PETALING JAYA, March 29 — An elderly Singaporean woman’s flat that was infested with cockroaches and lizards was given a total makeover by a group of kind volunteers.

Singaporean Workers’ Party (WP) member Yee Jenn Jong posted on his Facebook page yesterday that he was alerted of an elderly woman who was living in an ‘impossible condition’ in a flat known as Eunos Crescent.

“Someone had alerted us that she needed food as she had scalded her leg and hand with hot water and could not walk and we found the house in a terrible condition when we delivered food to her,” read the post.

Yee said that of all the years being involved in community activities, the woman’s flat was the worst home he has ever seen making it totally unlivable.

“When I first went in, I asked our volunteers if anyone was afraid of cockroaches and although one said she disliked them, she bravely helped with the cleaning up.

“Even after our clean-up, the reporter who visited in the evening found more cockroaches and there was still a pungent smell, though far better than before.”

Yee added that he roped in volunteers from WP Marine Parade and the clean-up was also helped by a Catholic welfare group.

“We took about three-and-a-half hours to clean the place and we had to dig and scrape the floor of the living room and kitchen which had paper and cardboards fused to the floor. 

“After scraping off as much of the paper off the floor, then only we could flush off the dirt and kill the cockroaches. 

“Soon, we managed to dump out over 10 huge trash bags and the town council responded to our call and sent a cleaner to clean the flat.”

Yee added that the results of the thorough cleaning was a clean living room and kitchen.

“There is still more work to be done but at least the space is better now.

“I will continue to liaise with the local community, welfare groups and volunteers to see how the elderly woman can continue to be helped to prevent the flat from returning to its initial dirty state,” he said.

He also expressed his gratitude towards volunteers who helped with the cleaning despite the strong odour from the dirt.

The post on Facebook has received over 1,000 likes with many social media users giving positive feedback to volunteers who went the extra mile to clean the woman’s home.