Goodbye, my dear friend...

Love Me

By Collin Raye

I read a note my grandma wrote back in nineteen twenty-three. Grandpa kept it in his coat, and he showed it once to me. He said,"Boy, you might not understand, but a long, long time ago, Grandma's daddy didn't like me none, but i loved your grandma so."

We had this crazy plan to meet and run away together. Get married in the first town we came to, and live forever. But nailed to the tree where we were supposed to meet, instead I found this letter, and this is what it said: "If you get there before i do, don't give up on me. I'll meet you when my chores are through;I don't know how long i'll be. But i'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see."

And between now and then, till i see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, me.

I read those words just hours before my grandma passed away, in the doorway of a church where me and grandpa stopped to pray. I know I'd never seen him cry in all my fifteen years. But as he said these words to her, his eyes filled up with tears.

If you get there before I do, don't give up on me. I'll meet you when my chores are through. I don't know how long I'll be. But i'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see. And between now and then, till i see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, me. Between now and then, till I see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, me.

This is a song that I will listen to whenever I am feeling sad over the demise of an elderly. The part that I like the most is this:
“If you get there before I do, don't give up on me. I'll meet you when my chores are through. I don't know how long I'll be. But i'm not gonna let you down, darling wait and see. And between now and then, till i see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, me. Between now and then, till I see you again, I'll be loving you. Love, me.” – It signifies my promise to the departed elderly that I will continue to bring a piece of sunshine for the elderly who are still with us. I don’t know how long am I able to continue to do so but as long as it is still within my ability, I will try my very best. Also I will always cherish and love the time that I have spent with every elderly. Hee… Just sharing some of my thoughts that have crystallized during my few years in Touch.

Our elderly cannot be with us forever and ever. The time that we can spend together with them is very short. However, what matters is not how long but how meaningful is our time spent together. Each and every visit may be the last time that we are able to share laughter and joy. I will always archive the happiest time in some pockets of my mind and take them out whenever I am feeling down or when I am missing the elderly. The memories cheer me up a lot.

Mdm Ong’s courage and determination to live life independently has taught me to be brave and 潇洒 whenever I face the various adversities in life. I think not only Mdm Ong bah, all the elderly have let us seen this 不倒翁 spirit. I really hope that I can be like them when I am old liao!

It really feels better after I have written something to express my feelings. Anyone who is feeling sad can try this method too! I think this is a good way for us to organize our thoughts and say our own goodbye to Mdm Ong…

Regards,
Li Xian

I come from Hong Kong and my mother tongue language is Cantonese. It makes me feel like going back home when I join the Canto group and talk with the elderly as the same way when I was in Hong Kong. Haha =)

This week we spent lots of time talking with 金婆. There were more sad stories coming from her. No doubt, she was born at the wrong time. As she said, it does really matter for an 18 years old girl and 8 years old kid in facing the challenging situations during the war period. Even after the war, everything was still in a mess but you had no choice but shared the burden of the family. I believed she was facing an extremely hard time during this period, especially after her husband died and she needed to bring up three children on her own. Now I think it is time for her to enjoy the life but she gets some problems in her legs. Maybe next time we may also sing a few Chinese songs to her and drive away her sadness…..

At the end, we had a great time in celebrating birthday to Janicia, Jiancong and Yue Xuan, and it was grateful that we always had the last song in the Hokkien group too!!! It was always a good time joining with TOUCH and I really appreciate the students here and you all voluntarily and well organize the visit to the elderly…..I believe we also have many elderly need to be cared but we only have a few students to get involve in HK…..

Wing Lok

Last Visit b4 Exams...

Hey, shall show all of you some photos that were taken during this visit!! Hope everyone's faces appear at least once in these photos! =)



I was with the Canto group this time (as usual, haha =p). We first went to visit Kam Por, and this visit to Kam Por was a really interesting one! One of the mysteries of was unveiled... We finally know Kam Por's full name le!! Wat we are calling her is actually the last word of her name, 金. So we are actually calling her 金婆 in canto... Haha...

Also now we know more about her past. She got married at around 22 and her husband passed away when she was 36, leaving her with three children and the eldest was only 12. Then she told us about how she earned a living by selling drinks without a license and was nearly caught. It's the first time she told us so much about her past, and now we feel we know her better!! =)

Then came a knock on her door, and we thought it's one of her family members again, like the previous visit. But it's actually her fren who lives upstairs. Being also a friendly and talkative lady, she joined us in the chat. Some of us who have went for the TOUCH MAF actually have seen her b4, she is the very naugthy lady who tried to 'sa-bo' LiXian during Pass-the-parcel!! Haha...

Kam Por started sharing abt her war time stories, what she worked as during the war etc. Then the argument between Kam Por and her friend started! Her friend is actually ~9/10 years younger than Kam Por, and she was saying that being 10 years older is no big deal! But Kam Por was saying that she is actually around 19 years old when the war started, and being 19 years old she had already started working and could earn a living. Then the argument went on for a while, then we just sat, listened and laughed... =p

Her friend also taught us self defence using keys! Interesting!! But I wonder has she tried it b4, and issit effective? lol... SHHhhh....

