Since i'm one of the quietest ones in touch, i guess i should make up for my lack of contribution (during debrief sessions and chats with the elderlies) with a post here =P

This week's visit was actually quite meaningful for me, as i was 'upgraded' to sitting beside mdm lim on her chair. To me, that seat has always been reserved for the seniors; for those who know mdm lim well enough, for those who are closest to her. It was quite an honour to have the chance to get closer to an elderly, as she now knew who i was (at least for the session) and would talk directly to me. Maybe this wouldn't mean much to others, but it was really the first time i ever spoke to an elderly in touch, and even have her talk to me as an individual, not someone in the crowd.

Haha felt grateful that i know both canto and hokkien, as mdm lim kept switching to canto today (leaving the majority in our hokkien group clueless), and even took advantage of that to share secrets with the ones who know canto =P The terrible thing is that i can't really differentiate when she's switching between the 2 languages, so my mind gets jumbled up with canto and hokkien, and i can't think of what i want to say without mixing them up. But at least mdm lim didn't mind me just nodding in response =P (observation: i think mdm lim prefers speaking canto..)

Seems like the elderlies really enjoy hearing us sing too, as mdm lim kept requesting us to sing for her today. I guess the sound of singing voices filling up a room really cheers people up; music soothes the soul =) It's really a good idea to incorporate songs/music into the session..

Glad to see that both mdm lim and mdm tan were in good spirits today, chatting away and cracking jokes with us. Hope that the elderlies will continue to stay healthy and maintain their positive outlook! May all volunteers find your visits worthwhile too!


Choo Min

The extremely-hot Touch MAF Celebration

to intro myself, i'm an old bird called chloe. but i can still fly, and i WILL fly back to Touch when i dont have to work on saturdays (which will be rare; whine...)

After a 5-month absence, I made my way towards the same old meeting place, to be greeted by a bunch of new faces, some old birds like me flapping around still, a PA system in the corner which a lot of people were doodling with, bags of goodies, and a ring of plastic chairs. This was no typical Touch gathering, but festivity was in the air as we prepared to bring the elderly down to the void deck and celebrate the mid-autumn festival with them. Soon the Canto Couple came downstairs, so enthusiastic were they. So up we went, to invite (and in the case of Mdm Lim, persuade) the eldery to come downstairs for the celebration.

I guess the elderly felt excited; you could see it in their faces. Something different, something to look forward to, something to talk about after. As they took their seats and bade greetings to each other, one could sense this warm feeling of neighbourliness, and anticipation for the celebration that was about to unfold. Finally the elderly got distributed their Bingo papers and started filling them up. Most of them were encouraged to try to fill it in themselves, and I felt this sense of sadness as I saw them clasping their pens with trembling fingers, painstakingly writing out a numeral in their shaky handwriting. I was with the Canto Couple, and it was very encouraging to see the uncle balance the mooncake box on his lap for a table and write numbers so slowly and carefully. The canto aunty got mixed up and lost count, which generated a lot of laughs. She is very amazing too, for she has not learnt to read and write, yet she tries so hard. Perseverance and patience.


The elderly love to play bingo. With each announcement of the magic number, they search frantically, calling us volunteers to point out to them the numbers. Sometimes jooch's eyes are too small he also cannot see the numbers. When we saw it, we would tell her to look carefully, and not directly show her. I feel that that made her more independent. They really threw themselves into the game. They have such a competitive spirit; peeking at their neighbour's to see how many they have left. Counting and re-counting how many more numbers left to strike off, shouting out the numbers they hope to be called. Really amusing to see them, and their enthusiasm is so catchy that us volunteers got excited too, rooting for them. Uncle Xiqian started shouting out numbers in hope that they would be called, but was slighted by emcee Derui. In the end, everyone got a prize. I laugh at the simplicity of it all, and the joy and pride they got when they completed Bingo, and got their prize – a lantern and a mooncake.

Next they played pass-the-parcel, which went a couple of rounds. There was this amusing aunty who refused to take the box from lixian, only to shove it on to zhenqin. This was mimicked by the Canto Uncle, and it was really very amusing to see him so mischievous, a side which i had not seen before. See, although he has dementia, he can still understand playfulness, humor. Layer after layer of papers came off, finally to reveal a huge box of biscuits which some delighted aunty took home proudly. (that generated a lot of ooohs and ahhhhhs and whoaaaaaas.) And lixian did her dance. And dragged 2 poor others into it. Hahahha. Lixian... you certainly bring smiles wherever you go.. =)

the next segment probably got the elderly the most hyped up of all. The song-singing time. Lixian went on stage to sing the hokkien song ai piah zai eh yar. But guess what, she got drowned out by the chorus of elderly heartedly singing away. And there were actions too!!! I have never seen our elderly so energetic, so lively. It seemed like they were so young again, reliving their youth as they sang (or shouted) to this favourite song. The rest of the songs had them clapping along, or being amazed by the wonderful voice of our superstar Derui. (he can reach high octaves. And go very mellow also. Amazing. *end of praising derui)

