21st of July was my second time visiting the elderly with T.H.E Seniors. On this session, we made visits to Mdn Chua, Mdn Cheong and Mr Tay. Mdn Chua and Mr Tay were familiars as I had visited them on my first time here; nonetheless, the experience was different. Mdn Chua was nursing a cold she contracted just 1 day ago when we visited her house. We swept and mopped the floor and wiped the windows clean. After some time chatting to her, I saw a side of her I had never seen before. She took out the stack of poker cards that one of the volunteers had given her as a gift and played card games which involved only one player. It may not seem much but we really have to take our hats off to her as her reaction time was at times faster than us in the game. It made me think about what she often says which roughly translates to: when people grow old, they become useless. Looking at her, I wanted to tell her that it really isn’t true. They may be limited in their movements and reaction times, but as long as their minds, bodies and spirits are still fighting on in life, they aren’t useless at all. 

We visited Mdn Cheong next and for the first time, I scrubbed a toilet clean. Our group jokingly mentioned Mdn Cheong as “The Commander” before entering her house. But while being directed to do work, I could see that none of us were doing the chores begrudgingly. I don’t enjoy cleaning toilets in general and this experience made me reflect upon how volunteers challenge their own limits in small ways through their volunteering experience. In a way, volunteering not only changes the lives of the beneficiaries but also does well to the joy bringers. My volunteering experience changed my lives in the smallest aspects but they mean something to me. I thought about how I lost the passion for giving to society and I’m glad I found it back (: 


Our last household for the day was Mr Tay and he was in a lot of pain as he had taken ill recently. We brought him out of the house to get some fresh air and collected his letters for him from the mailbox. He was very stressed out by the bills even though they were waived by the government due to the financial package given out in lieu with The Budget this year. We tried to reassure his fears of being unable to afford his daily expenses but he still seemed depressed. I hope the upcoming event can bring a smile to his face. On the other hand, I was relieved and happy to find out that Mdn Cheong runs errands on his behalf such as buying of bread. I remember on my first visit, Mr Tay mentioned that he had no interaction with the neighbors as he can’t see and hence cannot converse with them. Such help extended to Mr Tay signal a gradual integration into the neighborhood to me as a bystander.


Sorry for the wordy post guys! I’ve been enjoying myself at each T.H.E visit and I thank everyone for welcoming me into your volunteer network (: 


 Yi'an

My First Experience with T.H.E.Seniors (21 July 2012)

Hello my name is Ann (: Although I have volunteered before, this is my first time with T.H.E. Seniors and visiting the elderly in Geylang Bahru in Blocks 61 and 62. My compassion for the elderly led me to write my thesis on how they cope with growing old in their living environments in Singapore. Then I realized that in writing about them, I need to understand them as well, and the best way to do so is to volunteer, so that I can know and meet their needs both in writing and in action. (:

Last Saturday, 21 July 2012, together with Yin Min, Yi An, Shawn, Yingcong and Jaclyn, my group visited 3 elders, namely Mr Lim, Mdm Choi Moi and Mdm Tan.

1. Mr Lim

First we went to visit Mr Lim. Mr Lim was watching television on his reclining chair just in front of the television set when we arrived. His house was very neat and tidy, and the radio was turned on as well, and the mood in the house was bright and positive.

Mr Lim is a very cheerful and positive person. It is evident that he has built a close and sincere friendship with this group of volunteers, as he looked really happy to see our faces. We proceeded with cleaning up the house.

After which we sat down to have a chat with him for some time. Mr Lim constantly mentioned about one of the organizations that helped him to move his old stuff away, and gave his house a new coat of paint, and how his house looks clean and how the white walls are very nice. I can see that he was really touched by such a gesture, and according to one of the volunteers, the walls of his flat used to be black in colour, and this lighter colour actually lifted his spirits and brightened up the house. The television set was given to Mr Lim by the organization as well, and he says that he enjoys watching ‘angmoh’ news (the television was turned to Channel Newsasia)! That made me very happy. Mr Lim also talked about how he manages to save electricity because he only uses his lights or electric appliances when he needs, and mostly at night.

Recently, he went to the hospital as he could not breathe well, and although he feels much better now, he has around 7 types of medicine that he needs to eat. But the medicine looked very scary to him (and it looked scary to me as well), and since he collected it from the pharmacist, not his doctor, he doubts its authenticity. I felt really sad – although I knew that the medicine would help him, but his fear of eating so many different types of medicine especially without any understanding of them was justified and I didn’t want him to feel afraid. Thankfully, Yin Min explained that each medicine had a purpose, and it was to help certain areas of his body to recover. Although still in doubt, he looked convinced that he should start eating some of them.

