Hi guys!! Being a new volunteer, I’m here to share my experience with the THES seniors! Last week, I went to visit Mdm T.A.K and Mdm C.Y.L together with the other newer volunteers Pei Yi and Jun Yang. It is a little disappointing that we are only able to spend one hour with each beneficiary because I was already kind of used to dedicating 2 hours with each of them.

Mdm T was as cheerful as always, she always seem to love our company. We help her with the mopping of the floor and the cleaning of the windows. This is my second time visiting her and I realized that these are the weekly household chores that us volunteers do for her. Mdm T has poor eyesight and she can barely make out what is in front of her so I’m amazed that she can still keep her house clean by herself, with the exception of us having to mop the floor for her. As we were cleaning we tried our best to strike a conversation with her. She can only speak Hokkien so the 3 of us, who are not fluent in Hokkien, struggle to hold a proper conversation with her. But as usual, she laughs it off and finds it pretty amusing that we are making an effort to converse with her. I really hope that there will be a workshop held for us to improve on our dialects!

The last time I visited her 2 weeks ago, one of the volunteers from another organization has given her a bottle of honey barbequed sauce. While explaining to her what it is used for, we noticed that the expiry date of the sauce is in a month’s time so we have adviced her to throw it away one it expires just in case it turns bad. While cleaning up the place, I chanced upon the opened bottle of sauce and asked her if she had tried it. She told us that she used it on chicken meat but she finds it abit too sweet for her liking. Apparently she finds it a waste to dump the sauce once it expires so she’s trying to use as much as she can before throwing it away.

We also helped her to look through her letters, which mostly consist of flyers. She seems keen about the advertisements and asks us what promotions are available. This time, she also showed us the Pioneer Generation package she received from the government. She requested us to help her check which of the clinics around her area has subsidies so she was pleased to know that the one she frequents is included inside.

Mdm T told us that she does not go out very often due to her disability to see clearly, hence it is inconvenient for her to travel far or to new places. She would be unfamiliar with her surroundings, which made her fearful actually. But she will be quite bored to be at home all day since she does not even have a television to watch, as she is unable to see, nor is she able to understand Chinese either.  I have offered to take her down for walks once again, but she declined my offer, saying that she do not wish to trouble others and become a burden. But I have never once thought that bringing the elderly around would be troublesome so I hope Mdm T can be a little more selfish and allow us to bring her down more often. She does seem to know that we have another beneficiary to tend to so she kept telling us to go and help out the other elderly instead.

After we left Mdm T’s home we went ahead to visit Mdm C. This is the first visit for all three of us so I thought that it will be awkward for all of us. But we manage to warm up with her quickly. Mdm C is very friendly and she noticed that we are all newcomers to her home. She only wanted us to do some simple cleaning of the windows. I wanted to offer more help seeing that she is wheelchair bound so she would probably have problems cleaning her house but she insisted that she is fine.

Later we sat down to chat and we soon started talking about language barriers between youths and the elderly, which brings us to the topic of asking her to be our Cantonese teacher! She taught us some phrases that we are keen to learn, and I made an effort to jolt down what we learn into my phone’s notes so that I can show off a little to my grandma. Mdm C seems quite keen to teach us but it’s hard to learn so much in a short span of time so we had to make do with the few standard phrases for now.

I found out that Mdm C is a smoker when I asked her about the ash tray on the coffee table. And initially I thought that it belongs to the tenant that is staying with her! Apparently Mdm C used to be an avid smoker who cannot survive without 2 packets of cigarettes a day, but now she does not smoke as much, which is quite a relief. She told us about how she bought tobacco leaves from the market now and rolls them in a piece of paper to make her own cigar because it is cheaper than buying a packet.

