AFP video: Struggles of 76-year old Singapore street scavenger
Zheng Jie Wo struggles to load another empty box onto her trolley. At 76, she is besieged by joint pain brought on by a life of hard work. She can barely push the trolley that she uses to collect Singapore’s discarded cardboard, cans and paper.
“I still have to work even if it is painful. It hurts here in my joints and here to. I have got chronic arthritis.” Zheng has been living on the streets for about seven years.
There is no free healthcare in Singapore and her late husband’s hospital bills left her destitute. She survives by selling scrap, but even those meager earnings are under threat.
The economic crisis has hit the recycling industry hard. “Three months ago, the price of recycables was higher. I could earn at least $10 every day, maybe more. The prices are dropping, dropping, dropping. Then now a lot lower, recycables are selling for a few dollars now.”
Singapore is one of Asia’s wealthiest nation, but also the first to slip into recession because of the global financial turmoil. The Singapore Buddhist Lodge provide free meals three times a day. They see numbers increase by forty per cent over the last few months as people save money any way they can.
(Said Singapore Buddhist Lodge President Mr Lee Bock Guan): “The government in Singapore isn’t welfare-oriented. They won’t give you money if you are in trouble. You have to rely on your own diligence. The only jobs people can find are labor-intensive jobs like sweeping the floor. They don’t care what the salary is as long they can work and earn some kind of money.”
Back in the alley, Zheng Jie Wo faces a new worry. Thieves looking to make a quick buck had been stealing her scrap which leaves Zheng with no option but to sleep by her trolley to protect the precious little she has left.
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Zheng Jie Wo struggles to load another empty box onto her trolley. At 76, she is besieged by joint pain brought on by a life of hard work. She can barely push the trolley that she uses to collect Singapore’s discarded cardboard, cans and paper.
“I still have to work even if it is painful. It hurts here in my joints and here to. I have got chronic arthritis.” Zheng has been living on the streets for about seven years.
There is no free healthcare in Singapore and her late husband’s hospital bills left her destitute. She survives by selling scrap, but even those meager earnings are under threat.
The economic crisis has hit the recycling industry hard. “Three months ago, the price of recycables was higher. I could earn at least $10 every day, maybe more. The prices are dropping, dropping, dropping. Then now a lot lower, recycables are selling for a few dollars now.”
Singapore is one of Asia’s wealthiest nation, but also the first to slip into recession because of the global financial turmoil. The Singapore Buddhist Lodge provide free meals three times a day. They see numbers increase by forty per cent over the last few months as people save money any way they can.
(Said Singapore Buddhist Lodge President Mr Lee Bock Guan): “The government in Singapore isn’t welfare-oriented. They won’t give you money if you are in trouble. You have to rely on your own diligence. The only jobs people can find are labor-intensive jobs like sweeping the floor. They don’t care what the salary is as long they can work and earn some kind of money.”
Back in the alley, Zheng Jie Wo faces a new worry. Thieves looking to make a quick buck had been stealing her scrap which leaves Zheng with no option but to sleep by her trolley to protect the precious little she has left.
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