Short post

Hello everyburdy,

A very short post here. Old liao, not as creative as the young people put so many pictures and interesting topics. but trust me, i went through a lot of thinking before this post. haha, so here it goes.

the night before last visit I was at CSC youtube account looking through some old videos of csc, which captured quite a few parts on THES too. then went on looking at the old photos of thes. really wonderful to see those memories. feeling kinda touched.

the next day went for visit. emo moment came when visiting mr chiu and mdm ho. They aged. i mean. older than before. 3.5years ago when I first stepped into their places, I rmb Mdm Ho was still walking around with strong legs, instructing us like a boss haha. during festive seasons she would cook curry chicken and 猪肚汤 for us. then Mr Chiu was still active in many activities organised by the Touch and the nearby community centre. he never needed the volunteers to help him with house chores. every visit was like a karaoke session with him. both of them were strong and healthy.

but recently, many of the new volunteers only have impression of them with walking difficulties etc. Mdm Ho now needs help to get out of the house. she cant cook nice food for us like she used too. not many volunteers tasted her curry chicken and 猪肚汤 before. Mr Chiu is now having a hard time catching up with rest of the elderly during group outings. and few mnths ago when i visited him, it was the first time i cleaned his house. it was the first time i stepped into his kitchen. it was the first time i realised his place is really dirty and need some help in cleaning. i still rmb him saying: "最近老了 没有力打扫".

4th year in THES. many things changed. the elderly grew with us. as volunteers, we are here to be with them, to leave them (and ourselves) with great memories. :) Same same but different. What stays the same is the love,but by different volunteers.

i guess i shall end this post with a question: WHO WANNA COOK CURRY CHICKEN WITH ME & MDM HO? :D

- Wynne 大美女 :)

There're two malnourished 'snakes' in the house!

"Sometimes the heart sees what is invisible to the eye." - H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I was just thinking about my very first T.H.E. (orientation) visit on 2nd September 2012. Being a freshie, I was particularly unsettled and unprepared back then; inevitably, I also felt quite lost and out-of-place in Mdm Ho's house. I didn't know where I could stand; I had no idea which cloth to use to wipe her drawer and photoframes, and I forgot the initial placings of the photoframes thereafter; I couldn't catch most of what Mdm Ho was saying because I grew up in a family where Hokkien is seen as "vulgar" and shouldn't be used. I could still remember someone telling Mdm Ho not to be so fierce towards me, if not "she won't come to visit you again next time." And I also remember giving a weak, slightly-awkward smile in response to that, because I really didn't know how and what to say! But, somehow, something about that visit made me want to stay on. Perhaps, it was because I thought that it's better to do something meaningful than to simply sleep my Saturdays' mornings away. Perhaps, it was because I really wanted to improve my Hokkien so that I could converse with my Ah Ma better when I finally see her. Perhaps, it was because I met some inspirational seniors such as Zhenziu who have so much passion, love and drive in them. Perhaps, it was because I felt so friendless in FASS that I really wanted to make more friends in my CCA... Whatever the real reason was, I had no idea. I still don't. But it's okay, I don't need an answer for everything; sometimes, unanswered questions make life more exciting, mysterious, and enjoyable.

So fast forward five months since my very first visit... I finally went back to Mdm Ho's house with Yi'an and Xiao Jun on 2nd Feb '13. As with my first visit, we helped out with some household chores. All along, Mdm Ho sat on a wooden stool nearby and supervised our actions. "Wipe that little corner on that window properly," she would say to Xiao Jun and I in Hokkien. "Use the soap to scrub the toilet bowl," she instructed our dear Miss VM, who would diligently (and furiously) scrub the toilet bowl till it sparkled with love. Mdm Ho's instructions were frank and succinct, but never demanding. Occasionally, she would ask if we were hungry and whether we wanted to share her food with her. She would also offer us some drinks which we politely but stubbornly declined. These little acts of kindness and concern, and of sharing whatever little things that she has, have never failed to touch me. 

Shortly after that, Criss and Swee Fen (Fang 姐!) came to visit Mdm Ho too. Coincidentally, Yi'an, Xiao Jun and I were done with the housework, and thus all of us proceeded to make CNY decorations. Mdm Ho sat there on her usual cushioned chair, looking very curious and amused at the same time. Perhaps she was thinking, "What are these 'gin na' doing? Is that really a snake?! What are they doing with all that angpows? Does my house still have space to hang these decorations?" 

