Some call Madam Khaw Seow Wah a bearer of good news. For the past 30 years, the long-time volunteer with Christian halfway house Breakthrough Missions has been knocking on the doors of the families of recovering drug addicts.

"Many of these families were let down by (the addicts') drug abusing ways and did not want to have anything to do with them," said the 89-year-old in Mandarin.