EASTER has brought a blessing to 84-year-old Fu Kin-hau; she will no longer have to work 15-hour days for as little as 30 cents an hour.
The widow, who lives alone, is being relieved of her $910 monthly rent bill thanks to donations from South China Morning Post readers.
Ms Fu has been earning just $5 a day, or $150 a month, by selling discarded cardboard collected from shopping malls and new residential blocks in Tsz Wan Shan.
She gets 15 cents a catty (about 600 grams).
Propelled back into the workforce two years ago when her only son died, she was among the respondents to a survey on working elderly people conducted by the Society for Community Organisation and publicised by the Post.
Her $50,000 savings - earned during a 50-year working life - made her ineligible for public assistance.
With her $700 monthly allowance, Ms Fu dares not dine out or buy new clothes for fear this will eat up her savings more quickly.
