June 28, 2021
The Straits Times file
Samorn Anantakul, 75, lives in a sparse room in eastern Thailand , with just a handful of belongings, including a television set, an old clock, and a plastic shelf of ointments and medicines, to keep her company every day.
Until last year, it was a home she shared with her husband of 46 years, who died at age 91.
Now, his made-up bed lies empty. Samorn keeps a photo of him in his younger days, dressed in a crisp naval uniform, in a handbag that hangs near her pillow.
“I miss him. It gets lonely,” the widow says. “I don’t have kids, and I don’t want to ask my niece and nephews to come to help me too much. They have their own lives and problems.”