End of Semester 1 AY 12/13!

Today marks the end of our first semester (of lessons) of AY12/13! 

6 official visits..... many volunteers.... and countless precious moments..... 

Time really flies and now, we are moving and loooking forward to our upcoming major outing on 19 Dec 12!

Just want to share my thoughts on what we have done so far. Every official visit might seem very routine... we visit the elderly... help them in their household chores... as well as interacting with them... However, it is through simple things like this that makes us all human... Apart from all the competition and stress we face everyday, it is simple things like this that makes us who we are. We may not notice it but I believe the elderly appreciate our presence, even though we may not speak the same language at times.

Just like some of our modules are graded on a continuous basis, our care and concern shown towards others should not be a one-time event, but instead a consistent display of support towards others. But unlike a module that might have a final exam, there is no end to showing your love. 

There is this time when I was having a project meeting, and one of my group-mate asked me a random question, "Why are you so happy everyday? as in every time I sees you?" Then I answered him, because I am optimistic about life! Haha. There ought to be times when you are down and upset, but that's what makes us human. After a while, you get over feeling upset for yourself. You learned to face your fears and develop a sense of who you really are, so that nothing will ever break you and take that optimism away from you.

Only by being genuine and honest, not only will you TOUCH the HEARTS of ELDERLY SENIORS, but you will TOUCH the HEARTS of EVERYONE SURROUNDING you:)

Kok Seng

Hi everyone! :) It has only been a few days since 10th November but I'm surprised to see that a handful of volunteers have already posted entries about last Saturday's event! Or am I too slow... Haha please forgive me. Anyway, I'm Jia Ai and I'm a new volunteer! 10th Nov was my first visit to this regular project and I just want to share some of my feelings here :) 

Just some background on myself, I'm a year 1 student intending to major in social work and I've always been inclined towards working with the elderly. Thus, I was pretty excited when T.H.E.S finally contacted me regarding the volunteering project! Even though a part of me was filled with uncertainty (since I'm joining sth new afterall...), a larger part of me was really looking forward to interacting with the elderly! :)

My group (consisting of Amirah, Yu Lin, Camy and myself) visited Mdm Cheong and Mr Lee, and it was indeed a good feeling to be greeted with smiles from the elderly when we arrived! When we were at Mdm Cheong's house, we helped with some basic cleaning, did sand art together, and chatted with her. Since she mainly communicated with us via Canto/Malay - both of which I don't understand - I felt a little disappointed that I couldn't really interact with her that day. Nevertheless, I could tell that Camy and Amirah were doing a great job in interacting with her! It was actually comforting enough for me to know that Mdm Cheong was happily giving us tasks to do, trying her best to do the sand art, and sharing her old photographs towards the end of the day :)

When we visited Mr. Lee, he was singing karaoke in his house! Ok maybe not singing, but the music was there. Haha his enthusiasm was felt nearly instantaneously. I read through the recent entries of this blog and I have to agree with shurui that he has this very positive mindset towards life! Also, like what shurui mentioned, he eagerly explained to us the meanings behind this huge collage of photos which he has pasted on his wall! He also told us that he's planning to form two other words - 友情 - on his walls as he takes more pictures along the way, which I feel that it's pretty meaningful :) He's like having some personal art gallery at home, and I know he's proud of it. Haha we also tried to get him to sing but he rejected us.... (And a pity I didn't get to see the numerous toilet rolls and soap bars in his toilet :P)  Anyway, visiting Mr Lee was really interesting cos I didn't face the language barrier and I think he's a really funny guy (sneaking up just when I was sharing about him during the debrief session haha). 

That's roughly my summary of visits to Mdm Cheong's and Mr Lee's houses! Oh and not forgetting the ketupat part. Haha like what kai him said, it was a great challenge for some of us and our elderly might not be interested (like Mdm Cheong who strongly refused to keep the ketupat even though camy has already made for her. I think she prefers deepavali :P). Nevertheless, I feel that it doesn't really matter cos we can always improvise and seek other ways to interact with the elderly instead! Even if it's just chatting :)

All in all, I was really thankful for Saturday's experience. Even though it wasn't my first time interacting with elderly persons, I felt the same level of happiness when I met Mdm Cheong and Mr Lee :) And I certainly hope that I'd be able to get chummier with the elderly as time passes! (hopefully meet famous Mr Tay and his buttercino *shocked* haha!) Cos currently I feel that I haven't completely stepped out of my comfort zone yet. (Maybe need to start learning Canto and Malay already...) More often than not, I ask myself this question, "why am I so inclined towards working with the elderly population?" I love children and I enjoy working with the intellectually disabled, ... After taking out some time to read the past entries of this blog, it dawned upon me that the reason behind why I enjoy interacting with elderly more is because of the way they are so easily neglected. I believe none of us would want to envision ourselves staying in an old folks' home or living in loneliness during old age... (for those who does prefer solitude, I'm not judging haha). But yeah, my point is, I believe majority of us would want to spend our old age with our precious family members - people whom we would have slogged our guts out for at least half of our lifetimes. But the sad thing for some of our elderly is, their family members are not necessarily there for them. And I think that's when volunteers like you really play an important role in their lives :) 

