Plight of 'homeless' woman in Bedok captures netizens' atten
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Plight of 'homeless' woman in Bedok captures netizens' attention
By Fann Sim | Yahoo! Newsroom – Tue, Jan 8, 2013
Auntie Koh speaking to volunteers who visited her on Tuesday. (Yahoo! photo)
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PlightmoreAn elderly rag-and-bone woman found to be living and sleeping along the HDB corridors of Bedok North and thought to have been homeless has been revealed to be a "hoarder".
The plight of the 62-year-old woman, known as Auntie Koh, first came to light after a photo of her desperate situation were posted on by a 19-year-old National Serviceman Ivan Loh and shared on Facebook by civil volunteer group EDMW on Tuesday.
Loh, who stayed at the same Block 419, even invited her to take a shower at his house, before asking on Facebook what more could be done to help the "karang guni" lady.
When Yahoo! Singapore visited the said block on Tuesday evening, Auntie Koh was at the void deck speaking to other civic-minded Singaporeans who had come forward to offer help.
Speaking in fluent Mandarin peppered with idiomatic expressions, the elderly lady said she was kept out of her house because of items she had collected over the years.
"I pick up things like cardboards, refrigerators and keep them at home because I know I can sell them in the future. But around last year, some things fell and blocked my front door, that's why I can't go home," said Auntie Koh, who is not married.
"And I don't want to involve the police or SCDF to help me unlock my door and move things. I'm afraid of them," she added.
Out of control
When Loh asked if she would move back home if he helped unlock her door and sell some items she has kept at home, Auntie Koh repeatedly said "no". She skirted around the question and stubbornly said that those items wouldn't sell because of bad blood with a scraps collector business owner.
Her dispute with neighbours also made matters worse when her hoarding habits grew out of control as junk spilled out of her home into the common corridor.
Auntie Koh also declined help when volunteers said they could try to help her mend the problems between her and her neighbour. She said she wouldn't be able to return home and sleep in her house peacefully, and added that one neighbour would knock on her door relentlessly to disturb her.
"I'd rather sleep outside. If he knows I'm home, he'll find trouble with me," she said.
"My neighbours look down on my because I pick up scraps. People avoid taking the lift with me because they think I'm smelly," she added.
Auntie Koh recounted incidents where she found cups of yellow liquid thinking that somebody has bought her tea but found out that it was actually urine. Clothes that were hanging outside were also burned by cigarette butts.
Being locked out of her house, she now sleeps on the stairs of block 419 and travels around with a shopping trolley full of her belongings.
Living on scraps
Suffering from bad eyesight from cataracts, urinary incontinence and frequent abdominal pains, she manages by collecting scraps and selling it and without any aid. The little money she earns goes to buying adult diapers, utility bills and other miscellaneous expenses. Formerly a Chinese private tutor, Auntie Koh has little funds in her Central Provident Fund (CPF) account.
When asked what sort of help she needs, Auntie Koh said she hopes the government or town council can build her a store room in the void deck to keep her items. And also to get some aid from the Community Development Council (CDC) so that she can stop picking up scraps.
She also hopes to sell her current flat and rent a flat from the government instead but lost her title deed.
"I was told it cost $4,000 to get a replacement. Where am I going to find the money to pay for that?" she said.
"The government told me I was not eligible to get a rented flat and suggested that I get a studio apartment for elderly," she added.
Government help
Her situation captivated the attention of netizens, the majority of whom were quick to criticise the government and her Member of Parliament for not coming forward to help.
But her MP Lee Yi Shyan clarified in a Facebook post later on Tuesday that Koh had indeed sought his help and that of her other MPs in the Bedok GRC over the past four years.
The Minister of State clarified that she was not "homeless" and that she actually owned a fully-paid three-room flat at the same block, but that it was so cluttered with junk due to her compulsive "hoarding" that she could no longer live in her own home.
Her dispute with neighbours had also triggered several rounds of mediation by government agencies.
The MP added that over the past four years, Koh had received food vouchers and financial assistance from grassroots agencies and CDC but at the same time, she had insisted on being self-reliant.
Meanwhile, volunteer Loh said he'll continue to help Auntie Koh in any way he can but hopes the government can do more to help special case like her who've slipped through the cracks of available help schemes.
"Yes they've offered help but it seems like because it's a difficult and complex case, they gave up. I feel that they should try harder and do more," Loh said. -
Compulsive hoarders affects people who had lived through very hard times when resources were scarce and they are fearful of not having enough on a daily basis.
being a private tutor.. she must have been living hand to mouth and constantly worry about when the next paycheck is coming in to foot their bills....
While these people wants to help , they don't know HOW to help her.
Auntie Koh needs a psychologist who is trained in this type of mental illness..to work with her and make her feel safe to let go of these items.
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I agree with jojobeach. She may have one wire loose inside her. This lady has a paid 3room flat, she is living alone and all she need to worry about is her 3 meals a day, utiltiy telephone scc bills. 3 room is not that bad. she is a private tutor so she must have received some education. she will have no problem taking care of herself and should not be living in such a manner.
i suspect sometime back in her life something bad or unpleasant might have happen to her, or smply some mental or illnesses casing her to behave like that.
in any buy sell business, we know if it involves items the size and encumbrance is the matter. no one will keep bulking items on no guarantee or selling in a long term as it takes up inventory space. i wonder if she even know the refrigerator she colected is working or not. if not working properly she can repair it> at what price she can selling after that even if she get it repaired? anyone will even but from her considering the cost of transport and repair, versus selling price and profit margin?