Xiao Jun and I hard at work :P

Every now and then Mdm Ho would ask us what we were doing, and then she would gleefully laugh as she saw how clumsy we were with the papers, angpows, scissors, staplers and even double-sided tape. It felt stressful to have her watchful eyes on us throughout the whole process, yet we had loads of fun too. We would randomly hold up pieces of our unfinished masterpieces and ask her if they were nice. Mdm Ho would then chuckle or nod her head; she must be thinking, "Ahh these 'gin na' have nothing better to do is it? Why are they so funny and cute!" Hehehe I think she's cuter :P

Miss VM and her Ah Seng would like to wish everyone a happy Chinese New Year :)

So... despite the initial hiccups, we managed to make a huge angpow lantern (in the form of the number 8), a smaller flower lantern (using the octagons that Fang 姐 was holding) and two paper snakes decorations for Mdm Ho. Mdm Ho laughed when she saw how skinny and malnourished our 'snakes' were. She then gamely posed with one of the 'snakes' around her neck; isn't this new 'necklace' of hers super interesting and creative? :) Also, we decided to give all our remaining red packets to her as she found them cute and might wanna give them out during CNY. She looked very happy as she slowly put them away safely; at that moment I felt very happy and thankful for being given a chance to experience all that.

CNY is supposed to be a period of joy, wishes and reunions. It may mean lots of angpows, yummy food (ahhh pineapple tarts and bak kwa) and dreaded conversations with some naggy relatives for us, but what does it mean to the elderly? What are they wishing for? Perhaps, what they really want is a visit or call from their family members, or simply more love from those around them. If there's anything else that we could do for them, it would be to give them our heartfelt gratitude and blessings. May the elderly possess happiness, strength, and good health in the upcoming Lunar New Year, and in the many years that are to follow.

Lastly, I really hope that our elderly would continue to have many visitors and volunteers dropping by their houses - especially during the festive CNY holiday season - so that they wouldn't be so lonely. The same applies to all the other elderly, not just those at Kallang Bahru, but also just about everywhere. It's always very difficult and saddening to say, "Auntie/ Uncle, we have to leave now" to the many T.H.E. elderly who live alone. (In particular, I personally feel for Mr Tay badly. He's like the grandfather that I've never had or seen; caring, generous, cute, but pessimistic and vulnerable altogether.) Like many of you, I often wish that I could stay on to chat with them even longer, but there're always things to do, deadlines to meet, and other parts of life that we have to constantly juggle. Maybe this quote would make things better - "Every goodbye makes the next hello closer." *hugs* 

Good job everyone, we've all grown and come so far together. Thanks, too, for having read, admired and loved my yet-another long post (hahaha self-praise again). Rest well, sleep tight, and have an awesome CNY eve too :))

Lots of love, Jennifer

Uncle Lee's Photo Museum

Haven't visited Uncle Lee's place for quite some time already; gone was the 触爱, replacing it are the names of his favourite volunteers.



So after looking around and making sure that his place was neat and tidy we started getting down to work: CNY decor.

Uncle Lee drawing the snake decor




Look at his exquisitely designed CNY 2013 snake. List of names of all his favourite volunteers alternated with CNY greetings.


After that he showed us how to make a mandarin orange decor.





End product.


Uncle Lee with the CNY cards he did at TSAC,


Ta-dah! We're done with our snakes!!





The video we recorded for Ren Ri for all those of you who reads the blog! =)

According to Uncle Lee, CNY greetings should only be said during CNY otherwise it would be considered as a curse.



After the visit he joined us for lunch while waiting for the mei nvs, haha!





- The real Yi An

天冷就回来

I always say, every visit is a different experience. Today's visit kind of impacted me.

Missions for this week's visit:

1) 大扫除

2) Decorations

3) Video of Chinese New Year greetings with the elderly.

Today, my group consisting of Woon Yong, Kiah Yeen and Kelly visited Mr Chiu. He was recently discharged after being hospitalised. My last visit to Mr Chiu was during the Deepavali and Hari Raya period, you can read about it here.

Left to right: Woon Yong, Jeremy, Mr Chiu, Kelly, Kiah Yeen

He has lost so much weight. Throughout our visit, he was so tired. He had no appetite. Midway, he laid and rested on his bed.

Nonetheless, our group did what we could do. We did a general cleaning of Mr Chiu's place and gave his kitchen a slight makeover. While he was resting, we decorated his place with ang pao rings, ang pao fish and the ang pao snake.

Our efforts!

Finally when we were about to leave, we asked if Mr Chiu wanted to take photos and the greeting video with us. From his resting position, he mustered his already limited strength to sit up and put on his trademark glasses that make him look yandao. Despite his fatigue, he enjoys taking photos with us, and our presence in this short an hour and a half.

The hardest part of visits is always saying goodbye.

I can't help but to worry and feel sad. Recently there were just too many news of our elderly being admitted to hospitals, but there was comfort in the fact that they are being well taken care of. But for the case of Mr Chiu who was discharged, there was nobody looking after him. He barely had the strength to walk, and I wonder if he had taken his meal for the day. In either cases, we need more volunteers visiting them.

As volunteers, we have to keep such emotions in check. I was hiding in the kitchen the whole time in a dull mood, and I thought I must not let Mr Chiu see me in my state.After all, we're supposed to touch the elderly's hearts. For this, we need a strong heart ourselves.

I guess, like I always say, this is one of the reasons why I always come back to Kallang Bahru on Saturdays.

-Jeremy

PS: I promise this will be my last emo emo post here 

A visit to the renowned Geylang Bahru bombshelter

Hello!