Soon, everything drew to a close, and we gather to sing our Sept and Oct babies a birthday song. Took a happy group photo of all of us grinning away, and then we led our elderly back to their homes, admist profuse thankyous and goodbyes. We brought mdm lim upstairs, and chatted to her a bit. she still recognizes me as the pui-eok girl (pharmacist). feel so touched she remembers, and feel so helpless that i cant see her when i would dearly love to.

I dont know when i wont be working on saturdays again to be able to come for Touch, dont know when i can see them all again. Will they still be able, to smile, to engage cognitively with us? As Mdm lim held my hand when we said goodbye, and closed her door, i know that she will be in good hands, in the hands of these juniors who organized such a great show, who truly care for our elderly. Year by year Touch has been improving, and this MAF celebration i daresay is one of the more memorable events. As an old bird, i look with pride at what others have built up over the years, and look with excitement as i see the same passion that fired us, burning in these thoughtful juniors. Well done, for MAF 2007!!!

A Special Day in Touch - Mid Autumn Festival

Hallo everyone!

Today is my turn to write a quick summary! Anyway, for those who do not know me, i am joo chuan, one of the seniors and one of the shortest in touch.

And yesterday we had a superb day in touch celebrating MAF! Kudos to the organizers!

Anyway, we arrived punctually at the center, and were despatched to bring the elderly down. As usual, i went up to find mdm lim. Mdm lim seemed more excited than us! She even wore nicer clothes than usual. She said she took a dose of medicine before the event, just so that she won't feel that painful. We brought her down to touch center, and they were chatting away so happily..

And our first game started! The game was an extended version of bingo, and the elderly took no time in writing the numbers down. Even this simple game got the elderlies very excited about it. I was talking to mdm chua, and everytime a number shouted correspond to hers, she would say "wu ah! wu ah! di zi dao!" (got ah! got ah! over here!)

And with my luck (and some winking at the organisers), mdm chua won the first prize! Yay! Everytime the elderly win, they would be so elated that they will hold their hand up and wave around. Of coz, everyone won. :)

Next is the pass-the-parcel. Initially I thought, it must be boring for the elderly, to pass the parcel around, and to tear off a piece of paper. But the elderly indeed knows how to entertain themselves better than us. Some even purposely SABOH-ed the volunteers by delaying the parcel passing.

The volunteers who were SABOH-ed also gamely did a dance for the elderly. (You should obviously know who is the dance leader!)

Finally, we had a sing-along session, with the most popular song "Ai piah zai eh yar" . Our sing-along session even gathered more support from other people, and one of the elderly even danced to the songs! Thanks to Lixian, Jasmine, Ailin, and Derui who led us in the songs. :)

We had a final group photo before bringing the elderly back respectively. Can see that both the seniors and the volunteers have enjoyed themselves tremendously in this simple MAF event. Definitely one of the best session i've seen so far. :)

Okay, enough talking. For those who missed the event, do not be too disappointed, for there'd be more to come, hor? And I took 2 photos from my hp, so hope to share the joy with everyone. :)

Impressive visit

Terence is just too busy then he asked me to post his experience for him.

For the 22nd September CSC Touch Visit-

" I was impressed that the more experienced volunteers divided the chores very well. More hands make work light!

After helping madam Ong with her chores, we had some time for casual chit-chat and even a mini- exchange program for origami: We demonstrated folding paper cranes while she taught us to create paper dustbins! There are always so many things that we could learn from our beneficiaries.

I am looking forward to next opportunity for me to come down here because the visit is really the way too meaningful to me."

Yay!.. Always been looking forward to every visits to Touch!!.. oh oh let me intro myself first, I'm Jiancong, currently in the Hokkien group! 'whua hee tail ho!' (means just be happy!) Favourite elderly: Mdm Lim!!

Every visit seemed like a rest from our school work, a time for us to chill a little, put you work all aside and just enjoy your time interacting, with the elderly as well as friends and new friends who you made in Touch. At the same time using this rest time to do something meaningful, bringing warmth to the society, making a difference in others. Along the way there are precious lessons learnt too!

