Retired cabby spends 8 years cleaning Ang Mo Kio carpark for free: 'Seeing it clean makes me happy'
Chen Jinhe, 78, has spent eight years sweeping a carpark in Ang Mo Kio for free after retiring as a taxi driver in 2015. He drove a cab for 35 years and said he simply could not sit still at home once the job ended. His routine began with cleaning a senior citizens' club on the ground floor of an HDB block, then grew to cover the open-air carpark near Block 533 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5. A TikTok video posted by Lianhe Zaobao on Sunday (Sept 6) shows him going about his sweeping with broom and dustpan in hand. The retired driver says seeing the carpark clean makes him happy.
After retiring as a taxi driver in 2015, 78-year-old Chen Jinhe (transliterated) has spent the past eight years voluntarily cleaning a carpark in Ang Mo Kio.Chen, who worked as a taxi driver for 35 years, told Lianhe Zaobao that he "used to be out and about all day" and could not sit still at home after retiring.A TikTok video shared by the Chinese newspaper on Sunday (Sept 6) shows Chen, dressed casually with a broom and dustpan in hand, going about his sweeping routine in a carpark near Block 533 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5. He reportedly started by helping to clean a senior citizens' club on the ground floor of an HDB block but slowly expanded his efforts to the nearby open-air carpark.He now reportedly spends more than two hours a day sweeping up the fallen leaves. "As long as my health allows, I'll keep sweeping. I'll sweep until I can't walk anymore, until I have no strength left," he said. He told the Chinese newspaper that he couldn't bear to see the parking lot covered in fallen leaves and picked up a broom, saying that even if he didn't sweep, no one would care.
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