Rajoo in 2015.

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Helping Elderly Cardboard Collectors in Singapore

A MILE IN THEIR SHOES! PLEASE SHARE!

We are just about 2 weeks aways from a special rendition of "A Mile In Their Shoes" where we hope to have our political front leaders to participate to understand better, the plight of the growing population in Singapore!

Good news is SDP and PSP will be participating. We are still waiting for the others to reply. We are still hopeful though. :)

Please share this post on our page.

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Hazards being a Cardboard Picker

Death by cardboard collection, more common than…

CARDBOARD collecting isn’t exactly a dangerous activity, but at least three people have died from doing just that over the last two years.

Yesterday (March 30), Madam Poh Ah Gin became the third fatality when a taxi reversed into her at high speed at a carpark in Bedok North Street 2. The 78-year-old was collecting cardboard when the taxi driver lost control of the vehicle while reverse parking and rammed into her twice, killing her.

In November 2014, an 86-year-old woman who had also been collecting cardboard was run down after walking into the blind spot of a bus in Marsiling Lane. Madam Ching Guan Eng was dragged for a short distance, and her trolley and stash of cardboard were stuck under the bus. The coroner ruled her death as an “unfortunate traffic misadventure”.

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Collecting Cardboards from "a form of exercise" to "protecting our environment"

Minister Tan Chuan-Jin was right, some old people do collect cardboards for exercise

In July last year Minister for Social and Family Development, Tan Chuan-Jin, shared several pictures of cardboard collectors on his Facebook with the caption, “Have you ever Spoken to a Cardboard Uncle or Aunty?”.

He met the cardboard collectors with a group of young Singaporeans from Youth Corp on a project they initiated – to get first hand insight into the lives of elderly cardboard collectors.

The Minister shared that he was surprised by the findings of the project, that the normal perception that all cardboard collectors are people who are unable to take care of themselves financially is false.

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Have you ever Spoken to a Cardboard Uncle or Aunty?

Aunty is 80! Lives in Toa Payoh with her sister in a 4-room flat. They are in the karang guni trade. Flat is paid up

While I often chat with them when I meet them, I haven't gone so far up the value chain to know the middle man and the whole set-up. I was most happy to join a group of young Singaporeans from Youth Corp on a project they initiated - to get first hand insight into the lives of elderly cardboard collectors: what motivated them to do what they do; and the challenges they face. The youngsters devoted their weekends over a 2-month period to befriend the cardboard aunties and uncles on the streets in the Jalan Besar area, and spent time talking to them to understand what they are going through in life.

They shared with me that they were surprised by their own findings! The normal perception that all cardboard collectors are people who are unable to take care of themselves financially is not really true. There will be some who do this as their main source of income. Some do so to supplement what they have. Some prefer to earn extra monies, treat it as a form of exercise and activity rather than being cooped up at home. They do this to remain independent, so that they can have dignity and not have to ask their families for help.

For members of the public, the simplest thing that one can do for these people is to talk to them to understand them. More often than not, people make judgements without finding out the facts of the matter, in this instance, the stigma surrounding cardboard collectors. But of course, for those who genuinely need financial help because they are unable to find other jobs to supplement their income from cardboard collecting, the government will do what it can to help these people. If you know of individuals who need help, do let us know.

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Plight Of The Tissue Peddlers

I had earlier posted about the PRC man begging (updates below). Curiously, the day after, I met an old lady selling tissue paper outside POMO. I spoke to her at length. She was reluctant to share her personal info but I managed to glean out some. She was going to turn 82 soon. She claimed that both her children didn't give her much hence her need to come out to sell things. She sounded scared to share details even after I assured her of our help because she seemed fearful of her daughter who she claimed had locked her out before. She later said that she was in not too bad a state and only came out to sell occasionally. She also added that she was selling to help someone.

She seemed in good condition and I couldn't determine if she was in financial distress...but at 82 and needing to do this? And with the fragments she shared...I was concerned at her well being from her children.

I asked the authorities to follow up and they found her there after visiting POMO twice. They got more details from her. The assessment is that she doesn't need immediate help but she knows who to follow up with if she does.

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'Tissue and Cardboard' Sellers

Yeoh Lam Keong, former chief economist of GIC, and current adjunct professor at National University of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew School of Policy, weighed in on a rather heavy issue plaguing Singaporeans – the number of elderly homeless or having to sell tissue packets or collect cardboard boxes for a living.

