"Help, I'm in debt"

This article is taken from the Straits Times. It is about the rising number of people who are calling the Samaritans in desperation about gambling debts or harassment by loan sharks. Sixty percent more callers reached out for help between April last year and March this year as they were being plagued by illegal moneylenders. The number of those driven to call over gambling debts rose by half compared with the figure in the same period a year ago, according to the annual report by the Samaritans of Singapore (SOS). The report also showed that 352 people called in with loan shark problems between April last year and March this year, up from 218 cases in the same period a year ago, and 196 called in with gambling debt issues, up from 132. However, the good news is that the suicide rates fell from 401 in 2009 to 353 last year.

I think that these two results are inter-related. This is because it is likely that it is because more people are calling the SOS for help on their money-related problems, and hence fewer people die as their problems are shared with and hopefully solved by the SOS. However, according to a Today article, the number of calls received by the SOS are still worrying. This is because those with such financial problems usually possess "medium to high suicide risk" and hence even thought the SOS can get in touch with them, they are still very likely to commit suicide anytime and their conditions are extremely unstable. Furthermore, the SOS also said that the callers are also "particularly difficult to engage because their urgent need is for fresh funds to service their loans". Therefore, that is their main aim, not to seek comfort and encouragement. There is not much that the SOS can do to help them. In the end, the SOS still has to refer the callers to other community resources for additional help.

Again, this is the common lesson that is taught all over and over again but no one seems to listen. "Once bitten, twice shy" does not seem to apply to anyone anymore.