First Visit

So here's my blog entry about my first visit with T.H.E.seniors. It was the first time I have done volunteer work with elderly, and I feel that it has been a truly enriching experience.

The elderly that has left me the deepest impression would be Kam Por. It was the second place we visited after Mr Tan's. When we reached, I saw Margaret sitting on the floor, chatting animatedly with Kam Por. Turned out that none of us could speak Cantonese, except for HanYu, so he was busy being the translator for the rest of us that day.

I thought that Kam Por was very cute, in that she tried to keep the conversation going by speaking Hokkien (and then alternating between Hokkien and Cantonese when she couldn't find the words) and repeating some of her stories. It seemed that she enjoyed our company, although we couldn't really communicate "fluently", but I felt that our presence there really did make a difference, especially with Margaret & another girl (sorry my memory is like dory's..) who entertained her by talking about food haha!

I also learnt some interesting stuffs, like using vinegar as a substitute for detergent to mop the floor, and the correct way of mopping the floor haha! But I do have some questions, do these elderly choose to live alone by choice or what? I know they have children who visit, but why are they staying alone? As mentioned by Kam Por, she can't really cook much since she's staying alone, luckily her friend who lives in the same block brings food for her sometimes.

Another thing I have noticed is that all other volunteers really put in effort to interact with these elderly. Like when we reached Mr Tan's, PinChuan asked about his health etc, and at Kam Por's, HanYu was really observant, he noticed Kam Por kept rubbing her leg and asked if it hurts and stuff. And at Mrs Tan (um, the third place..), some guys attempted to sing Hokkien songs for her and after that Amelia suggested something like downloading and learning a Hokkien song so that everyone could sing along during the next visit. Gestures like that really touched me, and it's really good that everyone cares so much :)

Okayyy time to go back to work =.= cya

-jiamin

The 1st Visit in Nov - 1st Nov =D

Hi all!

Sorry for the late update! Please pardon me as a freshie k! hehe.. =D


Anyway, here it goes(01/11/08):
We visited a new elderly today! Mdm Ho!

Went up to her house which was just on the 2nd floor. Mdm Ho came to open the door for us. Her house was considered quite tidy. Mdm Ho's health isn't very good, and she doesn't have much appetite ever since she was admitted into the hospital on 19/09/2008. And Mdm Ho has a lot of Salon Pas-es all over her body because she said she couldn't sleep well with the pain if she didn't put them on. That's why I think she's quite pessimistic about her health too.. =(

Anyway, we helped to clean her house first. I was in charge of cleaning the kitchen windows. Somehow, I've been like so used to cleaning the windows that it was so automatic I just took a cloth to clean the windows.. haha.. I think Mdm Ho's windows haven't been cleaned for a long time, because I found a lot of dried leaves in between the window grilles! haha.. After that, Weizhong helped me to clean areas that I couldn't reach.. =D

After cleaning up the house, we started to sit down on the floor to join in with whoever(sorry I dun remember who le!) were talking to Mdm Ho already. Mdm Ho showed us many things! She took out her X-Ray for us to examine. When she opened her cupboard to take it, oh WOW! Mdm Ho is more fashionable than me ok! She has so much beautiful & colourful clothes at a glance! Mdm Ho must be very hip since young! haha.. She also showed us her photos when she was young.. She looked very pretty and modern when she was young. This shows she's really more fashionable than me la.. haha.. Oh ya! I love the hat that Mdm Ho showed us! It's so cool! Can you believe she actually kept it for some 25 years and still in good condition? The hat was cute & creative! It was a sort of foam material in a flat round shape, where the centres are cut in some patterns. So when you wear it, just push your head through the cut pattern, and ta-da! The hat is formed! =D

I think even though Mdm Ho is very pessimistic, she was very happy to see us! She's very sociable & love talking to us. She can also think very fast and crack cold jokes with us.. haha..



Our next stop is our favourite Mdm Tan's house!

I always look forward to visiting Mdm Tan because she's very optismistic and cheerful. =D Seeing her cheerful deposition, it also cheer me up a lot in midst of the school stress during the week. =D

There was a big crowd at Mdm Tan's house today! That was because everyone from the Canto & Hokkien groups came to visit her after the first stop! =D As usual, we just find random topics to chat with Mdm Tan. We also helped Mdm Tan to read a letter. We asked Mdm Tan about her first love! So she told us about how she & her husband got together, and how another guy tried to chase her at the same time, when she was younger.. haha.. So interesting to listen to her talk right! =D

As random as it is, we actually wanted to sabo 1 person to sing for Mdm Tan. And we just keep pushing the "responsibility" around.. haha.. In the end, we decided to sing "Yi Ren Yi Ban" together. but we failed eventually! hahaha! We couldn't make it without preparation la! haha.. Nvm, we have already decided to prepare a Hokkien song before the next visitation! Hope we can make it the next time round. haha!



That's all I have to say about the day! Before signing on, I would like to add, I really enjoyed doing visitations with the lovely people in T.H.E.seniors! Everyone is so cooperative and make every visit so fun & enjoyable! =D Look forward to the next visit! =)

**-Zhenxiu-** XD