Like what Jocelyn mentioned in her entry about Mr O, I believe that there are also many other elderly persons out there who are not so healthy, and have to go through the tough process of taking countless medications a day and going for countless doctor appointments. That's happening to my grandma currently, and tbh, I feel that it's not something we can control. However, we can always make their days better by being there for them, even if it's just for awhile. In the case of my grandma, she gets really grouchy when no one visits her/when she has to constantly go for check-ups. But she also gets contented very easily when we just bring her out to the nearby supermarket to buy...nothing in particular. Haha she just likes crowds :)

So...yup, just wanna remind everyone (including myself) not to neglect our own elderly grandparents or parents at home too! And to end off, I just want to say that even though I've only recently joined you guys, I can tell that the passion and dedication in you all are like...raging! Hahaha it really surprises me :) And I'm very appreciative of that - Singapore's ageing population has hope! Haha in the meantime, jiayou for finals everyone!

- Jia Ai

Hello kids, it's me again bringing you the next episode of T.H.E.S. visit again! So with me in my group are Jocelyn, Chun Hai, Kai Sheng and 3 NAS students. The NAS students are from Wushu and are here for CIP. So according to Jocelyn, we're to be their da ge ge and da jie jie. Haha.

We were assigned Mdm Chua and Mdm Ho. Unfortunately, Mdm Chua wasn't feeling well and wanted to rest so we visited only Mdm Ho.

Mdm Ho was just discharged from the hospital. She was feeling dizzy last week so she called the ambulance on her own. When we visited her, she looks healthy like her old self except a bit tired. We did the usual things like helping her with household chores, and also sand art and ketupat folding.

So the visit started off with Jeremy teaching the folding of ketupat, which I picked up in no time.

Jeremy teaching how to fold ketupat, Wynne can't believe how easy it was.


Me picking up quickly.


Chun Hai getting stunned by the complexity.


But still, Kai Sheng was the best cause the visit ended before he learned how to fold. And Mdm Ho was scolding him stupid throughout the visit. Haha.

The NAS peeps helping Mdm Ho with the chores.


See how satisfied Mdm Ho is with their work.


After everything we tried to get Mdm Ho interested in sand art, taught by Chun Hai.


Thats all folks, till next time.

-Yi An

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Hello! this saturday was my 4th visit with T.H.E.seniors but i already feel like i fit into this group so comfortaby! it is a great feeling. i feel so at home because of the elderly who let us know that they appreciate our efforts, because of you people's energy and your courage to show your love, in your actions and in your words. it is great to feel connected in such a way (not many people around me are open to expressing their emotions like some of us do, esp for guys haha, im quite rare ;)) i cant say more! this is like the best thing that happened to me in NUS for 3 years and running. i love people, especially like-minded people who see beauty in the simplest of things which the fast-paced world seem to leave behind.

anw enough of going on and on abt this, shall share more about the visit itself! first up, i have to say that generally i thought that the program wasnt very suitable. dont get me wrong, we all all appreciate the efforts by jeremy esp when he had to teach us all how to make the ketupat! it was no easy task. but i felt that it was a great idea to celebrate hari raya + deepavali but maybe the execution wasnt very appropriate. the ketupat was really difficult to make hahhaa im ashamed to say that but it really was evidently complicated for most of us. i think the thing is also that it distracted many of our volunteers from what was the real task, to engage the elderly to take part tgt etc. at least that was the case for my group. much time was used in learning first, then trying to complete it later on. because mdm lim did not show interest in the two forms of program we had, we thought that we would just do it for her ourselves and so the two ngee ann sec boys were very engrossed in completing the sand art work and i felt that the short term aim was not directed well. thats of cos mainly our own fault in failing to engage them. i wish we had done it better! and mdm lim also pointed out that she is sensitive to the sand art and i think that is a very note-worthy point which i already informed jeremy of. because the sand is fine and easily blown by the wind, it might cause respiratory discomfort or even choking etc for our elderly whose bodies do not work as well :(

