A Singaporean man in his 80s was discovered living in severe neglect after volunteers entered his one room rental flat in North Bridge Road to help clean it.
What they found inside shocked even seasoned volunteers.
The flat was packed floor to ceiling with hoarded items, leaving barely any space to walk.
Cockroaches, lizards, centipedes and silverfish were found throughout the unit, which had no running water, electricity or gas for more than a decade.
Flat frozen in time since 2015
The clean up was carried out by volunteers. One of them, Fion Phua, described the conditions in a Facebook post.
“In a world of AI, smart homes and high technology, this is happening in Singapore. Today,” she wrote.
A calendar hanging on the wall showed the year 2015.
“Time stopped there,” Phua added.
Photos and videos shared showed bags of trash, clothes and household items blocking walkways and the bathroom.
The toilet bowl was stained and unusable as there was no water to flush it. Cockroaches were found in the sink, while cracks were visible on the ceiling.
During the clean up, volunteers said lizards occasionally fell from above, while more than eight centipedes were uncovered beneath stacks of old newspapers.
The largest measured about 7 to 8cm in length, according to Shin Min Daily News.
With no water supply in the unit, the team initially fetched water in pails from neighbouring flats before switching to bottled water to continue cleaning.
The smell from the flat was so strong that neighbours were seen covering their noses as they walked past, Phua recalled.
Sleeps on corridor floor outside his unit
The elderly man has lived in the rental flat since 1979 and currently pays S$35 (around RM110) a month in rent, according to Shin Min.
When volunteers first encountered him, Wong was sitting barefoot outside his unit. His feet and toenails were blackened from dirt.
With no bed, pillow or space inside the flat, he sleeps on the corridor floor just outside his home.
When asked how he bathes, Wong told volunteers that he does not shower. Instead, he washes his face at a public toilet. As for his clothes, he said he walks in the rain, then sits under the sun to dry.
He could not remember the last time he brushed his teeth.
Phua also noted that he smelled.
Wong was previously a coffee shop assistant and has received social assistance for many years. Volunteers deliver meals to him regularly, but he has often rejected help and resisted changes to his daily habits.
He initially turned away the volunteers, refusing food and drinks, before eventually allowing them to enter his home.
“That smile hurts more than the sight of poverty”
“After six hours of cleaning, what finally appeared was not furniture, not belongings. Just an elderly man skin and bones standing there with a very big smile,” Phua wrote.
“That smile hurts more than the sight of poverty. Because it tells us how long he has been forgotten.”
Phua later described the case as one of the most heartbreaking she had ever encountered.
“Progress means nothing if we allow our elders to survive like this,” she wrote. “Please look around. This could be happening next door.”