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Originally posted by troublemaker2005:
I agree with jojobeach. She may have one wire loose inside her. This lady has a paid 3room flat, she is living alone and all she need to worry about is her 3 meals a day, utiltiy telephone scc bills. 3 room is not that bad. she is a private tutor so she must have received some education. she will have no problem taking care of herself and should not be living in such a manner.
i suspect sometime back in her life something bad or unpleasant might have happen to her, or smply some mental or illnesses casing her to behave like that.
in any buy sell business, we know if it involves items the size and encumbrance is the matter. no one will keep bulking items on no guarantee or selling in a long term as it takes up inventory space. i wonder if she even know the refrigerator she colected is working or not. if not working properly she can repair it> at what price she can selling after that even if she get it repaired? anyone will even but from her considering the cost of transport and repair, versus selling price and profit margin?
You must understand that people with Hoarding disorders see values on items very differently than normal people.
First there's the Sentimental Value... then there's the perceived market value ... on the items she collected.
Sentimental values are the hardest to get rid of... and no one should force a person with such disorder to discard those items.
Perceived market value.. to a normal person.. it's junk, trash, zero value... but for a person with such disorder.. she see the items having a much higher value.
You simply cannot expect her to be willing to "throw away" or "donate" these items. Because in her eyes.. those stuffs are not junks. Doing so is like wrenching out money from her already poor pocket.
eg. A broken refrigerator may be zero value to you.. but she believe she can sell it for a couple hundred dollars when the need arises.
Hoarding is about keeping the items for future uses. People in disaster prone area will hoard food and water. People in war torn/ post war countries all behave in the same way. Whenever there's the danger of limited future resources and unpredictable supply.
Hoarding then becomes a method to SURVIVE.
It's a tough road... I hope the authorities will treat her humanely and send some qualified mental health personel to assist her, instead of forcing her to clean up.
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Originally posted by jojobeach:
Compulsive hoarders affects people who had lived through very hard times when resources were scarce and they are fearful of not having enough on a daily basis.
being a private tutor.. she must have been living hand to mouth and constantly worry about when the next paycheck is coming in to foot their bills....
While these people wants to help , they don't know HOW to help her.
Auntie Koh needs a psychologist who is trained in this type of mental illness..to work with her and make her feel safe to let go of these items.
I agree with you...She refused help with clearing her "collections" because she simply cannot part with them...
Building a storeroom under the HDB will not solve the problem... If her compulsive hoarding isn't solved, she'll simply fill up that storeroom too... Besides, by agreeing to the request, it will set a precedent and soon others will start to follow and request..
what she needs is a psychologist...
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Originally posted by ^Acid^ aka s|aO^eH~:
I agree with you...She refused help with clearing her "collections" because she simply cannot part with them...
Building a storeroom under the HDB will not solve the problem... If her compulsive hoarding isn't solved, she'll simply fill up that storeroom too... Besides, by agreeing to the request, it will set a precedent and soon others will start to follow and request..
what she needs is a psychologist...
HDB will never build a store -room just for her lah.
.. what I worry is HDB may forcibly CONFISCATE her HDB
because the junks in her HDB pose a HEALTH hazard, FIRE/SAFETY harzard and PEST hazard to the whole block.
Those may be valid reason to evict her from her home.
Hopefully she has a reliable relative to depend on.. else she may have to face the wrath of the heartless officers trying to .. just doing their job.
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about the refriegertor, nowsaday a new unit cost only about a few hundred bucks. i dont know about her that one unit, but i think she should see it immidiately to get the money. its second hand used, not new, and the lifespan for second hand if working is still in doubt. i bet that refregerator unit is cannot be sold.
hoarding emergency supplies food and hoarding used items is differnt. if she quickly sell the large bulking items that depreciates and not increase value over time, the space she can free up and hoard other smaller items. just my opinion.
yep she see things differently perhaps. but a normal mind rag-andbone man will never see it this way, if he also have some basic business sense.
again i think asking HDB to build a store room for her alone is an impossible request. she should see a psychiatrist, or expand her buyer market and consistently seel off her horad.
now a lot of items even garang guni and cash converters also dont wanna take.
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Hi, I'm doing a project on the homeless people in Singapore.. does anyone know where I can find them besides Arab Street? I went to Chinatown and Little India recently and could find none.
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Originally posted by Redheels:Hi, I'm doing a project on the homeless people in Singapore.. does anyone know where I can find them besides Arab Street? I went to Chinatown and Little India recently and could find none.
Singapore have no homeless people, as homeless in Singapore is consider breaking the law and will be send to the so call "welfare home" and are not allow to leave the place until the Director of Social Welfare deem otherwise. See the following link http://statutes.agc.gov.sg/aol/search/display/view.w3p;page=0;query=DocId%3Abb29aa4d-9f79-40a2-99df-ae9961200610%20%20Status%3Ainforce%20Depth%3A0;rec=0
