Here are some photos from the Carnival. I will upload all photos to Facebook.
Ying Cong
Friday, October 15, 2010
Monday, October 04, 2010
First experience with T.H.E Seniors
Prior to visiting the elderly, I imagined I would meet cranky elderly who lived in poorly furnished flats, with heaps upon heaps of their belongings taking up most of the space. I was walking along the corridor on the 2nd level, towards my first destination, when my imagination was reinforced. The layout of the HDB block was such that there was a long, straight and narrow corridor with flats on both sides, and it was illuminated only by sunlight at the end of the corridor. Yes, it all feels quite sad, doesn't it? However, the elderly occupants of two of these flats were anything but.
I joined the Hokkien group and visited Mdm Ho first. I was, at first, slightly concerned the situation would be a bit tense and how I should engage her, given it was my first visit. Mdm Ho proved to be extremely amiable, and instructed me to clean her TV set. Her flat was also not the squalor I had pictured in my mind. We chatted with her for a while. She was talkative and jovial. She happily related her stories to us and was eager to offer us drinks. Later, she displayed her sense of humor when she said she wanted to inspect her TV set to ensure that the cleanliness was up to standard. She dragged a finger across her TV set ( I was reminded of bunk inspection in the army!) and found no dust on her finger. I passed! Phew~
After that, we proceeded to Mdm Tan's. Mdm Tan's flat was tidy and required only simple sweeping and mopping of the floor. Her flat was probably neater than most of our rooms! After some cleaning, we sat down to chat. Mdm Tan told us she could not see clearly and my heart went out to her. However, Mdm Tan was stronger than that and was not bogged down by her condition. She also said she is receiving treatment and naturally, all of us wish her a speedy recovery. She related to us, stories in the olden days when her family reared chickens, ducks and pigs, and how her salary of $1.50 per day could see her through because apparently, back then, you could get bean sprouts, kuehs and sweets with 5 cents, to name a few.
Prior to visiting the elderly, I imagined I would meet cranky elderly who lived in poorly furnished flats, with heaps upon heaps of their belongings taking up most of the space. I was walking along the corridor on the 2nd level, towards my first destination, when my imagination was reinforced. The layout of the HDB block was such that there was a long, straight and narrow corridor with flats on both sides, and it was illuminated only by sunlight at the end of the corridor. Yes, it all feels quite sad, doesn't it? However, the elderly occupants of two of these flats were anything but.
I joined the Hokkien group and visited Mdm Ho first. I was, at first, slightly concerned the situation would be a bit tense and how I should engage her, given it was my first visit. Mdm Ho proved to be extremely amiable, and instructed me to clean her TV set. Her flat was also not the squalor I had pictured in my mind. We chatted with her for a while. She was talkative and jovial. She happily related her stories to us and was eager to offer us drinks. Later, she displayed her sense of humor when she said she wanted to inspect her TV set to ensure that the cleanliness was up to standard. She dragged a finger across her TV set ( I was reminded of bunk inspection in the army!) and found no dust on her finger. I passed! Phew~
After that, we proceeded to Mdm Tan's. Mdm Tan's flat was tidy and required only simple sweeping and mopping of the floor. Her flat was probably neater than most of our rooms! After some cleaning, we sat down to chat. Mdm Tan told us she could not see clearly and my heart went out to her. However, Mdm Tan was stronger than that and was not bogged down by her condition. She also said she is receiving treatment and naturally, all of us wish her a speedy recovery. She related to us, stories in the olden days when her family reared chickens, ducks and pigs, and how her salary of $1.50 per day could see her through because apparently, back then, you could get bean sprouts, kuehs and sweets with 5 cents, to name a few.
The visits were meaningful and I learnt a few things. I was touched to know that there are, in fact, many others out there who care for the elderly, when the elders showed me pictures of themselves with other volunteers. What I felt especially meaningful was doing those simple chores of sweeping and cleaning for them. What, to us, may be tasks easily accomplished, are beyond the elders because of their ailing bodies. A simple act to meet their needs, and they appreciate it, and they show it. Giving is simple like that. I look forward to future visits =)
Wishing the elders health and joy,
See Kiat
Friday, October 01, 2010
Visiting 3 lovely Seniors (:
For the Hokkien group, we went to visit Mdm Ho, Mdm Cheong and Mdm Tan.