I feel that our presence really mean a lot to the elderly. I heard stories about leexian, go into their house and her first thing to do is to wash toilet! But so far that did not happen to my group at all. The most we did was just to sort out medicine for them, to ensure that they eat the right quantity of each medicine they were given. The rest of the work just lies on talking and laughing, suaning each other and denying that lao jiao still not old yet.. (junhui.... wink wink*) haha. Everytime we visit them, they always seem so happy with a large welcoming smile.

Perhaps the first few visits we go because of friends who are going as well. But subsequently as we build bonds between the elderly, as well as knowing new friends from Touch, leave me no reasons to stop coming to Touch.. hehe.

Please also at the same time treasure your grandparents around you too! =)

Mid autumn festival is coming!!.. will be preparing songs related to the moon (like yue liang dai biao wo de xin).. so please look out for them!..


Jian Cong

Duck Race 07

TOUCH Community Services was one of the beneficiaries of the SCS Duck Race 2007, held last Sunday 9 September 07. As such, some of our volunteers from TOUCH Seniors were down at the Singapore River on that fine Sunday afternoon to help out in manning a booth that TOUCH had set up.

Well, not really afternoon, we came down at 10am in the morning, and our dear lau ban niang was slightly tardy so we had a short morning jog from the MRT station to Singapore River. :-) At the river, the TOUCH volunteers briefed us on what they needed us to do that day. Basically, aside from the race that gives this event its name, there would be stage performances, photo-taking with the giant balloon duck, and funfair booths along the river, giving the whole event a carnival feeling while we waited for the race. TOUCH's booth was a games booth; for a token fee of $2, customers would try to win prizes by shooting down toy soldiers with a rubber-band gun. The guns were well-crafted wooden toy guns, capable of shooting rubber bands over quite long distances, but what impressed me most is that they were made by one of the elderly residents at the TOUCH center. I mean, I can't even tie a knot properly, and he can carve out a whole gun out of wood! I felt so 惭愧! (That's ashamed for our non-Chinese friends:-p)

So anyway, we manned the booth from 10am to 2pm, with occasional breaks in between to take photos with the giant duck, watch couples go and come, take more photos, play our booth games, have lunch, and look for helium balloons. Hmm, I think I'm quite blind, so many people were going around carrying balloons, but I couldn't find where the balloons were appearing from! I never got a balloon throughout the entire thing! So irritating... We became very good at shooting the toy soldiers, and even Jasmine could hit her target once in a while. :p And I made a fool of myself shouting "Two dollars for 5 tries! Got try got win! Sure win something one!" But my repertoire of soliciting phrases ends there. Ya, I know, I'm not cut out to be a fish market stallholder...

At about 1pm, the moment everyone had been waiting for arrived! The duck race is on! Or rather, as I found out to my chagrin, the race and been on for quite some time, and we were just waiting for the ducks to float downriver. We were very lucky, because the finishing point of the race was just in front of our booth. So everyone rushed forward to the riverside to see the sight of hundreds and thousands of yellow ducks being carried by the river towards us. We even managed to catch a picture of the leading duck! :-)

We left Singapore River at 2pm, when people came to take over manning the booth. We were quite tired, but we did have fun at the same time, and we did manage to accomplish something. Look out for the photos soon!

"In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us." - Flora Edwards

We see ourselves as volunteers who help others without expecting or receiving anything in return. But often, life throws lessons at us when we least expect it. Lessons that can help us, like the way we have helped others.

Lesson #1

"If you don't learn to laugh at troubles, you won't have anything to laugh at when you grow old." - Edward W. Howe

Some of the elderly may be suffering from illnesses but yet they take things in their stride and even poke fun at themselves. Mdm Ong is an example of such a person. She laughs at the fact that her amount of medicine is large enough to fill up one entire plastic bag, she laughs at the fact that when she watches tv, all she sees are drama serials portraying patients in hospital, people who are ill like herself. She laughs at herself and her troubles, something we can all learn from. When things go wrong, we often worry too much and yet worrying doesnt change a thing. We should laugh at our mistakes, learn from them and move on. No more unneccessary worrying and certainly no harm with extra laughter!!

Lesson #2

"Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." - Leo Buscaglia

Should there be one day when we feel like volunteeing is taking up time that could be otherwise well spent, remember that sacrificing a few hours of our weekends to make someone's day is worth time spent anywhere else. Every small gesture we make has the potential to make someone's day and ultimately, friendships and relationships formed are those that really matter and those that will stand the test of time.

At the end of the day, seeing the happiness on the elderly's faces is the best gift we can ever ask for in return.

"We can't help everyone, but everyone can help someone." - Dr. Loretta Scott


Kia Boon