by periods when she was incapacitated by acute attacks of arthritis. She scrimped and saved, and by the time she was in her 40s, she had enough to buy a shophouse in Club Street. Although illiterate, she made some property investments and eventually became a landlord, renting out rooms. As her wealth grew, she acquired more properties, and she began to adopt children from poor families, becoming a single mother of six daughters and twenty-five godchildren. Charity work A devout Buddhist from youth, once her children had grown up Ho decided to serve the Buddhist cause, and to dedicate the rest of her life to caring for others. In 1958, she became a Buddhist nun at the age of 50. In 1969, aged 61, Ho bought a two-storey detached house in Richards Avenue with her savings, and turned it into the Man Fut Tong Old Peoples' Home for aged sick and single elderly women. Most of the twenty or so residents had neither enough earnings to support themselves nor any relatives to turn to. To raise additional funds for the home, she cultivated and sold prize-winning white orchids at Tanglin, and vegetarian food at Kong Meng San Temple in Bishan. She cleaned, cooked, took her charges to the doctors, helped them to collect their social benefits and even sometimes saw to their last rites. Venerable Ho's work was unknown to the public until 1996, when she was featured in a television programme – The Extraordinary People – at the age of 88. As a result, the public learned more about her and her nursing home. When asked why she had set up an old folks' home, Venerable Ho replied: Inspired by Venerable Ho's devotion and compassion, volunteers and donations began to stream in, allowing the home to provide better medical care and facilities for its residents. Spurred on by the desire to do even more, she approached the government for a piece of land to expand her old folks' home. The Ministry of Health gave her a plot in Woodlands, on which she oversaw the building of a new home. To help in raising funds for its construction, she published a recipe book called Top 100 Vegetarian Delights in 1998, which brought in more than S$100,000 (U$66,667). In August 2001, the new four-storey building was opened at Woodlands Street 82. It houses nearly 235 sick and elderly and provides residential,