A man of strong resolution and deep passion seeks to change the status quo with the mentality of “No One Can Do Everything But Everyone Can Do Something.” With an addictive personality and his empathetic nature, he concocted Happy People Helping People Community to what it is today. A community brimming with helping hands and committed individuals. Read his story and be amazed by his journey to seek more meaning in life other than the normal everyday routine.
1. What’s your story?
I was troubled to see the elderly collecting cardboard boxes under my block and around the vicinity. It is such a heartbreaking sight. Hence, I decided to send an email to a few related organizations to resolve such issues. I felt we could do more, such scenes should not be seen especially in a first world country like Singapore.
I saw how powerful social media can be as a medium so I called upon some friends to join me to take photos of such heart breaking scene and post it on Facebook. The photo we took was of an elderly collecting cardboard boxes even on a rainy day. A few days later after our photo went viral. The New Paper featured a story of this concern.
There were also other cases involving senior citizens that should be assisted. For instance, I saw an old lady crossing the road very slowly with a trolley in tow. I signal to her that I want to help her push the trolley. There was a language barrier because she barely speaks English or Malay. She was only able to speak in Cantonese. Hence, the only thing I could do was signal to her and talk to her in the few words she understood. While helping her push, I realize she walks with a stagger and requires the trolley as a walking aid as well. Such situations are one of the main reasons why I decided to start a community.
However, my story to start Happy People, Helping People Community started off on a totally different note. I started this ground up initiative with the intent to help homeless people overseas. It started when I was traveling to different countries especially those in the less developed South-East Asia countries. While traveling, I discovered a significant amount of homeless people prowling the streets. I decided to do something to help aid their situation. Before traveling overseas, funds were raised to feed the people there for about a week. We would ask for contributions of unused items such as clothes and bags and started a flea market to raise funds. Typically, we would get about $300-$500 for each event. Then, we would travel to countries such as Jakarta and Thailand to distribute the funds or clothes to the homeless.
2. What was the event that led to where Happy People Helping People Community (HPHP) is today?
As mentioned, HPHP was started with the initial intention to help the homeless. However, when I took this idea back to Singapore, this issue is not the main concern. Instead, Singapore’s suffers from the issue of the working homeless. This means that they have a job but they have issues with their families. Hence, they seek refuge under the block, 24 hours MacDonald and even set camp near beaches. However, I felt that these are not the target group I should be aiding here in Singapore as they still have options and most of them are young and able-bodied.
However, for the elderly collecting cardboards, they are sometimes left with no options. Furthermore, they are old, and some do not have children to provide for them. Hence, they are left to fend for themselves to sustain their daily necessities by collecting cardboard boxes. They collect these cardboard boxes for $5 per day by doing such tough physical labor for their frail body. I felt that such scenes should not be seen in a first world country like Singapore. There are various institutions that are helping them such as the government but what they are doing is not enough. Our oldest beneficiary is 98 years old and still doing such collection day in and out. Hence, to stop this issue, we decided that we have to do something. Hence, the birth of HPHP till today.
Recent reports stating how the elderly are collecting these cardboard boxes because they are doing it to exercise and to lead a healthier lifestyle is extremely superficial. If you take the effort to know them and understand the elderly, you will understand that you cannot take their first few words at face value as some of them have Alzheimer and might not know what they said. If you just approach them without getting to know them and their lifestyle, there will be no trust built and hence answers such as “I am collecting cardboard boxes because I am exercising” will surface instead of the real truth.
HPHP operates without any hierarchy. Trust is our main currency. Everyone has a part to play in the team to ensure that events function well enough to create impact for our beneficiaries. We call ourselves Admins. Anyone is welcome to join HPHP.
We also ensure that our sponsors are constantly updated and invited to our events. It is important to inform them about their impact and contribution to the community.
3. Was there any experience that impacted you?
Oh yes, I have this one experience that was really an eye-opener. This is the story of a 70-year-old elderly lady who wants to be known as Ms. Koh as she states that she is not married and do not want us to call her auntie or madam. At the beginning of our interactions, she told me that she lives in Chai Chee and the interaction was quite simple. We at HPHP do not pry into the elderly private life unless they are comfortable with it.
So, when one day Ms Koh asked me if I can help her fix her door. She informed me that she did not live in Chai Chee but Bedok. With the new revelation, I asked her why she kept that information in our previous interaction? She responded that she did not know if she can trust us but after seeing our interactions with her over time, she began to open up and trust. With the clarification, I went to help her open the door to her house. I inserted the key and was surprised that I felt no resistance. However, as I pushed the door to open it, it took a lot of effort to push against the unknown object behind the door. When there is an opening, I decided to peek inside the house. I was shocked to see that the whole house was covered with rubbish. There were cockroaches everywhere. No one should be living in such a state.
Ms Koh suffers from Alzheimer. She picks up such rubbish thinking that she could sell it for money. In the meantime, she stores it at home but she forgot about it soon after and the next day, the same issue continued. Hence, after a while, we see the pile of rubbish pile up. When it is out of survival, everything that she picks up seems valuable to her. This experience was an eye-opener for me. I began to wonder how the other beneficiaries are living like. We decided to do something about this situation. I tried to persuade her at first but she did not agree to it. It took us some time to persuade her to discard the rubbish pilling in her house. Finally, when she agreed, I brought along 20 volunteers to clean up the mess. However, only 3 of the volunteers dared to enter the house. Hence, we decided to create a human chain outside her home to dispose of all the rubbish. Even in the midst of us throwing the rubbish in her house, she keeps intervening to keep some of the rubbish.
Over the years, I began to further understand the dynamics and the way the elderly communicates. If you approach them as a one-time meet up, you would only get on the surface type of answers as they are not willing to reveal the truth. They would rather hide than reveal themselves to total strangers. You would have to read in between the lines and understand them and not just take their words at face value.
4. When were you most satisfied or feel like you impacted something?
Having such interactions with the senior citizens changes me because I am not exactly well off. However, having such interactions, made me realize that there are more individuals out there in a direr situation.
I felt most satisfied when I was able to help this elderly who was really depressed and went crazy after the death of her husband. She was in a situation that is not ideal for her in terms of both her physical and mental health. We were able to stabilize her. Right now, she is at a home and is well taken care of. I decided to do this also because I do not want my life to be just about going to work, make money, pay bills then die. I want my life journey to be more meaningful.
5. Use a word/phrase to describe your social good journey?
That’s simple, its HPHP believe of “No One Can Do Everything But Everyone Can Do Something.”
6. What do you think is your superpower?
I believe my superpower is that I am able to empathize with the people I interacted with. I feel their pain whenever I hear their stories. However, I try to not be too affected by their situation by constantly thinking of ways to do something about it. I mentally noted that I should not solely hold the burden but to share it with the rest of the team to solve the issues that we can change.
Comments