A few years ago I met a couple of Makciks who were dedicated to caring for the residents of their Ang Mo Kio rental block.
Aside from feeling inspired by their selflessness, the encounter left me with a revelation: Sometimes those with the fewest are the ones with the biggest hearts.
One of them is Gilbert Lim, who like the Makciks in Ang Mo Kio has a big heart for his neighbors in his Lengkok Bahru apartment building.
Lovingly called Uncle JB in his neighborhood, Lim has lived in Lengkok Bahru for almost a decade.
He also owns his own pest control business and often provides free or discounted pest control services to his neighbors. And as we found out, this act of kindness has a pretty touching story behind it.
Lim is also known as Uncle JB in his community.
Losing his wife to leukemia
The year was 2005.
Lim had it all, a thriving pest control business enough to support his family of five. But it all crumbled when his wife died of leukemia.
The diagnosis came out of the blue.
She had gone to a friend’s house for gua sha (a method used in traditional Chinese medicine to stimulate blood flow) but was shocked to discover dark black spots all over her body after the treatment.
Horrified, she went to a specialist in a hospital who diagnosed her and entered her.
That was the last time she saw the outside of the hospital; she never came out, said Lim, who after 16 years was still having trouble expressing his feelings about his wife’s death.
“Who can accept something like that? A normal person can’t possibly accept it. When she died, I couldn’t accept it. I couldn’t face reality … I kept crying. It felt like my whole world had collapsed. “
阴影 was the word Lim used to describe his grief. It means “shadow” and it is a fitting descriptor for the agony and devastation caused by the loss of his life partner.
It devoured Lim completely, to the point that he neglected everything else.
He went out without food for days and refused to work, which resulted in his losing his business and being declared bankrupt.
Eventually he lost his house and had to rent an apartment from HDB, although he was often behind.
Without a house, work, money or the support of three children, Lim was literally ruined.
“When I got into financial hardship, I felt like I had hit rock bottom,” he recalls, shaking his head.
Sometimes he even felt like killing himself.
“I’m not trying to help you. I want to help your 8 year old girl.”
In 2013, Lim’s HDB arrears were noticed by a social worker at the South Central Community Family Service Center trying to reach him.
But their efforts were rejected, Lim giggled, remembering how “so stubborn” he used to be.
It was a question of “face”. He said he’s the type of person who doesn’t like to admit that he needs help.
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) she was way too persistent to give up on him. She often called Lim to meet up for a chat. And every time Lim hit her:
“Why are you so kay poh? There are so many others in Singapore who are worse off than me. Can’t you help them
But after three long months of “molesting” Lim, the exhausted social worker finally made one final request:
“Give me the chance to meet you face to face, let me ask you a question – just a question. If you can give me an answer, I’ll leave you alone. “
He relented and met her one afternoon where she found out all about his situation.
And then she asked: “Mr. Lim, you said earlier that if you have money, the children get something to eat. If you have no money, your children don’t need anything to eat?”
Yes, he said.
“If you don’t want our help, then we can’t help you either. No one can help you. But listen to me, ”said the social worker.
“I’m not trying to help you. I want to help your 8 year old girl.”
At this point in our conversation, Lim bursts into tears and furiously suppresses his sobs as he tries to explain how he was so blinded by his own pride that he neglected his own flesh and blood.
This meeting with the social worker was the turning point at which Lim decided to get up for himself and his children.
With the help of a social welfare office, Lim received the necessary help for rent, school pocket money for his children, food rations and even the means to find some part-time jobs.
Occasionally, the South Central Community Family Service Center staff would pay him for small ad hoc jobs so he could make some money.
The center also worked tirelessly to get Lim to join in its activities for one reason – to distract him from losing his wife.
“They always ask me to do this and do that. Wah, I haven’t had time to think about other things.”
The restart of his life was a steep climb, but he held out and in 2017 Lim was finally released from bankruptcy.
He started his own pest control company, Universe Pest Management, drawing on nearly 40 years of pest control experience.
Pick up and prepay
Picking up the pieces of his life is impressive indeed, but what is even more inspiring is how Lim passes it on.
His life wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for the steadfast social worker and South Central Community Family Service Center staff who are constantly on the lookout for residents who are often overlooked.
Lim credits them for believing in him and for building his trust. That’s why he participates in the centre’s outreach activities in his spare time, contributing as much as possible, whether it’s creating props for an event, building a community garden, or even cleaning up pests.
Lim with a Chinese New Year prop that he made for the family service center.
Lim also uses his pest control skills to get rid of pests for his neighbors as well as the center.
Pest control is quite an expensive business, he said, and costs between S $ 500 and S $ 700 per visit to a pest controller. If you live in a rental unit and live from check to check, this is not an amount that you can easily afford.
The most common pests that plague its neighbors are bed bugs.
“They can be found in the mattresses. And at night they come out to bite you and suck your blood. If it’s a lot, they can climb the walls of the unit.”
Lim cleans up pests for his neighbors for a small fee. Sometimes he even does it for free. He says this is his way of giving back to his community.
After the center helped Lim get back on his feet, he managed to start his own pest control company again.
It doesn’t take Lim long to get rid of bed bugs – half an hour at most – and he only charges SGD 250 to 300 for his services. Sometimes he even does it for free for really needy households or elderly residents.
He doesn’t make a lot and it’s fine, he said.
“If I calculate the usual prices (for pest control), I now live in a bungalow!”
No, his motivation is not monetary: “I want to give something back to my community.”
Stories from us is a series about ordinary people in Singapore and their unique way of life. Be it turning away from convention, pursuing an atypical passion or the struggles you face, these stories remind us of both our individual uniqueness and our collective humanity.
Top images courtesy of JB Lim.