so yes, mdm lim was the first elderly criss, kok seng, swee fen, the 2 ngee ann sec school boys and i visited. she was not interested in the art work so i started chatting with her instead. and i was SO HAPPY that she spoke cantonese!!! for the first few visits i had mostly visited hokkien speaking elderly and had no chance to use my only talent: canto! hahaha. i felt bad i talked to her a lot in canto cos that excluded the rest from the convo most of the time but im still glad that i felt that i was able to engage her personally. she talked about her usual habits of coming downstairs to cui cui feng which i really agreed. she also said that if we couldnt find her downstairs at the block or at her hse den she would be away as sometimes her neighbours invited her to their house to sit sit and chit chat. i also fully encouraged her to do so. but in the convo i felt that she didnt really like to talk about herself or felt that she didnt have much to talk about with others, and she said she would just sit and listen to her friends talk. she also complained about her heart problems. she take medicine three times a day. and when she had heart ache she was to immediately put a pill in her mouth. i dunno the name of the medicine but those are common medications for heart problems etc. she said some disheartening things that went along the line of being sick is horrible she would rather not be around :( struck me quite badly because i dunno how to comfort her. but all i could do was to say, dont say such things, and to give a small little pat and gesture on her arms to show a little love and concern. we were trying to engage her to share some stories with us, but as previously she didnt have much to tell. maybe her past wasnt as exciting as she hoped it was. maybe she had some sad events that she did not want to recall. i dunno. she also said that she couldnt speak a lot because it gets tiring sometimes, and i could vaguely hear her louder and more forceful breathing. so, i told her next time, i'd visit her and i'd do the talking! everytime we expect and want them to talk to us, to share their history, ideals etc. i actually wonder how interested they will be in our own life story! not as exciting, but next time i would share with mdm lim some small little happenings in my life as well. friendship works both ways doesnt it. perhaps you all could think about it and try it too. sometimes the elderly get tired of talking so much in one shot esp if they do not talk a lot normally, one day use up one week's quota. we could do more talking, instead of asking all the time! and as i had to break the news that we had to leave to see mdm tan, i felt a tinge of sadness. in her eyes i saw a lil loneliness, a lil gratefulness, but all i could do was to hold her hand and give her a smile, and hope that she feels my sincerity. i hope to talk to her again very very soon (:

next we visited mdm tan. i had been to her place on my first visit and remembered her to be extremely cute! adorable she was, no doubt. the contagious giggling! as usual the place was so clean but we still mopped the floor. oh there is a hole in one of her pails! :( any ideas on how to sort this out? and since i cant speak hokkien, i could only sit and listen to criss and kok seng's conversations with her. i love how adorable our two ladies were. and i wish i could converse in hokkien! starting to learn more actively now :D after mdm tan talked for a period of time, she choked a bit probably due to some flam or something. which again leads us to the same point. as we love to hear them speak, their bodies feel tired much faster than us and we have to remember that. since she cant see well, she cant remember people and can only personally remember a few of the older volunteers! we should build an "identity" with the elderly so that they can rmbr us better, and we would be able to connect and build our friendship even better! and before we left, we also held her hand and said see you in our own ways.

i think some people go through the motion of shaking hands, to holding hands, to giving a hug, to giving a pat on the back. but to me, it means so much more. this short period of physical contact is actually a transmission of emotions, of love, and shows how much you care for the other party. the next time u do so, do not do it hurriedly. slow down, look at the other party in the eye and feel the connection as your hands touch. believe that the exchange of care and concern will reach both parties, and i promise you it will. holding the hands of the elderly, i feel no less love and emotions than holding the hand of my partner, if not more.

and since the last time gillian shared her story about her visiting her grandparents more after joining our program, i also had a thing for it. my grandma lives right above me (hdb) but due to her determination not to "bother" us we dont even have meals tgt and she lives alone. i dont see her frequently and even when i do at gatherings, we dont talk a lot because she would be talking more to my parents/uncle/auntie and me talking to my siblings/cousins. last week i could leave school early on wednesday (once in a long time) and i eagerly went home early to visit her. it is a different experience all tgt as i feel i have much more patience and much more interest in her stories etc. loves. for us who have the blessings of having grandparents around, i hope we can show a bit more love and concern and give them our love. also as lijia rightfully reminded us: our parents deserve so much more of our time.

i know i am a very naggy person, and i have digressed a lot. and i know that long essays dont work as well as short ones with good organisation. however, i also know that at least a handful of you will be reading my post word for word hehe so i 'm not worried, and i hope that i have brought some new insights to you guys as well (:

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kai him

Hello everyone!