Happy Chinese New year in advance! My group which consist of Weijiang, Joleen, Huijia and me visited Mr Lin today. As im quite bad with names, i was trying to recall and match the face to the name when i remember this:

credits to Kok Seng

Anyway, as we went into his house, we found two other volunteers from the TOUCH center in his house, busy cleaning. Upon talking to them, we realised that Mr Lin had actually went downstairs in the morning to seek help in adjusting his bed and the two volunteers went up to help him. However, they went beyond their duty and helped him da sao chu.

So the four of us joined in and helped with the cleaning. It was literally like a warzone in his house, we were basically fighting with all the bedbugs and small cockroaches that were spewing out from anyway and everywhere. We also realised that his mattress was infested with so much bedbugs that Mr Lin was actually bitten and dried blood stain can be seen all over the floor. One of the TOUCH volunteer decided to get a new mattress for Mr Lin and he went to the nearby NTUC, and came back with new bed sheet, pillow cases, cloth, cleaning detergents which he kindly gave all to Mr Lin. 

Mr Lin do has a habit of keeping all the food stuff despite not eating them and we were desperately trying to convince him to throw away some of the food items which were expiring soon. He kept reasoning that he wants to give the food to the bangla who sweeps the floor and its a waste to throw. Luckily after much persuasion, he allow us to throw away some of his soon to be expired maggi mee. 

We took almost 1.5 hrs before we managed to finish with our chores. The amount of bedbugs around had truly made some of us paranoid as one of the TOUCH volunteer, Lisa, mistook a mole on her hand as a bedbug and tried to kill it hahhaha! 

Here's a photo with our new made friends!

After all the cleaning, we finally had time to sit down and start on doing the decorations, with HuiJia attempting to do the snake and Joleen improvising some artwork with angbaos. Weijiang and I, with our limited artistic skills contributed with our eye power and entertaining a happy Mr Lin, who was comfortably sitting on his new bed. 

hanging on the wall is the snake deco that Hui Jia made and behind, Joleen and WeiJiang were using angbaos to make the Fu word. Initially, we wanted to paste the Fu on the outside of his door but Mr Lin keep insisting on pasting on the inner side of the door so that he can see and admire! 

Time was really passing fast and soon, we were going off. Personally for me, i really hate this part of the visit because its really hard to say goodbye, especially when we are having fun. However, I think because of this, it really spurs most of us to come back weekly, if not fortnightly. 

One last group photo before we leave!

Anyway, for those who will visit Mr Lin in the coming weeks, do hope you guys help to check with him if the bed bugs are still giving him problems and if you do see blood stain on the floor, it means that the bedbugs are biting Mr Lin and we do need to do something about that. And do check his food stuff regularly and coax him to dispose of those expiring soon if not cockroaches will be joining soon! 

Lisa, the TOUCH volunteer posted me a question that truly sets me thinking. halfway through cleaning, she asked me: "Why are you doing this?". Not for any CCA points, not to come here xian charbo, not here just to fulfill some course requirements, but simply, because we want to help. 

Volunteering, in the past, for me, is all about doing compulsory CIPs, Flagdays which i have no idea where the money which i collected goes to and clocking hours just to fulfill the quota. Since coming to NUS and joining THES, I've finally found the true meaning and the joy of volunteerism. 

Signing off,

Clement

Moi first time visiting Mdm Chow Moi

Hello everyone!  

Please pardon me for the lousy English used in the following sections LOL

My group (Me, Gillian, 小 Jo and Nicholas if I ever remember your name correctly ... sorryL) visited Mdm Chow Moi today.  Though this is my first time visiting her, the smile that she gave us when she opens the door doesn't feel unfamiliar at all. Glad to see her being so cheerful as the rumors said.

Anyway, we went into her house, requesting to help her clean her flat, but she insisted that her flat is very clean and told us not to do so. She even tried to prove it by lifting up her legs, saying that her sole is clean. As such we commence on our snake making session. Though it was supposed to be a combined effort with the elderly, due to some slight language barrier (My hokkien proficiency level is only so-so and the rest can’t really speak), we never really get her involved. Nonetheless, we tried to engage her while we are making the snake and decorations, asking for her opinions and stuff. I guess she is really supportive because she keeps giving us thumbs up haha (Y).

About half an hour later, her daughter came to visit her, spending some quality time with her while we are cutting, folding and making that New Year snake. I actually feel quite bad as we didn’t interact a lot with her, as the visit is not to make the snake but accompanying the elderly. Guess I will be more mindful of my purpose of visit in future=(  And thanks to the snake, we wasted quite abit (actually a lot) of time, and we quickly spent the last few minutes taking the video with her. The way she held the oranges is kinda cute HAHA (vid below). And not forgetting that we waved at her from the 1^st storey, shouting ‘bye bye’ before we went for debrief. All in all, I feel slightly guilty because we never really interact much with her, but still hope she is happy due to our presence. I will be more mindful for the subsequent visits okay? 等我 mdm Chow Moi!!

Signing off

Chaur Ann

大家新年快乐！！ ^^