In a Facebook post on Friday, November 9, Yeoh shared the story of an elderly tissue seller. He titled his post, “Singapore’s Elderly Shame : Tissue and Cardboard Sellers at Midnight”.

In his post, he shared the story of Lim, who “would leave her home at 5.30pm each day to sell her tissue papers. It is a cooler time of day. She would only go home close to midnight. She makes about $10 or slightly more daily, just enough for her personal expenses”.

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Buskers, TissuePaper Peddlers, & StreetWalkers

Commuters at Raffles Place MRT station were treated to a violin concert on Friday evening, as a three-month trial allowing buskers to perform at train stations began.

"It's a great idea - some people actually skip their trains and stop to listen," said part-time busker and tuition teacher Daniel Beng, 42, who played tunes including Smoke Gets In Your Eyes and A-mei's Ting Hai (Listen to the Sea).

The trial, a collaboration between the Land Transport Authority (LTA), the National Arts Council and SMRT, is part of a series of social experiments aiming to enhance commuters' experience.

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Golden Year For The Elderlies

There are just about 400,000 of us in Singapore - those aged 65 and older. About 35,000 of us earn less than $1,000 a month.

Another piece of depressing news - 24 out of 100,000 elderly people committed suicide last year. In the United States, only 14 in 100,000 did so. Also, the rate of elderly suicide is twice the rate of those younger in Singapore.

Nearly 30 per cent of us in 2011 were living in a four-room Housing Board flat and about 24 per cent of us in a three-room HDB flat. Twenty per cent were in HDB apartments that were five-roomers or executive flats. Fifteen per cent of us were living in private property. Seven per cent live in one or two-bedroom flats. The remaining 3 per cent of us were in institutions.

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Support for the Needy and Elderly

Thus far, the Pioneer Generation Package easily ranks as the most universally welcomed policy announcement since the 2011 General Election. Who, after all, would begrudge older S'poreans this expression of gratitude after the sacrifices they endured in those early years of independence.

Even those not used to praising the government for generosity were probably pleasantly surprised to find out that the package would cover citizens as young as 65.

The move acknowledges that even if the idea of S'pore had been imagined by a few, it was built by many. And while the majority saw their standards of living rise, they would never enjoy the full suite of opportunities that came to later generations. For example, among baby boomers born in the immediate post-war years, around 60% never got a secondary education. Many who were academically able had to sacrifice school to help their families.

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1,000 street homeless found in Singapore

A man sleeps near the entrance of an MRT station in Singapore. (Reuters file photo)

About 1,000 people live on the streets of Singapore, with the highest numbers reported in the city area, Bedok and Kallang, results from a first-of-its-kind nationwide study showed.

Most of them are men in their 50s or older and hold jobs. A large proportion has slept rough on the streets for years, typically at void decks and commercial buildings.

Findings from the 52-paged report, unveiled at a public seminar held at National University of Singapore Faculty of Law on Friday (8 November), also showed that while there were more homeless people spotted in larger and older housing estates as well as those with a higher concentration of rental flats, they were unevenly distributed across Singapore.

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The Surprising Truth About The Homeless In Singapore

A rough sleeper in Singapore. Photo: Yusuf Abdol Hamid

A landmark study on homelessness in Singapore has found that on any given night, between 921 and 1,050 people sleep in public spaces such as parks and unenclosed lobbies.

Most are older men who sleep rough because they cannot afford housing, want to be near their workplace or have issues with family members or housemates, among other reasons.

The study was led by assistant professor Ng Kok Hoe at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, with the help of 480 volunteers, social workers mobilised by the government, and NGOs conducting fieldwork over three months.

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Elderly in Singapore need S$1,379 a month for basic needs: Study

An older person above 65 years old needs S$1,379 a month to meet his or her basic needs, according to a team of researchers from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYPP).

This precise figure came from a study by the team led by Assistant Professor Ng Kok Hoe from LKYPP, National University of Singapore (NUS). They revealed their findings in a media release on Wednesday (May 22).

The household budgets necessary to meet basic needs were S$1,379 per month for single elderly households, S$2,351 per month for elderly couples, and S$1,721 per month for a person aged 55 to 64 years old, the study said.

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related:
Singapore’s Elderly Working Poor