Ms VM is finally blogging!!! After such a long time (: Just a background about myself…I actually entered T.H.E.S close to August/September this year , despite how old I look *cries* Being an inactive volunteer for much of my Year 1, I can safely say that I was more than happy and grateful, to have that volunteering spark reignited in me. And for that I give my thanks to Remy and Criss for pulling me into this family…and of course, our elderly..What made me stay after the first official visit was none other than Mr Tay himself. Come to think of it, my first visit was to T.H.E.S’ dumpling festival celebration where I met all the elderly (some of which are not under our visitation list) and the impression they left was a deep one, with their happy faces and spontaneity to the MCs’ questions. I was also ultra-touched to receive the VM gift which was a handmade rice dumpling keychain. Still have it till today :’) because it serves as a reminder to myself to put my heart in my work.

I know I don’t express much gratitude on the social platform in general. But I am, deep down, really relieved and jubilant that this batch of newcomers (with a mixture of senior year and junior year students) has given me a sense of security that T.H.E.S and our elderly would be in very safe hands. Not only to this motivated bunch of volunteers (new and old), our dear seniors taking time off their weekends to help out with our visitations never fails to make me feel more secure and safe. So thank you, thank you all for always backing us up (:

I really, really hope that while we constantly derive joy from our own volunteering experience, this spark can be passed on to others as well...because only then can our elderly be receiving a constant stream of care and concern which is self-enhancing through one batch inspiring the next <3 nbsp="nbsp">

SO back to our visit which took place on the awesome date of 10/11/12!

There are actually two parts to my day! :D 

The first actually begun at 9.30am where Rui Fang, Yu Lin and I did facilitation! Knocking on the doors of the elderly and making sure that it was okay to visit is actually something that I enjoy doing more than picking up volunteers from the train station :P  It’s like saying good morning to them and giving them something to look forward to with our volunteers coming to visit within a few hours’ time. At times, some elderly require a little “push” for them to say yes to us visiting (: Facilitation allows us to do that, and it also allows me to get a good feel of how our elderly are doing, and I can make changes to the manpower allocation accordingly.

The second part comes when you guys make your way down to TOUCH center!!! I’m always damn very excited and happy to see our volunteers strolling into the void deck XD IT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY CAUSE PEOPLE ARE COMING!!!!! And so I take attendance and try to chop chop send you angels to the elderly ^^

Today I allocated myself to visit Mdm Cheng and Mr Tan with Pei Jen, Woon Yong and Jeraldine together with 2 newcomers from Ngee Ann Secondary (: I was hoping that they’ll have a good time with us, not sure if they did at the end of the day…but super glad I found pei jen, woon yong and jeraldine thoroughly enjoying the process of guiding our elderly through the making of ketupat and sand-art :B

Mrs Tan wasn’t around when we visited so we guided Mr Tan along. He liked the end product a lot and was eager to put it up somewhere in his house as decoration xD So glad they liked what our Programmes cell came up with ^^ 

Our newcomer engrossed in making Ketupat

Mr Tan!!! 

 He shared stories of how he met Mrs Tan and turns out, they met through a common friend and she was working as a seamstress at a factory in the past. When asked how he felt when he first met his missus, he said:

“灵魂颠倒”

Hahahaha it was such a great experience listening to him going on about how they used to frequent Queenstown bowling center and movie theatre, also, Princess and 大世界！Like zomg. Cos all these places are sorta defunct already. I also learnt from him about the importance of health, cause he says they don't paktor much now due to deteriorating health :'(

And because most of us had our eyes glued on the TV show showing footage of animals gone wild, he brought in the topic of a circus in Singapore in the past! Like a cool O.O We then moved on to talking about Japanese Occupation in Singapore and the cruelty of the soldiers from the past. Like placing humans into the fridge to freeze them and sawing the human ice cubes after ><

We then visited Mdm Cheng who resides at Blk72! For those who have yet to visit her, she’s a keen and quiet lady who’s one of our newer beneficiaries! She converses in Mandarin mainly which is a language she picks up from watching Channel 8 drama serials! She handles herself very well by making adjustments such that it’s easy for her to move around on her wheelchair. She’s very ready to answer our questions, but to me, there’s always a quiet sadness lingering around her because of her husband’s recent passing. The sewing machine which stands at the doorway is an object which is dear to her, left behind by him. Really hope that we can be with her as much as we can :/

Due to her deteriorating eyesight, she watched us as we did sand-art for her and held easy conversations. We managed to clean the windows for her which she requested since a few weeks ago. Her favourite colour is red! So our floral pattern was filled with a lot of pink patches heh. Like Mr Tan, she loved the art piece a lot and wanted to keep them to show her friends visiting her next week =)

Our product :D

A mandatory tutorial for self-shots

Jeradine, Mdm Cheng and I

I know that this is a really long post that I’ve churned out hahahaha so thank you, if you managed to last till the end here =) It’s funny how easy it was to type out 1000plus word document on my Saturday at T.H.E.S relative to churning out an equivalent word-count on microbes.

