Extreme Makeover held on 23 January 2010.. one of the school's many outreach programmes. The students had a blast cleaning, painting , scrubbing and washing the selected 1 - 3 bedrooms flats at York Hill and Bukit Merah estates. As for me, I did very little...
I have about 18 students - with Edwin being the only thorn among the roses. They did most of the cleaning job while all I did was giving them instructions and tips on how to handle the paint brush, how to paint, where to paint, what to paint.. where needs more cleaning, scrubbing.. what can be thrown, what to do next ... and so on.
We had the worst house to makeover. A 1-room unit at York Hill. There were a strong stench of urine as we entered the house. You could even smell it on the owner of the house. He's about 70, seemed unkempt and under nourished. 90% of his unit was infested with bed bugs, and I noticed that there were not other sort of creepy crawlers could be found, only bed bugs. Bed bugs everywhere.. on mattress,bed frames, all over the table top, food leftovers, fridge and even on walls and ceiling.
We should have engaged the expertise from the pest control or NEA because killing those bugs were the toughest thing to do. The students had to use all their might to smashed them till there were blood. Then, scrape and paint over. There were instances when we had no choice but to paint over the live bugs. So, there were no guarantee that the bugs will ever stop breeding.
The house was filled with the smell of urine, leftover food, sweat , everything and anything. No need to mention about the condition of the wash room. The video said it all. Renuka did an excellent job . She turned the toilet bowl into a sparkling brand new one.
It took us about 6 hrs to complete the makeover. The saddest part doing this type of community work was to have to throw away some of the old man's belongings. Some thing we saw or felt that they might have some sentimental value, no matter how bad it is, we put it aside. Things which could be rescued for further use, we returned. Those with bugs, we had no choice but to throw.
The things which we threw were his bed, mattress, fridge filled with very bad foul smell, wardrobe, some clothes, food stuff, newspapers, standing fan, old radio and tv.
A great sense of satisfaction and relieve were felt by the students, at the end of their hard day's work. Usually, they would be given a T-shirt which bears this project name but they agreed to forgo that and use the money to buy household items to replace the old ones.
Together with the organization we worked with, we donated a standing fan, a new set of bed and mattress, wardrobe and some food supplies to the homes at Bukit Merah and York Hill. Very proud to be working with these group of dedicated students with good team spirit.
We hope that the old man will maintain his home in a good and clean manner. We also hope that this family members or neighbours will take care of him. And last but not least, we really hope for NO bed-bugs!
It took us about 6 hrs to complete the makeover. The saddest part doing this type of community work was to have to throw away some of the old man's belongings. Some thing we saw or felt that they might have some sentimental value, no matter how bad it is, we put it aside. Things which could be rescued for further use, we returned. Those with bugs, we had no choice but to throw.
The things which we threw were his bed, mattress, fridge filled with very bad foul smell, wardrobe, some clothes, food stuff, newspapers, standing fan, old radio and tv.
A great sense of satisfaction and relieve were felt by the students, at the end of their hard day's work. Usually, they would be given a T-shirt which bears this project name but they agreed to forgo that and use the money to buy household items to replace the old ones.
Together with the organization we worked with, we donated a standing fan, a new set of bed and mattress, wardrobe and some food supplies to the homes at Bukit Merah and York Hill. Very proud to be working with these group of dedicated students with good team spirit.
We hope that the old man will maintain his home in a good and clean manner. We also hope that this family members or neighbours will take care of him. And last but not least, we really hope for NO bed-bugs!
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