When I saw Camy's Facebook post regarding the need for volunteers to help a pair of elderly with hoarding tendencies de-clutter their house, I got really excited, said yes I'm free immediately, and started to ask some other friends if they would free to do so too. It seemed as though I would be in for a fun-filled adventure, just like the volunteers/ celebrities in the MediaCorp RenovAID shows etc. I could totally imagine myself wearing some thick anti-slip rubber boots, holding a powerful can of insecticide in one hand and a broom in the other, and swiftly de-cluttering the house... Well, I wasn't entirely wrong; Chaur Ann (oops needa photoshop him in), Xuan Kai, 940, Chun Hai, Ah Xian and I ended up looking like this hahahha:
Here's what greeted us when we first reached their house in the morning: two big fish tanks and expired fish feed, cardboard boxes, plastic containers, environmentally-friendly bags, stale packets of rice with weevils, random packets of expired biscuits, messily packed medicines, loose wires, rusty nails, lots of strings and s-hooks dangling from self-made beams and the ceiling, generations worth of cockroaches (to the extent that we could classify them by size: 大强，中强，小强), a centipede... It was truly a sight to behold.
So Team Clean-Up-The-Mess started removing things from the house with the advice from the more experienced TSAC members. Sometimes we would pick up really dusty items e.g. empty yakult bottles, containers with rotting sweets or packets of rotting rice (I learnt that rice, if kept for reaaally long, would also rot and go soft in the sealed packaging!), then uncle would grumble and say "这些我都有用的" (I've use for them)... So we had to persuade him otherwise, or secretly throw the stuffs away when he wasn't looking. We soon had many, many bags of "unnecessary" stuffs that we slowly dumped away, and those featured below probably made up just 1/5 of the total amount?
I remember there was once when the "猛男s" moved several heavy boxes out of the house and asked 940, Ah Xian and me to check if they contained usable stuffs. We opened the first box- there wasn't anything "suspicious" inside. We opened the second box which had several glassware and once again, all clear. Thus, Ah Xian and I happily opened the third box which contained a rice cooker while 940 got her camera ready to take photos of us being so hard at work so she could do a live update on fb again and... suddenly we saw lots of huge fat black 大强s with long disgusting legs inside the box :/ The three of us screamed. No, we shrieked. We jumped back. We ran down the corridor. We screamed some more. And then we laughed at our own reactions and silliness till we bent over or squatted down and teared hahahahaha. Meanwhile, the "猛男s" just stood a distance away, gave us bewildered looks and laughed at us too. Then they commented, "No need to specifically watch out for the cockroaches' sounds... when the girls scream it means that the cockroaches are around" zzzzzz. *note to all: chaur ann and xuan kai are actually scared of cockroaches too hahaha*
After that, 940 and the guys helped to wash the kitchen and toilet for really long. Special mention to Chun Hai, the brave one, who really looked like a surgeon. We kept teasing and asking him, "林医生，手术怎么了? " (Doctor, how's the "operation" going?). Then he would reply, "Woahh, 难产呀!" (It's a difficult birth!) LOL not bad, Chun Hai can crack funny jokes xD
That went on for quite some time, till we finally realised something: While there were simply too many things everywhere and almost anywhere, and that uncle may not know what exactly what was placed in a specific area, he would sense that something was missing after we removed that item. Then he would get somewhat panicky and annoyed, and say "好了，不用丢了啦!" (Okay that's enough, stop throwing my things away!) even though his house was still very cluttered with little leg room or walking spaces. That made me pause and think. Perhaps, deep down, uncle is actually afraid of letting go and losing sight of the things he holds dear in this rapidly changing world... because they remind him of beautiful people, places, and memories. That's why he tries so hard to keep them by his side, even if they are potential safety and health hazards, and even if he can no longer truly remember what they are. His abode may be cluttered, messy, stuffy, and dirty, but because therein lie so many precious memories and stories, it is no longer merely a house; it is a precious home. A place where his heart is, where he can relive moments as though they just happened yesterday.
"As much as we wanted to throw away many many things or "improve his living conditions", we understood the things meant a lot to him - culturally (eg. wanting to keep empty fish tanks cos of superstition), sentimentally (eg. reminds him of his days as a craftsman), and instrumentally (eg. things he thinks will be useful some day). He does spend time packing them and all. And he actly had it all planned out. While we were removing those things which he agreed we could remove, he was busy walking around with a measuring tape and ruler, thinking where to put what. He told us his plan to put a handle near the bed for his sis as support. He pointed to the toy motors on top, happily telling us that these are "put for design"... He really knows what he's doing, and as much as we wanted to clear stuff for him, we've got to respect his plans." (940, 2013). Though most of us don't hoard that many things like uncle, we still hold on tightly to items that our loved ones have given us; we are afraid of forgetting precious memories and faces over time; we are afraid to pick ourselves up and move on, for fear of getting hurt or lost again. In this sense, we aren't really very different from uncle, are we?
Thankfully, things worked out pretty well in the end, and we managed to transform the kitchen/ toilet area drastically after hours of hard scrubbing, bleaching, and extermination of the 大中小强s. It now looks way brighter and more spacious, and smells fresher and healthier. Hopefully, the improved ventilation would help uncle's sister have a speedy recovery after her discharge from the hospital in around two weeks' time :)
While we've also successfully created a wider pathway from the main door to the kitchen/ toilet area, we agree that alot alot of work still needs to be done for the living room and dining areas, as well as the bedroom. So friends, if you're free on 12th/13th June (Wed & Thurs), kindly consider dropping by to help out with the cleaning. You will end up feeling physically and mentally shagged, but it'll be a meaningful, eye-opening experience nonetheless.
Lastly, "a well-spent day brings happy sleep." Hehe okayy I'm gonna crash now. Nights my friends, thanks for admiring my nice long post and pictures once again^^ Hope to see you all soon!
Love, the awesome Jennifer.
No comments:
Post a Comment