Earlier on, at about 5pm 17th April, I was at a bus stop in a very remote area in the North, near a forested area, conducting a survey. From the corner of my eye, I happen to see an old woman, prolly in her eighties approaching a bicycle chained to a bench at the bus stop. When she rode away minutes later at 5.06pm, I did not give it much thought.
However, she came back at around 5.50pm and this time I took notice. Why would she come back to a remote area with zero human traffic? Throughout the 50 min I was there, I only spotted 2 Bangladesh workers and no one flagged for a bus. I observed her with interest.
After padlocking her bicycle, she swapped out her slippers for a pair of black boots and took out a bag of food( I guess) and 2 very large 5litre bottles of water. This she took and disappeared into the forest.
I got disturbed about what I saw. Many thoughts filled my mind. why was she living in the forest like this? Why ain't her children supporting her? Do she ever know about the Pioneer Generation package and the range of help available to elderly like her? What has happened to the society as a whole that we have turned our backs on the very people like her who helped build Singapore to where she is today? How many more people are like her, living there?
Tomorrow I will be going back to the area in the afternoon to search the forest for her. I would like to ask TRS readers if they could help contribute should I find out if she is in dire need of help.
G
TRS Contributor