At the end of this all, I just want to say Thank You All once again for making Semester 1 such a memorable one. Thank you all for the teasing and cooperation during visits, and turning up week after week after week :’) It’s not time to bid goodbye forever yet, but it is, goodbye for this semester as everyone turns their attention to studying. So all the best to everyone for your exams, please work hard and have a well-deserved rest afterwards. 

I’m really sure our elderly would be looking forward to our outing on 21^st December 2012!!! (((((:

Chop yall for that date ah! 

T.H.E.S forever <3 font="font">

A big bag of medicine

Today we visited a new senior, Mr O.
Upon reaching his house, we learnt that he just had a fall.

Due to possibilities of implications from the fall, Mr O was persuaded to go for a medical checkup.
But! He has just been back from a period of hospitalisation.
He was unwilling. In the end, the negotiation was that if he could stand up, he would be able to refuse checkup.

For a few seconds which felt like an hour, four of us stood there to watch as Mr O tried his best to stand up. Pardon me for my drawing, but this was the exact scene which I think I will never forget.
It was painful to watch. As I fixed my eyes on Mr O, I was secretly wishing I could give him all my strength. In the end, he really had to be sent for checkup on an ambulance.

Filled with thoughts & emotions.

Firstly, I must say Mr O is already quite fortunate to have a friend who was with him, and a few neighbours who popped by to ask if he was okay. I felt the kampong spirit; the warmth in the neighbourhood ♥

I saw a big bag of medicine on the table. Usually for a flu, we'll get a small variety of medicine which we've to take abiding by the timing. I remember I felt so sian having to consume medicine every now and then. Imagine that big bag of medicine.

When we were watching him try his best to stand up, I could feel his 100% unwillingness to be back in the hospital. He wanted to show that he is able to take care of himself. If I were in his shoes, I would be doing the same thing. I want to be in a place I am comfortable with, instead of lying on a hospital bed even if it means I would have sufficient people taking care of my needs. But besides pain, I felt encouragement when I saw how hard Mr O was trying. That's his strengths. He didn't want to give up.
And that deeply touched my heart.

While I sincerely wish that Mr O could be discharged soon,
I would also like to reemphasise today's lesson-of-the-post:
We shall be strong in our mind no matter what situation we are facing ;)

Lots of loves,
your fellow volunteer Jocelyn

Feeding my heart with love... *BURP*

Dearest dearest dearest volunteers of T.H.E. Seniors,

it has been about one semester since I entered the committee.

Recollecting my initial fears towards the role, I laugh.

It was silly of me to be afraid; because I have a committed committee,

dedicated volunteers with the biggest hearts,

senior volunteers who are always there to provide guidance and continuing love,

and our cutest & most valuable seniors.

I hope I had been a Chair that you guys could rest on when you're tired,

could sit on while chit-chatting and sharing about your heartfelt experiences,

could rely and trust that it won't break no matter how heavy you are. haha

If I had been, I will continue to be. If I hadn't, I will try my best to be.

It's unbelievable how much love I'm witnessing from all of you.

Your spirit of volunteerism makes me humble.

And I learn to become a better person because of all your dedication, dearest volunteers.

Every facebook & blog sharing is filled with love, lots of it -

be it self-initiated motivational speeches, sharings, or even concerns for our seniors:

 I feel the love.

I sincerely hope that this passion in all of us continues to burn. HUAT AH!

Keep on reflecting. Keep on learning.

With my most sincere love & appreciation,

Jocelyn ♥

Touching posts all the way as I scrolled down ahhh.

Been having this thought for some time and would like to share it with you guys.

As we embark on our visiting missions every/every other week, don't forget this group of people who need our love and time the most.

... Our parents. Don't forget that they're aging too, and they probably depend on us more than they'd ever let you know.


- LIJIA

Everybody loves KUNGFU FIGHTING

Yo!

Before I attempt this week's visit's post, I have finally cleared my backlog of reading past entries. I haven't been reading for... Close to a month >.< But I must say my all-time favourite reading is the T.H.E.S blog. I enjoyed reading the full posts by our volunteers and I like to guess who wrote the post (hopefully you guys will know who am I by just seeing how I began the post hahaha) The entries are really awesome, and hopefully this one won't disappoint you guys ;)

***

Today is 10/11/12 and a group of students and their teacher-in-charge from Ngee Ann Secondary School joined us for our visit. The belated Hari Raya and the upcoming Deepavali saw the return of missions in the form of art and craft. The session kickstarted with me teaching everyone how to make ribbon ketupats (okay by now you really should know who I am). The situation was a bit too overwhelming so I felt I didn't really do a good job teaching you guys so pardon me for the mess! :P And after distributing the paper plate rangolis we headed off to our seniors' homes to pay them a visit.

