While folks across Singapore are busy prepping their houses for the Lunar New Year celebrations, one family will be spending the holidays at Changi Airport.
Mired by financial woes since 2016, the family — consisting of a 74-year-old lady, her 45-year-old daughter, and her 13-year-old grandson — have been staying at the airport for two months, according to a Lianhe Wanbao report. This year, they’ll be spending Chinese New Year at the airport, sans reunion dinner.
“Chinese New Year is approaching, but we have no home nor do we have money for a reunion dinner,” noted the boy’s mother Peng Hui Ying to Lianhe Wanbao. “I don’t know how we will be able to spend the Lunar New Year like this.”
The thing is, it didn’t have to be that way. The Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSFD) actually arranged for the family to stay in a transitional shelter in December 2017. But just six days after moving into the shelter, the family were reportedly unhappy with the living arrangements and decided to move to Changi Airport instead.
In addition, Peng was granted ComCare subsidy between January and March 2018. The scheme provides cash assistance for daily living expenses and support for a school-going child’s out-of-pocket expenses, among other subsidies.
Speaking to reporters, however, Peng claims that all she has is $5 to her name. The family relies on handouts by kind passersby who donate bread to them, but their daily meals mainly consist of sharing two plates of plain chicken rice, which cost around $1.60.
Unable to shower at the airport, the mother also says that they can only use wet towels to clean themselves while making occasional trips to a public swimming complex to bathe. At night, they sleep on sofa seats in Terminal 4.
Their financial troubles began after Peng sold off her flat in 2016, Lianhe Wanbao reported. The family has moved in between two-room rental flats over 10 times since then, as they kept owing rents. This went on until Peng’s savings were exhausted.
MSDF stated that it will continue to work with partners to ensure that the family gets all the help they need.
