She turns down job offer with higher pay, doesn't want steady work. Her excuses:
TOO FAR
Transport costs will eat into pay
TOO PAINFUL
Can't work long hours due to old injury
By Genevieve Jiang
December 11, 2008
WHEN community workers recommended a higher-paying full-time job earlier this year, she wouldn't take it.
POVERTY TRAP: Madam Lim holding letters from HDB and Singapore Power saying she owed them money. Behind on the beds are her three teenage children. TNP PICTURES: GAVIN FOO
Her reason: The workplace was too far.
Prospects at the proposed job were better than at her last job, as a part-time general worker at a voluntary welfare organisation.
Yet Madam Lim Geok Tin, 48, chose to rely on charity, free food rations and temporary financial help.
She also called this reporter to tell her story with the aim of seeking donations from the public.
She claimed she had not been working for the past year. But our checks showed this was not true.
The Central Community Development Council (CDC) and a nearby family service centre (FSC) revealed that she had been working until October this year earning about $500 a month.
It was not known why she had to stop working.
Madam Lim, who is divorced, lives with her three teenage children in a rented one-room flat at Jalan Bukit Merah. She claims she does not get any maintenance from her ex-husband.
For the past few years, she has been supplementing her income with help from The Straits Times Pocket Money Fund. The CDC has also helped her with rental and service and conservancy vouchers.
Madam Lim claimed she cannot remember the number of times she has gone to her Member of Parliament for help to pay her rent and utilities.
She claimed her case worker from the FSC had told her there was little more that could be done to help her unless she found a proper job.
Said Madam Lim: 'I've been told many times by the social worker to get a stable job, but I cannot work long hours. I have an old injury in my back, left leg and right hand from years ago, which acts up now and then. I cannot stand or squat for long, and cannot carry heavy objects.'
The New Paper visited the family at home twice last week and noticed Madam Lim's right hand swathed in bandages. She appeared to have problems walking and standing, and frequently sought her children's help.
But she could not show us medical documents, claiming that she had not seen a doctor for her ailments.
Intellectually disabled
Her eldest daughter, now 17, is intellectually disabled. She also has a 15-year-old son and a second daughter aged 13.
Madam Lim claimed that she received $105 for only three months last year through the ST Pocket Money Fund. But her case worker, who declined to be named, said the amount was much more and help was extended over a much longer period.
She could not reveal the exact period and amount, citing client confidentiality.
Madam Lim also claimed that she was working as a contract worker at a factory last year, earning about $400 a month. Her contract ended in December last year and was not renewed. She has not found full-time work since, she claimed.
She said she works odd jobs a few days every month, earning only $5 an hour. But the CDC revealed that she had been earning $500 a month as a general worker until October.
She claimed that the CDC did not help her look for jobs. But a CDC spokesman said it had been 'advising her on getting long-term employment with better prospects, but she showed no interest'.
'The reason she gave was that her current employment could be reached by foot and that would save her money on transportation,' the spokesman said.
She had been switching jobs often, the FSC case worker said.
Madam Lim also claimed she had no money for food, but when asked about the bags of uncooked rice in her refrigerator, she admitted that she gets free monthly food rations, including canned food and biscuits, from the Salvation Army, and another nearby welfare organisation.
Her story was published in The New Paper two years ago when she received help from the Young Women's Christian Association's Meals-on-Wheels programme, under which free dinners are delivered to the family every weekday. She received several hundred dollars worth of donations after the article was published.
Madam Lim recently got in touch with this reporter again, asking for help to pay her rent and utility bills.
She received a letter from HDB dated 21Oct, a copy of which was shown to The New Paper, stating that she still owed $265, six months' rent. Another letter, from Singapore Power, dated 20Oct, stated that she still owed more than $500 in utility charges.
Madam Lim said her financial woes started in 2000, when her ex-husband's business ran into problems. She claimed that when the business failed, they were left with debts of thousands of dollars.
The family was then living in a three-room flat in Bukit Panjang. To help pay off the debts, they sold the flat and rented another three-room flat in the same area, she said.
But things didn't improve. Madam Lim's ex-husband could not get work.
In 2003, to avoid his creditors, they moved to another rented three-room flat, in Marsiling. Madam Lim found work as a dishwasher, earning about $200 a month. Her ex-husband was then still unemployed.
She claimed he was aggressive and often demanded money from her.
The couple separated in 2005 and are no longer in touch. As she did not want any contact with him, she quit her job as a dishwasher, she said.
Sell tissue packets
With no savings and no income, she resorted to selling packets of tissue on the streets with her children, she claimed.
In July 2005, Madam Lim took her children and moved to the one-room Jalan Bukit Merah flat where they live today.
Her elder daughter, who has an IQ of only 70 (normal is 90 to 110), has been attending a special school since 2006. Her school fees are subsidised.
The two younger children are in neighbourhood schools. Their school fees are waived, and the schools give them free books and vouchers for meals, she said.
During our visit, the son was fiddling with a hand-held electronic game. On his sister's bed was a Sesame Street soft toy, the size of a bolster.
Madam Lim claimed these were gifts.
She said: 'It's not that I don't want to work, but I cannot.'
So she continues to look for help from others. Old habits die hard.
TOMORROW: In the last of our four-part series, social workers speak of a problem they have grappled with for years - welfare shoppers and clients who refuse to help themselves.