***

My group consists of 2 students from Ngee Ann Sec, their teacher-IC (sorry can't remember all their names!), Wynne 大美女 and myself. After collecting all the old newspapers, we were off to visit Mr Tay. Upon greeting each other...

1) Asked if we have eaten

2) Offered us canned drinks

3) Repeated 1 & 2 indefinitely

4) Asked if we brought newspapers

5) Kirh lim kopi loh!

(Tang, 2012)

(For 4, thanks a lot to those who have contributed their newspapers! The stack was about 1m in height so good job guys!)

Mr Tay complained to us about his persistent abdominal pain. Nevertheless he was elated as usual when we brought him downstairs to have his buttercino. The kopitiam auntie needed no instructions and automatically brought the special brew to Mr Tay. And the priceless expression on his face after each sip; it's like his pains and problems disappeared at that very instant as the taste of the caffeine warmed his body.

Side quest: buying Lux soap (sap boon in hokkien) for Mr Tay using his $10 Fairprice vouchers. Apparently he uses up one soap bar in three days. While queuing up for payment, I realised that the vouchers had expired. Thankfully, the cashier closed one eye and allowed the use of the voucher. Lesson learnt: don't just check for expired food of the elderly, but also check for expired vouchers.

One major discovery of the day: Mr Tay knows KARATE AND MARTIAL ARTS (which explained the choice of title of the post. Cue Kungfu Fighting music~). This revelation was after telling him that the Ngee Ann Sec students were from their school's Wushu club. Not sure about his grading and whether he has a black belt but he sure had the seh when he showed us the on-guard stance.

"Martial arts is for self-defence. People may hit you, but you do not hit people." - Mr Tay

When asked whether he got into fights when he was young, Mr Tay replied no. But the fact that he peed into his principal's coffee/drink was still... O.o

Questions to think about regarding Mr Tay. What if... Someone assaulted him? Okay that may not seem realistic. BUT WHAT IF. Some people claim themselves to be volunteers and break into his flat? The consequences is unthinkable. So it is our duty, to constantly remind not just Mr Tay, but all our elderly, not to allow anyone suspicious into their flats.

Like other seniors, Mr Tay remembers our volunteers by where they stay. For me, although it's only my 3rd time bringing him to the kopitiam, he remembers my voice. I'm also remembered as the kid who shares the same surname as him. This... Really means a lot. 

All perked up!

After Mr Tay finished his buttercino, the Ngee Ann Sec students and their teacher left (thanks so much for coming!), Wynne and I brought Mr Tay back to his flat. Dilemma: to tell or not to tell him that we'll be breaking for exams and will not be visiting in the next 2 weeks. The common topic during kopitiam sessions is the loneliness Mr Tay faces day in day out, and how he had to wait so hard for us to bring him downstairs to chillax. 

I told him anyway. I didn't want him to be disappointed when the time comes.

But. I know there'll be 有心人 to visit him right? :)

I'll add a number 6 to Kai Him's Mr Tay routine:

6) Thanking us non-stop

***

Next up my group joined Sheng Xian's group and we visited Mr Chiu together.

Volunteers, please ensure that when the floor is wet, never. NEVER. Let the elder get up and move around. Our dear Mr Chiu slipped and almost fell not just once, but twice. Oh the horror.

We chatted with Mr Chiu and talked about the prospects of him joining 黄金年华 singing contest, and he laughed it off. A suggestion was to one day bring the seniors to the show's set and recording in Mediacorp. Hope to see it happen one day!

We did the rangoli art together too!

Masterpiece

They say we look like father and son :3

After watching TV together for a while, we said goodbye to Mr Chiu and went for debrief.

***

I really, really enjoyed today's visit. 

After sending Mr Tay home, we dropped by Mdm Cheong's place to say hi to her, and she was showing the other group her wedding photos which I have never seen before. So next time when I visit her, I will request for her to show it to me. While looking for Mr Chiu's flat, I led my group the wrong way and ended up at Mdm Tan's clean and bright flat and she was in good mood, talking to her group. She was all smiles when she saw us. When I was writing visitation report downstairs, Mr Lee sneaked up to me (and I jumped in shock lolol). He had received the photos I helped him develop and the mike I gave him is working fine.

I hope that the seniors liked the ketupats and rangolis in one way or another. While this initiative wasn't exactly flawless, I am learning from every minute spent volunteering and interacting with the elderly, and I will not stop learning. There is no such thing as an "experienced volunteer". I love what I'm doing. Because of all the above-mentioned elderly. And the others whom I don't have a chance to but will visit soon.

Happiness on a plate

There's something about this tranquility at Geylang Bahru blocks 61 and 62.

