Mother, 70, delivers meals to widowed daughter daily, pleads for 3 hours outside Bedok Reservoir flat

I cried.

Mandy How | February 28, 2018, 12:51 PM

Delivering meals everyday for the past three years

A 70-year-old mother has been delivering meals to her widowed daughter almost every day for the past three years, Lianhe Wanbao reports.

Ever since the passing of her husband, the 40-plus-year-old daughter has not left home.

The elderly woman takes an hour-long journey by bus from Toa Payoh to Bedok Reservoir, where she would persuade her daughter to open her door in order to eat.

Sometimes, she would have to knock and plead for two hours before the door would open.

All this just to see her daughter briefly, to make sure she eats.

Tired from calling out, rests at void deck

On Feb. 22, a Wanbao reporter visited the site at Bedok Reservoir.

Residents reveal that the older woman arrived at 4+pm that day, and only left at 6pm. They also confirm that she has been turning up at the 7th floor apartment for the past three years.

Another neighbour in her 30s heard from the elderly woman that the widow's temperament had changed greatly since her husband's death.

On Feb. 24 around 4pm, the Wanbao reporter went back and saw a woman in her seventies, carrying a plastic bag.

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She knocks on the door, calling out for her daughter until her voice turns hoarse, but the door remains shut.

Tired from trying, the elderly woman leaves the scene sadly to rest on a bench downstairs.

Around 6pm, she proceeds upstairs to resume knocking and calling — almost begging for her daughter to open the door.

After 15 minutes, the door finally opens.

Watching her daughter eat

A skinny and frail woman stands in the doorway. The older woman brightens up and hands the food over the her daughter.

She stands outside the door, talking, but the widow barely responds.

But that does not bother the older woman, who is watching her daughter eat.

Half an hour later, the elderly lady leaves happily with the empty takeaway box.

Speaking to the Wanbao reporter afterwards, the older woman says that she travels daily from her home in Toa Payoh to deliver meals for her daughter.

She then sighs: "She hasn't been leaving the house by herself ever since her husband's death. If I don't come over, how would she get food for herself?"

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Top image from Zaobao