Teresa Hsu spreads  religion of love

The Straits Times Home 3 March 2000
Reported By ChangAi-Lien

A COMMITTEE member at the nursing home she founded -- the Home for the Aged Sick -- tried to write Miss Teresa Hsu off at the age of 85.

He told her that she was too old to take care of the aged, and might even give them the wrong   medication.

Her tart reply: "Let's climb the flight of stairs, and see who starts huffing and puffing first."

She started the home in 1965 with money given to her by her elder sister.

There, she spent the next 20 years nursing the elderly who were sick.

The money she received from her sister was enough for her to also buy public flats for the needy.

For her, this was her duty; she was not doing charity.

She says: "All of us are brothers and sisters – no distinction of colour or creed ...

"There's no religion but the religion of love."

Far from retiring, she went on to do voluntary work under the Heart to Heart Service, distributing donated food to the elderly and the poor. The Singapore Buddhist Mission helps to fund her work with the poor and needy.

Looking more in her 70s than a 100-year-old, she stumps you when she says:

"I don't think I have achieved anything. What I do, I do normally.

"If a person next to me is hungry or needs water, I'll just give them a drink.

"For me, it's just natural."

She plans to start another home for the aged sick and mentally unsound.