-Jeremy

PS: As part of a CSC Day IX initiative, I will be featuring T.H.E.S during the OC meeting. I'll share my slides here or somewhere! :)

On 27th October, I visited Mr. Lee along with Kah Suan, Joscelin, Luting and Yu Lin! We first spotted Mr. Lee at the void deck where we assembled into our groups. After dispersing, we headed up to Mr. Lee’s flat as he had already gone up. Being relatively new volunteers, this was our maiden visit to Mr. Lee’s flat and hence, we were unsure of the exact location on that floor. As soon as we spotted him in his flat, we began exclaiming excitedly and it drove Mr. Lee into a slight frenzy as he had taken off his shirt and was parading around in his mini shorts :P

Mr. Lee quickly put on a shirt and opened the door, inviting us in warmly. We stood in front of his pictures and began looking in awe. Mr. Lee disappeared for a short moment before reappearing with a short stick that looks like a cane. He immediately took to pointing at the pictures with the stick and telling us the stories behind each picture while we stood there with our bags the whole visit T.T At times, we asked Mr. Lee if he would like to sit and chat with us but he turned us down heartily and continued with more stories.

Soon after he finished his stories behind the pictures, we tried introducing ourselves to him and I’m glad that he is able to remember my name (although he mispronounces it hahaha). We also managed to have a look at Mr. Lee’s legendary birthday cake from last year! As we saw Jeremy passed a microphone to Mr. Lee earlier on, we persuaded him to sing for us. He told us that he rarely sings at home but would go down for singing sessions with his friends whenever there are such activities held by Touch. Though he rejected us that day, he promised to sing the next visit after some preparations. Do get him to sing!

As usual, from the accounts of the other volunteers, Mr. Lee showed us his phone messages from Yinmin. Alas, we discovered that he did not know how to reply to messages. Hence, my group promised to do him a guide on hanyu pinyin and teach him how to use it to construct smses the next visit. On a side note, it struck me that there might be too much emphasis placed on giving these elderly things that we have and they don’t. Perhaps, more focus could be given on teaching and equipping them with skills to fully utilize what they currently have. I feel that we should enhance the elderly’s capacity to support themselves instead of piling them with handouts that they have no use for or already have. (For example, Mr. Tay has numerous toilet rolls and soap bars in his house :O)

It was one of my best volunteering visits thus far as I could finally hold a proper conversation with the elderly. All in all, Mr. Lee exudes enthusiasm and positivity towards his life but he has occasional bouts of self-doubt where he felt he was being too naggy. Nevertheless, the whole session proved delightful as we assured him. He repeatedly showed how thankful he was that we do not look down on them though he questions our commitment to volunteering after we graduate. Hope to visit him again the next visit!

“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime"

-shurui

Mr Lin, the conscientious planner :)

The next time I blog, I shall not try not to read other volunteers' posts first...

Their posts are really touching and they become some sort of euphoriant that keeps me craving for even more. I can barely stop reading till I finally reach the last post that I wrote; it's only then that I realise, ooops I haven't written anything yet haha. All these posts and photos bring back many sweet memories that the elderly have given me in the past two months. I admit, waking up early in the morning has never ever been easy for a late-night owl like me... let alone say waking up early on a weekend morning. But each time I think about the elderly at T.H.E.S (or the Havenue Sembawang Auntie whom I sometimes visit), I can't help but to quickly roll off my bed. Seeing the many posts on this blog never fails to refuel my desire to keep volunteering and to keep giving back to the elderly who have - directly or indirectly - given me more than what I could possibly ask for.

So now, I hope to add on to this beautiful string of posts by sharing what I experienced last Saturday. I spent that beautiful morning with Mr Lin, Chun Hai, Kai Him, Chuan Ren and Tai Xiong; you could say that I was a rose among the thorns (just kidding, how can the cute Mr Lin be considered a thorn hahaha). Chuan Ren and Tai Xiong usually work with children, so this was a new experience for them :) Mr Lin's house was slightly dirty - though not as bad as what it was on 13 Oct - and thus our efficient team did some housekeeping chores before having a good chat with him.