Mdm Ho always give us a warm welcome whenever we visit her. She is very chatty and loves to joke around with us. Mdm Ho can talk about almost anything under the sun and she can communicate in quite a few different languages and dialects --English, Chinese, Hokkien, Malay and Canto. She never fails to bring laughters and joy to us whenever we have conversation with her :D During the visit, Cong Ying asked Mdm Ho if she cooks, and we can answer that on her behalf ;) Mdm Ho is really a good cook. Her famous dish is curry chicken (tried and recommended by many volunteers). So must look forward to the next time she cooks curry chicken for us.
Mdm Cheong is very fit and healthy. She's a good friend of Mdm Ho, so naturally she's also very friendly. In my opinion, she sounds quite comical when she speaks and sometimes make us burst out laughing in the midst of a conversation. She is quite particular when comes to housekeeping, eg. the two white chairs placed in front of her bed cannot touch the bed frame. Whenever we visit her to clean the house, one thing to take note is to wait for her instruction before starting to clean anything. As she will nag a bit if we did not do things according to her wish, but she meant no harm, still a very amiable senior to talk to :D
Mdm Tan is a very cute senior and always gives us a great smile to welcome us. She keeps her house really very clean. Whenever we visit her, there isn't much house cleaning to be done. Hence we would spend more time chatting with her. Mdm Tan has been experiencing some vision problems. She sees really very blur images, in fact, it seems that her vision condition is deteriorating as she couldn't really see the image even if the image was placed quite near to her. Due to her blurred vision, she had a fall previously when she was on her way to get some stuff. In fact, she still has that phobia from that previous fall. Thus, she tried not to go anywhere too far from her house and stay at home for most of times. As a result, she missed out many activities organised by the community and various welfare organisations etc. Hope she will go for a medical check-up soon and regain her vision soon.
Hope you guys would look forward to meet each and every elderly! As they have many interesting stories to share with you guys! (:
With blessings,
Boon Peng (:
Mdm Ho always give us a warm welcome whenever we visit her. She is very chatty and loves to joke around with us. Mdm Ho can talk about almost anything under the sun and she can communicate in quite a few different languages and dialects --English, Chinese, Hokkien, Malay and Canto. She never fails to bring laughters and joy to us whenever we have conversation with her :D During the visit, Cong Ying asked Mdm Ho if she cooks, and we can answer that on her behalf ;) Mdm Ho is really a good cook. Her famous dish is curry chicken (tried and recommended by many volunteers). So must look forward to the next time she cooks curry chicken for us.
Mdm Cheong is very fit and healthy. She's a good friend of Mdm Ho, so naturally she's also very friendly. In my opinion, she sounds quite comical when she speaks and sometimes make us burst out laughing in the midst of a conversation. She is quite particular when comes to housekeeping, eg. the two white chairs placed in front of her bed cannot touch the bed frame. Whenever we visit her to clean the house, one thing to take note is to wait for her instruction before starting to clean anything. As she will nag a bit if we did not do things according to her wish, but she meant no harm, still a very amiable senior to talk to :D
Mdm Tan is a very cute senior and always gives us a great smile to welcome us. She keeps her house really very clean. Whenever we visit her, there isn't much house cleaning to be done. Hence we would spend more time chatting with her. Mdm Tan has been experiencing some vision problems. She sees really very blur images, in fact, it seems that her vision condition is deteriorating as she couldn't really see the image even if the image was placed quite near to her. Due to her blurred vision, she had a fall previously when she was on her way to get some stuff. In fact, she still has that phobia from that previous fall. Thus, she tried not to go anywhere too far from her house and stay at home for most of times. As a result, she missed out many activities organised by the community and various welfare organisations etc. Hope she will go for a medical check-up soon and regain her vision soon.
Hope you guys would look forward to meet each and every elderly! As they have many interesting stories to share with you guys! (:
With blessings,
Boon Peng (:
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)