MADAM Sumathi Sathasivam, her husband and their four children have been sharing a two- bedroom flat with her aunt in Bukit Batok for the past eight months.
Unable to service the repayments of their five-room HDB flat with just a single monthly income of $1,200, the family had been forced to sell it and move in with their relative. They are waiting to rent a flat.
'All of us are squeezed into one room... it's been very difficult for us,' said Madam Sathasivam, 33.
Her 42-year-old husband Subramaniam D. Retnam works as a maintenance officer while she stays home to look after their children, aged between four and 13 years old.
To help people like her and other residents at Bukit Batok East cope with the economic downturn, Member of Parliament Halimah Yacob handed out Popular Bookshop vouchers worth $100 each to 150 needy primary school children on Monday.
Most of the children are on the kindergarten financial assistance subsidy attending the PAP Community Foundation at Bukit Batok East or are referred cases from Meet-the-People sessions.
The vouchers are in addition to the regular financial assistance given to residents in the form of food packs, cash, NTUC vouchers and Singapore Power utility vouchers worth $53,600, said a spokesman from the constituency.
Madam Halimah said she had observed from her Meet-the-People sessions that there are families who still needed more help despite being on the various financial assistance schemes already in place.
'These book vouchers are meant to provide additional relief in these difficult times,' she said, adding that book vouchers allow families the flexibility of choosing the type of educational materials they need.
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