Mr Lin looked well and happy as he reminisced about the good ol' days. He told us that, based on past experiences, it's very important to do some surveying and research before choosing a house. His unit is well-chosen; he doesn't like units on the lower floors because there would be a lot of pests and fumes whenever fumigation is carried out (no offence to Mdm Ho *cough*), nor does he like those on the higher floors as they would be very hot and stuffy when the sun is directly overhead. Also, his unit faces the sunrise direction, so the warm sun rays serve as his natural alarm clock. His house is cool and windy too, thus he does not need to turn on the fan (which uses a lot of electricity and wastes money). Thus, Mr Lin is super proud of himself for having chosen such a wonderful unit, and we were very amazed by his conscientiousness and critical thinking skills :)

Besides that, we learnt that Mr Lin likes to volunteer too! He doesn't join the other elderly during their outdoor trips because his legs are "not so good", but he doesn't feel that he has missed out because he gets to help out at the TOUCH centre in the morning instead! He says that he will continue to volunteer for as long as he can, and to hear that coming from an elderly is very touching. Mr Lin has managed to incorporate volunteerism into his everyday life to the extent that it's second nature to him. While I'm not suggesting that all of us should emulate Mr Lin (it would be very noble to, though!), I just thought that his actions and mindset are worthy of our respect. Kudos :D

Also, Mr Lin shared with us his past travelling and working experiences. He left Indonesia for Singapore when he was only 7 years old; returned home when he was around 15 and came to Singapore again when he was in his mid-twenties. Since then, he has never returned to Indonesia again. He said that his living in Indonesia has allowed him to speak fluent Malay and this bonds him with his Malay friends in Singapore. The Malay (Bahasa Indonesia) that he speaks back home is way more gentle than the one he speaks here (Bahasa Melayu), and such differences could be observed in the diction and tone etc. He then proceeded to provide some examples (which we could barely understand or remember...). At the same time, Mr Lin told us that he came and stayed in Singapore to eek out a living. Through his various stints as hotel receptionists, he learnt that Malaysians rarely give tips while Indonesians are more generous. Sometimes, the amount of tips earned could easily reach about 1/2 of his basic pay! :O He also worked at Changi Airport, and he hinted that tourists at the departure area sometimes give tips too.

Last but not least, we discovered that MR LIN LOVES TO WATCH KOREAN DRAMAS!! He praised kdramas for their dramatic plots and twists, as well as their expressive actors and actresses. Mr Lin memorises the showtimes, and even knows whether a particular show has been aired on television before. He revealed that some of his previous jobs were specially chosen because they allowed him to get back home in time for his dramas. Evidently, watching television is a "very cheap" but interesting hobby that he enjoys everyday, In contrast, Mr Lin also criticised local and some Taiwanese dramas for lacking in flavour and distinctiveness. He said that kdramas are really good and that we should all go and watch them when we're free too :)

I just realised I forgot to take pictures with Mr Lin that day... Rawrrrr. I shall remember to take pictures with the elderly during my next visit. Pictures are always nice; they may capture us in our ultra 'glam' or 'unglam' states, but more importantly they capture memories and realities as they are at that very moment. Let's camwhore with elderly together kayy :)

Okayy I shall end here, continue reading some posts and sleep soon. FLAG DAY TOMORROW!! May we all collect lots of moneymoneymoney $.$

Love, Jennifer

CAT MEAT, HUMAN MEAT~

Hope that caught your attention.

Together with Yi An and Yong Jian, we visited Mdm Lim and this is a brief account of what we talked about.

1) Is that a flower?
2) Cat head curry/Cat meat
3) Human meat (with/without curry)

+ lots and lots of laughter.

Continue to find out more..





It was our first time visiting Mdm Lim and she was already sitting at the void deck and she said she did not need help with cleaning up the house. Therefore, we just decided to chat with her.

Yi An made a very impressive but futile attempt to coax her into taking a walk around the neighbourhood by telling her there are many flowers that she could see and admire if she was to walk around. Out of all the beautiful and vibrant flowers that were available for use as an example, he decided to use this.

And thus, she was totally not convince there were any interesting looking flowers around..

At least that got us started on the great debate : Is that a flower? 

She was very sure that was not a flower and said that Yi An was trying to trick an old lady, that got all of us laughing.

As the conversation went along, we got started on food.

She jokingly talked about how she enjoy cats in curry, resulting in us bursting out in laughter. 

Later on, she even added that she's into human meat as well. 

Throughout the conversation, we also asked about her general well-being. She was okay except for the fact that she had constant backaches causing her to reject the idea of walking around (therefore, it's not Yi An's fault).

From the previous visitation reports, she was generally unhappy with her life but I could see that when she was chatting with us, she was actually glad that there we were willing to sit down and talk to her. She was also feeling okay when we were talking to her and was less pessimistic than before.

That's one small change in her attitude, one giant leap for us. Even if it's a small change, it's worth every bit of our time for the visitations.

It's not about whether that plant is a flower, or that human or cat meat is tastier (with or without curry), it's about the differences that we were able to make by spending some of our time. Such time spent is well spent as it moulds us into better people, and at the same time, helping someone.

Last but not least, a photo that Yi An took during our visitation:

"Never doubt that a small group of committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has"

-Edmund