My First Visitation

               It was 8 June, 2013, when I had the honor of joining NUS CSC on one of their weekly visits to the homes of a group of elderlies and contributed in making their day. It was then I had many first time experiences, such as cleaning window (yes I have never cleaned those windows in my house before), and listening to first hand WW2 stories.
 
              The first house that we visited was that of Mr Ong, a friendly and cheerful man. He welcomed us with open arms and invited us to have a sit and watch some TV programmes, while he prepared to take his medication for the day. As I took a quick scan around the house, I was really quite shocked to see the amount of drugs that was kept. There was a whole cabinet of them; bottles, boxes, packets and packets of white penadol-looking pills all stuffed in a large zip lock bag. I then began to think of the times when I was sick and was feeling very xin ku. I had to take around 3 to 4 pills then. Mr Ong, on the other hand was on long term medication and had to take 6 to 7 pills, almost twice as many as compared to mine. I can only imagine how xin ku the 60 plus elder was feeling. I sat there speechless for a while as my other two partners, Li Jia and Chunhai chit-chat with Mr Ong. After I recovered and started to join in the conversation, I realized Mr Ong had just gone for an operation and was in the midst of recovering. Despite that, he was still very cheerful and was telling us all about his appointments with a very handsome and caring surgeon, whom got our LiJia exxxxxxxxxxxtremely psyched up! (Right, LiJia??? =P) After convincing Mr Ong to introduce her to the young surgeon, Mr Ong showed us his big and badass hipster radio where we fiddled with it and tried to find 933, which I think we didn’t manage to find it in the end. But we got 958, close enough. With that, we said our goodbyes to Mr Ong and proceeded to the next home visit.

                 Mdm Cheong was next on our list. After a quick chit-chat with her, we quickly went on with our individual household chores. Chunhai was asked to clean the windows in the kitchen and the door, Lijia was tasked with cleaning chairs and mopping the floor while the job of cleaning the windows by the bed and toilet door were given to me. While we were cleaning, Mdm Cheong took out some notes on computing and told us that she had been keeping herself busy with taking basic computer lessons and she had fun learning. When I heard this I really feel so happy and xin wei for her. There’s a Chinese saying “huo dao lao xue dao lao” and Mdm Cheong is a great example. Even at her age she was still trying out and learning new things every day and I felt that her positive attitude towards life is something we can all learn from. After we were done, she started showing us old photos and began sharing her life stories with us. Stories on how she came to Singapore from Ipoh, how she started working when she was ten, how the family went and hide in the mountains when the Japanese came. It was really interesting and exciting hearing it live from the person who lived through it as compared to reading biographies.

                  As the visitation came to an end for the day, I was bombarded with a mixture of feelings. I can only imagine how xin ku many of these elders are, for many of them are on long term medication and had to take many pills a day. Some had to go for operation enduring pain which takes a toll on their frail bodies. Some of them missed their sons and daughters who visited them once in a while and when they heard that their loved ones will be coming for that day, they would be so happy. This made me realize that for these elderlies, nothing is more important to them than their family while all the materialistic stuff is the world is worthless in their eyes. Spending time with loved ones is what brings happiness to people. This trip had made me want to cherish and spend time with my loved ones even more. Even though we volunteers might only be cleaning windows or mopping the floor or chatting with these elders, so long as it helps brighten their day and makes them happy, it is worth it. Thus I would like to thank NUS CSC for giving me this opportunity to join them in their weekly visits to help bring a smile to these elderlies’ faces. (Faith in humanity restored!!!)

Cheers
Eugene Ang