Someone came to deliver food to Mr Lim, and it was heart-warming to see that his neighbours/friends in the same block care about each other and help one another.

After chatting for a while more, we had to leave for the next house. Mr Lim said that he was very thankful that we came to visit him and helped to clean his house each week, and this makes him very happy. I was so amazed that how little we actually did meant so much to him. Also, I felt that the knowledge gap between the doctor and the patient should be bridged, as it is worrying if a patient does not choose to eat the medication prescribed because of a lack of knowledge about its benefits. This visit also enlightened me about the problems and troubles that these seniors faced.

2. Mdm Choi Moi

Then, we went to visit Mdm Choi Moi. Mdm Choi Moi is a very bright and cheery lady with a smile on her face most of the time, especially if you make eye contact with her, and she likes to joke as well. As her house was rather tidy, we sat down to have a chat with her.

She took out two photo albums to show us while we chatted with her, and most of them were taken at TOUCH gatherings or pictures taken with friends. When we asked her about the places she visited, she could not remember them, but she remembered the people that she spent time with which were important to her.

Mdm Choi Moi was not wearing her hearing aid but she seemed to be able to pick out words that we were saying and could hold a conversation with us. I was shocked to know that she was 91, as she was very mobile and could walk around without the aid of a walking stick and could manage cooking (she cooked her own lunch) and even heard us very well. She said she liked to walk around in her flat and she could people watch from her window which made her very happy. She laughs a lot, which made me very happy too. She explained that she preferred not to go down and take walks as if she falls down, she would not have anyone to call for help or depend on, so she decided to people watch from her and walk around her flat, and I felt that it was a smart measure that she took to protect herself.

We also read a newspaper article that dated back to 1998 where her picture was featured, and although it says that she wanted a radio, Mdm Choi Moi never got one. She has a television now though.

3. Mdm Tan

Then, we went to visit Mdm Tan. She is a nice lady with a calm outlook, and it was evident that she had a close relationship with the volunteers as well. Her house was generally neat and tidy. We cleaned and tidied up her house and started chatting with her after.

One of the volunteers informed me that she had cataracts in her eye and so she could not see clearly. After chatting with Mdm Tan, I realized that she had an unpleasant and upsetting experience after her surgery on one of her eyes, as the condition of her eye did not improve and she felt unwell after the surgery. This caused her to lose confidence in doctors and thus she did not seek further treatment after that.

Although she could not see us very well, she recognized some of the volunteers by their voice, and when we spoke to her, she directed her attention to the source of the voice. She was still having her cough despite taking many different types of medications, and we decided to get Pi Pa Gao for her so that perhaps it might soothe her throat. We also told her about the upcoming National Day Celebration event and asked her join in the activity. 

This experience last Saturday left me feeling bittersweet – although it was meaningful that we can make a difference in their lives; sometimes what we do might not change their situation, we can only do so much, listen and feedback to the authorities, and that disheartens me. But what matters is the relationship formed and that is invaluable.

-Ann :)
(PS. Yinmin we miss you!)

7 July '12 Visit

The floor is dirty. My toes rub themselves together. We ask if we can clean his house, as always. Only this time, Mr Chiu brings out a long contraption of a cylinder.

“Other volunteers gave me a new mop, and I don’t know how to use it,” he says, his Mandarin slow.

This gets us in a tizzy; we hunker down, attack the un-formed mop.  It is clear why he has problems rigging it up - it's a new-fangled mop where the head spins itself dry. The Moving Parts and Locking Switch take us a while to assemble.


It looks a little like the one in the video below:

Mr Chiu takes a stool next to us. The way he’s seated, looking down at these white-teed volunteers helping him with his mop on a slow, warm, Saturday morning, I can’t catch the look on his face. I think it for the better.

Floor swept, mopped; window grilles wiped. He sings. Gets out his songbook. Our songbook. I hum along to tunes I know. He doesn’t sing very much.

“No music,” he explains.

I move to get the CDs and stereo I know is sitting at the corner of the bookshelf.

“It’s not working,” SX says helpfully. I haven’t been visiting in a while.