As we are leaving, Mdm C told us to drop by again when we are free. Even though we are all newcomers, Mdm C likes having us around. This leaves a deep impression on me as I realized that these beneficiaries really enjoy our company and look forward to our visits every week. And they actually remember us well! I remember Mdm T commenting that she can recognize my voice because I have visited her before. It makes me want to visit them regularly because despite their age, they will remember each and every one of us thus I feel that they will surely be sad if we stopped visiting them one day. And it certainly makes my heart ache because I’m only able to visit the elderly once every 2 weeks

But what’s for sure is that I will definitely treasure every visit that I go for and keep every moment spent with the elderly locked in my heart J   

Lynn ^-^

Firsts

24th May was my first visit with T.H.E.S. During the visit, we visited Mdm C. My group comprised of Lily and 3 newcomers including myself.  It seemed like Mdm C was expecting us as she had already planned what she wanted us to help her with. She even prepared rags that she wanted us to use. It was my first time having such close interaction with elderly, other than my own grandparents of course and honestly, I wasn’t very comfortable at first. I mentally crafted some topics or questions to break the ice and to start some conversations with Mdm C. It took me quite a while to even think of a question. However, in the midst of trying hard to consolidate my thoughts and plan what to say, I saw that Lily, a much more experienced volunteer had already engaged her in a conversation and within minutes, all of us were laughing along with Mdm C’s responses. I could see that Mdm C was very happy to converse with Lily and share her stories. It was then that I realized, at times, it is not about how perfectly constructed your sentences or questions are that will determine how a conversation would turn out.

I am sure that the elderly would never care or judge if you spoke in broken strings of Dialect or Mandarin but rather, what they want to feel is the sincerity you have and whether or not you are genuinely interested in what they can share with you.  Simple topics like asking Mdm C how to cook certain dishes or complementing how she looked in the photos of her in her younger days was more than sufficient to keep her smiling throughout the entire session.

I am truly inspired by many of the volunteers and the great lengths they would go to make sure that the elderly are happy. I was also blessed by one of the elderly who had prepared a birthday cake to celebrate the birthday of one of the volunteers. He has so much to give with the little he had and I really have so much to learn from all of them.

Regine 

10 MAY 回家走走

Hello!!!!!!! 

It has been a long long time since I last blogged. Good to be back! I really miss the elderly alot :'( It always feels comfortable and good to be back, to see all the new faces and of course to have short catch up with the old ones. I was grouped with Jiemin and we were assigned to visit Mdm C.M. and Mdm T.A.K.

We went to visit Mdm T.A.K. first. We swept and mopped her floor while talking to her. Topics covered were: jia ba buay(if she has eaten), whether the food was nice, the hot weather and how bathing just doesn't help, her broom bristles are coming out and littering her floor, Mothers' day celebration by TOUCH, how she prefer to fan herself rather than using electronic fan AND SHE REMEMBERED how I screamed and scared her when I saw a cockroach after lifting up a cloth. She was like ,"Oh it was you!" I still remembered how I scared her and other volunteers. But it was a natural reaction :p Whenever I see the tap at the elderly's house, I would laugh to myself. The special design of the tap only leave you with two scenarios: 1) you fill the pail with water 2) you make your back wet because you turned on the shower accidentally. Because the second scenario had occurred to me too frequently, I would instinctively move aside whenever I on the tap XD. After we were done with the chores, we sat down and ask if she remembered going to 新世界 last time. Her eyes lighted up at that topic=) She remembered she always went there to 看大戏 and shop for clothes. She said there were plenty of food stalls also, especially the yong tau foo stall which only charges 10 cents for 3 ingredients! She said in the past there were so many roadside stalls that she was able to shop from Kallang to Chinatown with her friends when they were not working. I really loved how enthusiastic she was when she was telling us all these=')

Next we visited Mdm C.M. AS usual we laughed first before talking. She looked more alert today as compared to the last time I saw her(yayyyyy!!!). But her memory is really failing. She tend to forget where she put her keys and had to search for it. I think she needs encouragement from us whenever this happens because she would to call herself "siao" when she couldn't remember where she left her keys. She taught us how to people-watch and was beaming with pride when we praised her about her cactus. When we asked her if she remembered about 新世界, she said she do! But forgot what she did over there. I am really thankful for Mdm C.M.
It must be scary to keep forgetting about things, to forget the people around you. But she never let all these
fears stop her from smiling. Her smile is still as infectious and cute. Thank Mdm C.M. For being so brave
and such an inspiration!

