I am sure you guys are busy prepping for CNY—good food, new clothes and a jolly good old time with your friends and family await.
With that said, have you ever thought to yourself, “how lucky am I”?
I am sure you’ve heard of this saying: “If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep you are richer than 75% of the world.”
Even in a first world country like Singapore, there are people who are less fortunate and recently, news about a family “residing” in Changi Airport broke.
What Happened
A three-generation family has been staying at the airport for two months, Lianhe Wanbao reported, as translated by Stomp.
One of the family member, Peng Hui Ying, 45, sold her flat in 2016 and has been moving between two-room rental with her 13-year-old son and her mum who is 74 years old.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, they moved more than 10 times because they owed rents and as her savings diminished, they were not able to afford a rental flat.
The story becomes even more gloomy.
Before they decided to move to Changi Airport, they were at a transitional shelter in December 2017 but they were unhappy about the arrangement six days in.
Life at Changi Airport
Hui Ying mentioned that they would spend their time between Terminal 1 and 3 and they would sleep in Terminal 4’s sofa seats.
“We are unable to shower at the airport, and we can only use a wet towel to clean ourselves. We’ll occasionally head to a public swimming complex to bathe,” she said.
Her son who studies at Punggol Secondary School is always late to school despite taking the first train every morning.
Not to mention, he doesn’t have much to eat.
“We can only afford bread and water to fill his stomach,” she said.
She claimed that she was so poor she had only $5 and if they are lucky, passersby would offer them bread.
But most of the time, they would spend $1.60 on two plates of chicken rice which will be shared amongst them.
Hui Ying’s mother, Lin Mei Cui said: “We stay at Changi Airport. Every day, people would look at us differently. Chinese New Year is approaching, but we have no home nor do we have money for a reunion dinner. I don’t know how we will be able to spend the Lunar New Year like this.”
As of now, they are granted ComCare subsidy between January and March 2018 by Punggol Family Service Centre.
Netizens’ reactions
While her situation isn’t ideal, netizens were quick to judge and analyse the situation savagely.
But Hui Ying clapped back and I have circled her replies in red.
And finally someone asked what I was thinking
Thoughts
I know I mentioned how we should count our blessings but the said story has a few things that seem a little off: what happened to the money from selling the house (I know she did explain herself in the comment section but nothing makes sense) and why did she move out of the shelter?
Either way, living in a public place is definitely not the best case scenario.
So before you start whining about how little money you received this year, sit down and be appreciative of what you got.
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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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Featured image: Stomp
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