The man is 79 years old and has only recently returned to a “normal” place to live. The circumstances of his life became known through a random video – which went viral immediately.
Singapore – For over 30 years, Oh Go Seng lived in a cabin in the forest in Singapore. The BBC recently reported extensively on the 79-year-old man’s unusual life story. This only came to light by accident.
Last December, Oh Go Seng was stopped by police while selling vegetables on the street. Since he didn’t have a permit, the police confiscated all his goods.
A social worker filmed what happened and then posted the video online, which quickly went viral. A local politician found out about Oh Go Seng through social media and eventually got his full story.
Man in the woods: family didn’t know where he lived
The 79-year-old grew up in a Singaporean village. In the 1980s, the settlement had to make way for new buildings, so that Oh Go Seng initially stayed with his brother. In order not to be a burden to the family, he moved to the forest near his former home – and stayed there for 33 years.
He called a small hut with a fireplace and an adjacent vegetable patch his home for three decades, BBC reporter Peter Hoskins continued to report. In Germany, too, there are always people who live unnoticed in the forest for a long time and consciously withdraw there.
Oh Go Seng earned his living by growing vegetables and selling flowers. On trips to the Indonesian island of Batam, he met a woman with whom he then had a daughter. She is now 17 years old and until recently did not know where her father lived. Because although Oh Go Seng came to Batam regularly, he did not give up his place of residence in the Singaporean forest, but always returned there, he described.
Man in the forest returns to civilization
Only recently has the 79-year-old been living under a real roof again for the first time. Thanks to the media attention, he was able to find an apartment that he shares with another man. According to the BBC, Oh Go Seng mainly enjoys television and hot water from the tap – a luxury he hasn’t had in recent decades.
Nevertheless, he misses life in the great outdoors. Except for the mice that nibbled holes in his clothes, neither the loneliness nor the weather bothered him. (jb) *Merkur.de is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA
