Photo by Pua Poo Toong
“She (elder sister) can’t do it, and don’t know how (to clean her house)…”
Wu Ai Di expressed her helplessness towards her elder sister’s unbearable living conditions, and didn’t know who to turn to for help. Fortunately, a relative made a report to Tzu Chi Foundation (Singapore), which promptly sent a team of home care volunteers to give her home a complete makeover. After half a day of hard labour, the volunteers restored the house to its former cleanliness.
On the morning of 8th July, a team of 23 Tzu Chi volunteers brought along cleaning equipment to aid beneficiary Mdm Wu’s house. The moment they stepped into the corridor, their eyes were greeted by a 20-metre long pile of unsightly plastic bags and trash. This was when they realized that Wu Ai Di had arrived one day earlier to clear up some space in the house to facilitate the clean-up activity by the volunteers.
Photo by Woh Ah Thiam
Photo by Pua Poo Toong
Photo by Pua Poo Toong
The volunteers quickly divided themselves into two teams: one team took charge of sorting the trash outside the house, while the other team took charge of cleaning inside the house. The space inside the two-bedroom flat was rather narrow, and tested the wits of the volunteers working within the confined space.
Volunteer Yang Shao Ji and his wife had similar sentiments as they were sorting through Mdm Wu’s personal belongings. “I’ve come to realise that the older we get, the less things we need to keep. So we ought to settle what we need to deal with while we are still of a sound mind; a simple life itself is a blessing,” said Yang.
Photo by Woh Ah Thiam
When the volunteers were busy with the cleaning, many cockroaches, spiders, and lizards started crawling out of their hiding places. As these creepy crawlies swarmed around them, they could only hold their breaths and looked at each other, before deciding their next course of action. However, volunteers Lin Shun Qing and Ms Lin Ya Feng, who had cockroaches crawling over their bodies, kept their cool and said to the others: “Do not kill these creatures. We are blessed to be able to help others, so let us learn to count our blessings as we witness the suffering of others.” Yu Yao Sheng, who was attempting to clean the pot in his hands, was moved and said, “Because of Tzu Chi, (we are able) to see the dark corners of life.”
The volunteers would seek to ask Mdm Wu before they threw anything away, and patiently explained why each item had to be discarded. Wu Shan Shan shared, “Gratitude, respect and love are very important; especially “respect”, which should be placed first and foremost in our interactions with people. If the care/aid recipient doesn’t feel happy or respected, then even if the volunteers have done a thorough cleaning job, it still cannot be regarded as successful.”
Chen Di Di (pictured below), who was participating in a house clean-up for the fourth time, shared, “In all the cases that I have encountered, this can be considered one of the most daunting house-cleaning, with the most number of items, and a challenging aid recipient, because she wanted to keep almost everything.”
Chen felt that only by encountering such hardship cases and witnessing their suffering that one could begin to appreciate one’s blessings. He hoped that after the clean-up, Mdm Wu and her family might begin to enjoy a better quality of life.
Photo by Woh Ah Thiam
In their two months of regular home visits, volunteers also arranged for Tzu Chi’s medical home care team to conduct health check-ups on Mdm Wu and her youngest son. The doctor-in-charge recommended placing her son under the care of a home for the disabled, so that he might receive better care.
Zhang Ai Bin, who is also a home care volunteer, shared, “Besides coming over to clean her house, we also hope to encourage Mdm Wu to take part in Tzu Chi’s recycling activities and get rid of her habit of bringing rubbish home, so as to maintain a hygienic home environment.”
Wu Ai Di was deeply touched by the volunteers’ efforts in helping her elder sister, and joyfully expressed her gratitude: “A team of volunteers came, and they’ve always helped and supported me. I’m so happy and thankful that the Bodhisattva has not (abandoned) me.”
Deeply moved, she hugged a home care volunteer, and said that she would visit her sister regularly to help with cleaning up her home. At the same time she hoped for an opportunity to become a volunteer herself, to help others in need.
Photo by Pua Poo Toong
Mdm Wu has four children, three of whom are suffering from mental disabilities or mental health issues. Her youngest son, who is only 22 years old, suffers from physical and mental disabilities, and can’t look after himself. Her husband unfortunately passed away at the beginning of this year, so she had suddenly lost a key pillar of support.
In April this year, Tzu Chi’s home care volunteers started to make regular care visits to Mdm Wu. Starting from July onwards, there were also regular visits by Tzu Chi’s medical home care team of nurses, to help monitor Mdm Wu’s health condition and medication compliance. The volunteers carried out the house clean-up, with the hope of giving the family a fresh, clean environment, and also sharing tips with Mdm Wu on how to sort out trash for recycling, and to keep her house neat and clean.
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