Blind uncle in viral post troubled by charity efforts, has been self-reliant for decades

When the internet heard of a blind elderly man who wandered around at night to sell biscuits for a living, many well-meaning netizens rushed to offer their assistance.

However, for the elderly who had been self-sufficient for the past 30 years through the sales of biscuits alone, the sudden outpouring of help left him feeling like a fish out of water.

Speaking with Lianhe Wanbao, the 71-year-old, who only wanted to be known as Lim, thanked netizens for their kindness but expressed that he was unused to having everyone's attention on him and would rather be self-reliant.

According to him, the customers who bought from him were already a tremendous help, and he truly appreciated the instances where strangers would hail a ride to get him home.

"I'm used to this peacefulness. With this overnight concern, and the public and charity workers coming to my door to ask about me, I actually feel rather troubled," he shared.

"After I was retrenched, I didn't want to rely on anyone, so I started selling biscuits. It's been over 30 years since."

Now, he wishes he could continue his days selling biscuits peacefully. He added that as he used to reside at Redhill, many of the residents he was acquainted with would support him.

Still, selling biscuits by the road was no easy feat. While he was able to sell 50 packets on better days, other times he'd be ignored. Someone had even called the cops on him last Tuesday (Dec 1) to ask him to move away from the premise.

Lim had first made headlines after a netizen spotted him along Redhill past 11pm. The netizen had sent the Lim home before putting up a post asking others to support him should they come across the elder.

A charity group dedicated to door-to-door food distribution later approached Lim at his door, where they offered to provide him with meal assistance.

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Though he rejected their offer, he eventually agreed to it as he was still recovering from an injury he sustained a couple of months ago, which left him hospitalised for five weeks with iron implants in his hips.

The charity added that he is currently living off his savings from his retirement account as well as the Silver Support Scheme, which supplements income for elderly people in retirement.

He also receives additional support from another volunteer group, who has been helping to clean his house for the past three years, while a Christian group delivers cakes to him every week.

rainercheung@asiaone.com