Liew Hanqing, The New Paper 30 Apr 08;
EVERY morning, 17-year-old Lim Weiting wakes up to 50 small animals waiting to be fed.
Among them are a cat, a rabbit, guinea pigs, chinchillas, hamsters and gerbils, which she lovingly grooms, feeds and talks to like old friends. Most of the animals in her room are for sale, along with a range of pet supplies.
But hers is no ordinary pet shop. Her small business is run out of a room in the Andrew and Grace Home in Aljunied, a home for troubled teens run by Pastor Andrew Choo and his wife, Grace.
The animals, she says, saved her.
Weiting was sent to the home last year, after her parents filed a beyond parental control complaint against her.
MOVED IN VOLUNTARILY
She moved into the home voluntarily after discussing the matter with her parents.
She said: 'I was very rebellious - I smoked, ran away from home and stole things.'
Her father works as a contractor, while her mother is a housewife.
Early last year, Weiting broke into her school with her then-boyfriend and ended up getting expelled.
She said: 'It wasn't just that incident. I already had a pretty bad track record.
'I would use vulgarities on my teachers - I wasn't afraid of them at all.'
Then, she ran away from home and returned when she ran out of money.
After that incident, she ended up in the home last year.
But even while she was there, she ran away several times when she felt depressed.
At her lowest point, she even cut her arms and thighs until they bled.
She said: 'Once, when I was feeling down, I went out and bought a pair of hamsters and got permission to keep them in the home.
'When I was down, I spoke to my hamsters. I told them how sad I was, and somehow they seemed to understand.'
She said this habit helped her gain better control over her emotions.
'Pastor Andrew suggested that I start a pet therapy in the home to help other teenagers too,' she added.
A strong advocate of pet therapy, Pastor Choo said he believes the animals help the teens at the home manage their emotions better.
Pet therapy, also known as animal-assisted therapy, is often used to improve the physical, social and emotional well-being of the participants who interact with the animals.
He said: 'Their ability to identify with the animals is part and parcel of pet therapy.'
He added that he has seen how Weiting has changed since she began working with animals.
STABILISED
'It has helped her to stabilise and she is no longer self-inflicting,' he said.
Added Weiting: 'My relationship with my family is now much better.
'I now meet them regularly for lunch and dinner, which is something we never used to do.'
Before long, Weiting's hamsters multiplied and she decided to start selling them for between $8 and $28 to friends and children of nearby schools.
At the beginning of this year, her pet business was born.
Through a friend, she made a deal with a local pet goods supplier to sell her supplies at a discounted rate.
'I told him I am just a student starting a small business,' she said.
With her savings, Weiting bought her first inventory of pet supplies for her shop.
She also took in abandoned animals, including a stray cat and a chinchilla which had lost most of its coat.
She recalled: 'When I first saw the chinchilla, it had shed so much fur that I could see its skin.
'I related to it because I felt like both of us have had a bad life.'
Within weeks, Weiting had nursed the chinchilla back to health with vitamin supplements and 'lots of care'.
But she faced her first setback soon after when she found the 30 hamsters she had at the time mauled to death in their cage.
She said: 'We suspect it was a rat or cat which killed them.
'I cried for days after that.'
But she said Pastor Choo managed to get a former resident of the home to donate more hamsters to the pet shop and she started breeding the animals.
She now has regular walk-in customers, many of whom are children from neighbouring schools.
She also sells pet supplies online, and provides a pet hotel service.
PROFITS
Her profits vary between $50 and $200 each month.
She makes it a point to give half of her monthly takings to the home.
She uses the rest to replenish the supplies in her shop.
Her next goal, she says, is to take her O levels and qualify for a diploma course in veterinary technology at Temasek Polytechnic.
She then hopes to get a degree in veterinary medicine in Australia.
She said: 'I'm determined to reach this goal.
'I want to give back to pets, because they saved my life.'
