SINGAPORE: An elderly woman used to live with her daughter in a so-called ‘garbage house,’ a place filled with clutter from the inside out. The items that were stored in the unit were piled up to the ceiling, leaving little to no passageway for people to move.
With this, several people came to the house and volunteered to clean the area, but the elderly woman became upset as she watched her belongings being cleared away.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the corridor outside the unit was full of miscellaneous items, including multiple trolleys, suitcases, brooms, dustpans, egg cartons, and other unnecessary things. Additionally, umbrellas hung all over the iron gate of the building. The reporter had to be very careful when walking through the narrow passageway to avoid bumping any items.
The volunteers started cleaning the corridor with 10 large trash bags. In less than half an hour, the volunteers filled more than five large trash bags.
The octogenarian woman and her 50-year-old daughter lived in the unit, and it was reported that the clutter was piled up by the daughter. The volunteers communicated with her and did this initiative with her consent.
However, when the cleaners began cleaning, the daughter was not home, and the elderly woman became agitated, stating that her things should not be thrown away.
The leaders of the volunteers who were present immediately calmed the elderly woman, and asked the volunteers to suspend their work for the meantime.
“They will feel sad to see their things being thrown away. Our goal is to help them clean their house, so we need to find ways to persuade them.”
In similar news, there was a man who was reported to have a habit of hoarding miscellaneous items, justifying that he would need them in the future, and there would be no reason to spend money to buy them again. Read more of the man’s story here.
In Singapore, the government is now collaborating with social service agencies, community groups, and private organisations to better tackle the hoarding problems of Singaporeans. Their initiative, named the New Environment Action Team (NEAT), aims to combine expertise and resources from the public, private, and community sectors to handle hoarding issues in a more comprehensive and lasting way, according to the Ministry of National Development and the Ministry of Social and Family Development.
