Yay!.. Always been looking forward to every visits to Touch!!.. oh oh let me intro myself first, I'm Jiancong, currently in the Hokkien group! 'whua hee tail ho!' (means just be happy!) Favourite elderly: Mdm Lim!!

Every visit seemed like a rest from our school work, a time for us to chill a little, put you work all aside and just enjoy your time interacting, with the elderly as well as friends and new friends who you made in Touch. At the same time using this rest time to do something meaningful, bringing warmth to the society, making a difference in others. Along the way there are precious lessons learnt too!

I feel that our presence really mean a lot to the elderly. I heard stories about leexian, go into their house and her first thing to do is to wash toilet! But so far that did not happen to my group at all. The most we did was just to sort out medicine for them, to ensure that they eat the right quantity of each medicine they were given. The rest of the work just lies on talking and laughing, suaning each other and denying that lao jiao still not old yet.. (junhui.... wink wink*) haha. Everytime we visit them, they always seem so happy with a large welcoming smile.

Perhaps the first few visits we go because of friends who are going as well. But subsequently as we build bonds between the elderly, as well as knowing new friends from Touch, leave me no reasons to stop coming to Touch.. hehe.

Please also at the same time treasure your grandparents around you too! =)

Mid autumn festival is coming!!.. will be preparing songs related to the moon (like yue liang dai biao wo de xin).. so please look out for them!..


Jian Cong

Duck Race 07

TOUCH Community Services was one of the beneficiaries of the SCS Duck Race 2007, held last Sunday 9 September 07. As such, some of our volunteers from TOUCH Seniors were down at the Singapore River on that fine Sunday afternoon to help out in manning a booth that TOUCH had set up.

Well, not really afternoon, we came down at 10am in the morning, and our dear lau ban niang was slightly tardy so we had a short morning jog from the MRT station to Singapore River. :-) At the river, the TOUCH volunteers briefed us on what they needed us to do that day. Basically, aside from the race that gives this event its name, there would be stage performances, photo-taking with the giant balloon duck, and funfair booths along the river, giving the whole event a carnival feeling while we waited for the race. TOUCH's booth was a games booth; for a token fee of $2, customers would try to win prizes by shooting down toy soldiers with a rubber-band gun. The guns were well-crafted wooden toy guns, capable of shooting rubber bands over quite long distances, but what impressed me most is that they were made by one of the elderly residents at the TOUCH center. I mean, I can't even tie a knot properly, and he can carve out a whole gun out of wood! I felt so 惭愧! (That's ashamed for our non-Chinese friends:-p)

So anyway, we manned the booth from 10am to 2pm, with occasional breaks in between to take photos with the giant duck, watch couples go and come, take more photos, play our booth games, have lunch, and look for helium balloons. Hmm, I think I'm quite blind, so many people were going around carrying balloons, but I couldn't find where the balloons were appearing from! I never got a balloon throughout the entire thing! So irritating... We became very good at shooting the toy soldiers, and even Jasmine could hit her target once in a while. :p And I made a fool of myself shouting "Two dollars for 5 tries! Got try got win! Sure win something one!" But my repertoire of soliciting phrases ends there. Ya, I know, I'm not cut out to be a fish market stallholder...

At about 1pm, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived! The duck race is on! Or rather, as I found out to my chagrin, the race and been on for quite some time, and we were just waiting for the ducks to float downriver. We were very lucky, because the finishing point of the race was just in front of our booth. So everyone rushed forward to the riverside to see the sight of hundreds and thousands of yellow ducks being carried by the river towards us. We even managed to catch a picture of the leading duck! :-)

We left Singapore River at 2pm, when people came to take over manning the booth. We were quite tired, but we did have fun at the same time, and we did manage to accomplish something. Look out for the photos soon!

"In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us." - Flora Edwards

We see ourselves as volunteers who help others without expecting or receiving anything in return. But often, life throws lessons at us when we least expect it. Lessons that can help us, like the way we have helped others.

Lesson #1

"If you don't learn to laugh at troubles, you won't have anything to laugh at when you grow old." - Edward W. Howe

Some of the elderly may be suffering from illnesses but yet they take things in their stride and even poke fun at themselves. Mdm Ong is an example of such a person. She laughs at the fact that her amount of medicine is large enough to fill up one entire plastic bag, she laughs at the fact that when she watches tv, all she sees are drama serials portraying patients in hospital, people who are ill like herself. She laughs at herself and her troubles, something we can all learn from. When things go wrong, we often worry too much and yet worrying doesnt change a thing. We should laugh at our mistakes, learn from them and move on. No more unneccessary worrying and certainly no harm with extra laughter!!

Lesson #2

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." - Leo Buscaglia

Should there be one day when we feel like volunteeing is taking up time that could be otherwise well spent, remember that sacrificing a few hours of our weekends to make someone's day is worth time spent anywhere else. Every small gesture we make has the potential to make someone's day and ultimately, friendships and relationships formed are those that really matter and those that will stand the test of time.

At the end of the day, seeing the happiness on the elderly's faces is the best gift we can ever ask for in return.

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." - Dr. Loretta Scott


Kia Boon