Our second stop was to visit Mdm Tan, when the two groups will meet!! I had a secret plan to surprise the November babies, but only a few were informed! Accomplices include PinChuan, Lixian and ZhenQin!!

Partners in crime: Lighting the candles. Three candles for three November Babies!

From top to bottom, left to right: Here comes the cake, Janicia: Huh? Whose birthday today? Huh, mine included arh!! =) ,

Happy Birthday to Janicia, JianCong and Yue Xuan!!

and all other November Babies from TOUCH who couldn't make it for this visit!!

Then the song singing continued!! =)

From top to bottom, left to right: The cake was passed around to be kept and cut later so as to not dirty mdm Tan's place (with a murderous intent!), Mdm Tan clapping along while we sing, Our Superstar JianCong!!

Everyone singing happily to the songs play and lyrics prepared by JianCong:

All the volunteers that came for this visit:

Hope everyone had a meaningful and fun-filled last visit before the exams!

To all TOUCH volunteers: 加油 for the exams!! Good Luck!!

Note: If you all want the photos, they're with me... Add me on MSN, then I'll try to send them to u... =)

Jasmine...>",<

Last visit before exams....

Yesterday mark the last day of our visit before our exams. Due to the lack of homes to visit, we were divided into 2 grps, i.e. the Hokkien and Cantonese speaking members. Well I belong to the hokkien speaking group...the first home we visited was Mr Chui's. We had conversation as usual, but what made this visit much special than the rest was the fact that one of our members, Jian Cong, brought along his guitar and started strumming melodious music for Mr Chui to hear. Together with the rest of the members, I started to sing along with the lyrics provided by Jian Cong. During this sing along session, we discovered the singing talent of Derui and the great guitar skills that Jian Cong have. :) I'm sure Mr Chui enjoyed himself as he requested us to sing some of the songs he like. In fact, he had already asked us to prepare a list of songs which he would like to hear in our next visit!

After the visit to Mr Chui's home, we dropped by Mdm Tan's home. We gathered with the rest of the cantonese speaking members and started our sing along session there. I could see Mdm Tan's smile as we sang harmoniously with the rhythm of the guitar. Janica, Jian Cong and Yue Xuan were caught by surprise when a birthday cake was brought in. We started singing the Birthday song as the november babies stood in the middle of the room, still surprised by the celebration. Once again, I would like to wish the 3 of u, Happy Birthday!!!

On the whole, I feel that the guitar cum sing along session is a great idea to entertain the elderly during our visits. This not only bond the members together when we sing, but it also makes the visits much interesting for the elderly themselves. But this will trouble Jian Cong though...haha~anyway I do appreciate the effort he put into this guitar session. Really great job! This was indeed a memorable last visit before the exams. Last but not least, I wish everyone all the best in the upcoming exams! :D

-Valerie-

Hi. Sorry for the late entry. It’s now my turn to update on last Saturday’s visit on behalf of the canto group. We visisted 3 elderlys that day : Kam Por, Mr. Paolo and Mdm Lim.

Kam Por was in great spirits, why? Must be her grandson's visit that morning. The bunch of us were settling down around Kam Po to chat when a mysterious guy appeared beside us. Kam Po told him to sit down with us, until she realised he's actually her grandson! When she realised that, she was extremely amused by her own mistake. Her grandson wanted to give her some cash, and then there was a round of pushing. You know, “Take it lah”, “No lah”, “Take it lah”, “No lah”. Although her grandson only stayed for a few minutes, he really did raise Kam Por’s spirits. She appeared to be so cheerful throughout the whole visit. And she finally said she’ll remember me the next time and not think I’m a new volunteer again. When I left I told her “Kam Por must remember me next time ar” then she was like “Ok ok.” Next visit.. i will test her XD

Then we visited Mr Paolo. I don't know how to spell his name so I made it up. Correct me, anyone? If i'm not mistaken, he's not in our list of elderlys but we visited him because of a promise. Anyway, it's to thank him for helping us out during MAF. Thanks, Mr. Paolo XD Like Kam Po, he was quite cheerful throughout the visit, although sometimes we have to speak louder to catch his attention. Jasmine helped to sweep his floor, which appeared to be clean until she brought the broom under the bed and cupboards. There was a lot of dust and dirt that was hidden in inconspicuous corners. Sounds like me when I'm forced to sweep my own room.

And then, we made our way to Mdm Lim's house. I think she can be awarded the most popular elderly. Because every week there will be at least 2 groups who visit her. We sat and chatted with her about her favourite topic: Kopi. She told us about how good she feels after drinking coffee, but because of her addiction to caffeine she doesn't consume other drinks (not even plain water o.O). And she has no appetite to eat. And she gets sleepless nights because of too much coffee. "Then cut down on your intake," we said. And she was like, "I can't. I will feel very uncomfortable." And so she continues to drink and continues to lose her appetite and sleep. Vicious cycle? = =''

Here's something I found: http://www.teeccino.com/caffeineaddiction.aspx

Do you think this could help her? Lol

- Enqi