TOO FAR
Transport costs will eat into pay
TOO PAINFUL
Can't work long hours due to old injury
By Genevieve Jiang
December 11, 2008
WHEN community workers recommended a higher-paying full-time job earlier this year, she wouldn't take it.
POVERTY TRAP: Madam Lim holding letters from HDB and Singapore Power saying she owed them money. Behind on the beds are her three teenage children. TNP PICTURES: GAVIN FOO
Her reason: The workplace was too far.
Prospects at the proposed job were better than at her last job, as a part-time general worker at a voluntary welfare organisation.
Yet Madam Lim Geok Tin, 48, chose to rely on charity, free food rations and temporary financial help.
She also called this reporter to tell her story with the aim of seeking donations from the public.
She claimed she had not been working for the past year. But our checks showed this was not true.
The Central Community Development Council (CDC) and a nearby family service centre (FSC) revealed that she had been working until October this year earning about $500 a month.
It was not known why she had to stop working.
Madam Lim, who is divorced, lives with her three teenage children in a rented one-room flat at Jalan Bukit Merah. She claims she does not get any maintenance from her ex-husband.
For the past few years, she has been supplementing her income with help from The Straits Times Pocket Money Fund. The CDC has also helped her with rental and service and conservancy vouchers.
Madam Lim claimed she cannot remember the number of times she has gone to her Member of Parliament for help to pay her rent and utilities.
She claimed her case worker from the FSC had told her there was little more that could be done to help her unless she found a proper job.
Said Madam Lim: 'I've been told many times by the social worker to get a stable job, but I cannot work long hours. I have an old injury in my back, left leg and right hand from years ago, which acts up now and then. I cannot stand or squat for long, and cannot carry heavy objects.'
The New Paper visited the family at home twice last week and noticed Madam Lim's right hand swathed in bandages. She appeared to have problems walking and standing, and frequently sought her children's help.
But she could not show us medical documents, claiming that she had not seen a doctor for her ailments.
Intellectually disabled
Her eldest daughter, now 17, is intellectually disabled. She also has a 15-year-old son and a second daughter aged 13.
Madam Lim claimed that she received $105 for only three months last year through the ST Pocket Money Fund. But her case worker, who declined to be named, said the amount was much more and help was extended over a much longer period.
She could not reveal the exact period and amount, citing client confidentiality.
Madam Lim also claimed that she was working as a contract worker at a factory last year, earning about $400 a month. Her contract ended in December last year and was not renewed. She has not found full-time work since, she claimed.
She said she works odd jobs a few days every month, earning only $5 an hour. But the CDC revealed that she had been earning $500 a month as a general worker until October.
She claimed that the CDC did not help her look for jobs. But a CDC spokesman said it had been 'advising her on getting long-term employment with better prospects, but she showed no interest'.
'The reason she gave was that her current employment could be reached by foot and that would save her money on transportation,' the spokesman said.
She had been switching jobs often, the FSC case worker said.
Madam Lim also claimed she had no money for food, but when asked about the bags of uncooked rice in her refrigerator, she admitted that she gets free monthly food rations, including canned food and biscuits, from the Salvation Army, and another nearby welfare organisation.
Her story was published in The New Paper two years ago when she received help from the Young Women's Christian Association's Meals-on-Wheels programme, under which free dinners are delivered to the family every weekday. She received several hundred dollars worth of donations after the article was published.
Madam Lim recently got in touch with this reporter again, asking for help to pay her rent and utility bills.
She received a letter from HDB dated 21Oct, a copy of which was shown to The New Paper, stating that she still owed $265, six months' rent. Another letter, from Singapore Power, dated 20Oct, stated that she still owed more than $500 in utility charges.
Madam Lim said her financial woes started in 2000, when her ex-husband's business ran into problems. She claimed that when the business failed, they were left with debts of thousands of dollars.
The family was then living in a three-room flat in Bukit Panjang. To help pay off the debts, they sold the flat and rented another three-room flat in the same area, she said.
But things didn't improve. Madam Lim's ex-husband could not get work.
In 2003, to avoid his creditors, they moved to another rented three-room flat, in Marsiling. Madam Lim found work as a dishwasher, earning about $200 a month. Her ex-husband was then still unemployed.
She claimed he was aggressive and often demanded money from her.
The couple separated in 2005 and are no longer in touch. As she did not want any contact with him, she quit her job as a dishwasher, she said.
Sell tissue packets
With no savings and no income, she resorted to selling packets of tissue on the streets with her children, she claimed.
In July 2005, Madam Lim took her children and moved to the one-room Jalan Bukit Merah flat where they live today.
Her elder daughter, who has an IQ of only 70 (normal is 90 to 110), has been attending a special school since 2006. Her school fees are subsidised.
The two younger children are in neighbourhood schools. Their school fees are waived, and the schools give them free books and vouchers for meals, she said.
During our visit, the son was fiddling with a hand-held electronic game. On his sister's bed was a Sesame Street soft toy, the size of a bolster.
Madam Lim claimed these were gifts.
She said: 'It's not that I don't want to work, but I cannot.'
So she continues to look for help from others. Old habits die hard.
TOMORROW: In the last of our four-part series, social workers speak of a problem they have grappled with for years - welfare shoppers and clients who refuse to help themselves.