Sheng Xian

Last Saturday, Jeraldine, Jiamin and I visited Mdm Chow and Mdm Cheng :D

Mdm Chow is still as cute as the last time I saw her, with her signature smile. Jeraldine was the only one who was able to communicate with her with the limited hokkien that she knows and inevitably there were some silent pauses here and there during our conversations. However, whenever we look into her eyes without saying anything, she would return the gaze with a really really bright smile and we would tell her that she's very swee. She said that she is already over her 90s, how can she be swee but during our interaction I really can't help but notice over and over again the beauty she exudes with that genuine bright smile of hers.

We saw the santa hat laying around, made her wear it and took selfies and polaroids (which we left on her fridge door). These are photos of her being amused with the pompom (which has been in her house for quite a while) and trying to straighten the strands of the pompom very seriously (how cute!! :D).

When we were leaving, she stood by her door waving goodbye to us until we were out of sight. This scene makes me a little sad inside because seeing her thin arm waving down the dark corridor reminds me of how she would once again be alone after we leave :< This makes me really want to commit to coming for THES every Saturday whenever I can because I see that we really can make a difference and bring a little more happiness to them with our company.

Next, we visited Mdm Cheng next and helped to change her bedsheet. Mdm Cheng can speak chinese so Jiamin and I were able to contribute more to the conversation directly haha :) It is really comfortable talking to Mdm Cheng. She told her about her kampong days and family. We also managed to see Mdm Cheng being quite excited trying to play with her neighbour's dog, Doudou, when it passed by her door :D

Just like the other visits, this visit made me reflect quite a bit.

Happy New Year everyone! May the elderly have a healthy and happy year ahead too :D

- Mei Na :)

Last Saturday, Janice Jeremy and I visited Madam Ho. It was my first time volunteering with T.H.E Seniors and I was armed with expectations that we may have to help the elderly with their chores and talk to them. I was actually more apprehensive about the latter-that there will be a communication barrier as I cannot speak any of the Chinese dialect (although I can count 1 to 10 in Canto :D).

Fortunately Mdm Ho was a bit of a polyglot (we were told she could speak Eng Mandarin Canto, although predominantly Hokkien). As she had some difficulty with her mobility, we helped her with some simple household chores like the sweeping and mopping of her apartment, and the cleaning of her bathroom floor. There were some initial hiccups- we accidentally used the “dry mop” as the “wet mop”. On hindsight, we realize that it might have been better if we had checked with her beforehand. But it's okay, an honest mistake. We know now ^^

Mdm Ho also shared with us stories about her grandchildren and also the sharp pain she have been having behind her ear. I only realized the details of conversation after the visit when Janice translated it for me- but I was really struck by the expressions on her face during the chat. The grimace on her face when she was describing the intermittent pain she felt, and how the medications were not doing much for it. But also the smile on her face when she was sharing her stories…asking after the other volunteers who had visited in the past, gossiping hehe.

All in all, I think this was quite a great first visit for me. I have so much to learn especially when it comes to understanding each of the elderly better. And I also look forward to future visits, can brush up on my dialect eh heh. 

Oh and happy new 2014! ^^

-Jacy

T.H.E Seniors - Geylang Bahru

On the 28th dec, I went for my first house visit and we went to Mdm Khadijah's unit. I was expecting to help with some household chores prior to going there. But Mdm Khadijah's house was actually very clean and tidied up. We spent our time talking to her. She shared with us her personal stories and things that she liked and enjoyed. She likes monkeys and pandas and was telling us that she would like to visit the Zoo again, although she had gone to the Zoo several times before.

She was also telling us about her upcoming medical appointments and that she will be accompanied by volunteers. Towards the end of our meeting she told us that she liked to eat longans, but preferred to eat Papayas for dietary reasons. Victoria went down to buy for her Papayas and Longans and Mdm Khadija was very happy for it.

I am happy that I was able to spend time with her. It was a pleasant experience and I am looking forward to future sessions!
-Kali Charan

hi, I am posting about my visit to uncle lin on 9 nov, which was a few weeks back, sorry for the late(and short) post :P

When we visited uncle lin, he was having his meal before going off to an appointment. We chatted with him most of the time. I remember that even though we ask him to have his meal while we chatted with him, he still concentrated on talking to us which made me feel a bit guilty for interrupting his meal. It felt that he was happy to chat with us.  This made me feel that our visit is really appreciated by the elderly as much of the time they are alone on the apartment.

-song han