Mdm Chow Moi’s floor is clean(er). Never have we been allowed to clean her house, nor have we needed to. Today she is her same cheery self.

We like her. The petite lady’s big toothless smile helps. Her selective hearing too. Feigned or otherwise, it acts up at the most inopportune points in conversation, drawing laughs and sometimes resigned changes of topic. It is a lucky day if we can catch her with her hearing aid on; it isn’t her favourite of things.

It’s drizzling out. We cajole her into letting us shut the window nearest to her bed, neatly made.

An article she had kept, with familiar words.
Walking Round Her One-room Flat - Hobby since the '90s.
Photo credit Facebook.

Two volunteers have left for other matters by the time we arrive at Mdm Ho’s. Hers is our last stop for this visit. The place doesn’t smell as much of her potty today.

Taking turns with conversation and the chores are the remaining two of us.

Excited about her recent GST Voucher, she fishes it out, happy to receive more benefits because of her age group. But the chatter turns to her mortality. A year on, I’m still not as deft as I would like. She continues. Thanks us. Asks about T.H.E.S’ other volunteers.

She remembers.

“They can’t come. They’re busy today,” I say, more than once. Suddenly she’s concerned that her chores haven’t been too tough on us lot of volunteers. They haven’t.

She shows me a photo of a Valentine’s Day celebration we had held for them earlier in the year. They love our outings and celebrations. I’m not the most active of committee members, but I’m glad to have had several chances to think Today was great, and I helped this happen. The greatest sense of satisfaction, though, belongs to Yi An and Wynne, whose initiative gets things moving every time.

Mdm Ho offers us packet drinks from her fridge. One compartment up, in the freezer, is the potong ice-cream she keeps for her occasional cravings. Her other indulgence is smoking – I’ve only ever seen her at it once, it’s bad for her and she knows it, and she calls it tau jiak (literally “eating secretly”).

I know more about our elderly than on the day I started volunteering with T.H.E. Seniors a year ago. Besides looking to put my clumsy dialect to more frequent use, I was interested in their stories. I envisioned them to be wizened veterans, old hands at life. What kind of hard-won lessons could I get them to share? This young ‘un was truly curious.

Today my dialect is, regrettably, nowhere near proficient. And while these guys talk frequently about the past, they live in the present tense, with present-day problems, in one-room flats where bedbugs can hide in cracks in the paint and accost them in their sleep.

Sealing cracks in the paint at Mr Tan's.
Original post here.

I learnt that they can have a second-floor apartment but need help buying lunch from the coffeeshop one storey down (Mdm Ho).

I learnt that sight can be such a problem we have to read letters out (Mdm Tan).

And others just plain need help cleaning up (shall keep his/her identity secret for now).

As a student, as a fresh graduate, as an employee, it’s inevitable our priorities change. Many times we find a Saturday morning (or Friday night) can be spent more efficiently or comfortably - my own attendance is far from stellar, and more than a few times I’ve had to drag myself from bed. But if you find yourself wishing for a more meaningful way to spend 3 hours of your Saturday, you know where to head to.

For here is a place where you can make a difference, dialect pro or no, domestic god(dess) or no.

One of our fellow voices!
See other Voices of CSC.

Pheng Heong
I was visiting with: Ying Cong, Sheng Xian, Chun Hai

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7 July Visit

Today my group was assigned to visit Mr. Tay and Mdm Chua.

Starting off with Mr. Tay, this is the first time I am visiting him, and one important thing to note is that he has lost his sight. We entered his house and I noticed there were quite a number of big vases all around. His house was generally clean, thus there wasn’t any cleaning for us to do, and all he requested for was to go down and have a cup of coffee. I find it really amazing that for someone who is sightless, he can maneuver around the house without breaking any of the vases.

Off we go to the coffeeshop, and guess what, he has a habit of drinking coffee with 3 slices of butter added in it. So why coffee + butter? Well, we found out from him that this will help clear the intestines. We also noticed he has a cut on his left hand, and while Criss (our medic) wants to help tend to his wound, he refuses to let us do so.

As we accompany him at the coffeeshop, conversing with him, I think we all noticed that often he looks to be very sad, lowering his head in silence sometimes.

Overall my impression of Mr. Tay is that he is a very friendly and sincere person.

As for Mdm Chua, no cleaning was needed also, and so we just spent our time chatting with her, listening to her talking about her past, how she have changed, and how much she appreciate TOUCH center for taking care of the elderly. It is nice to see that she is looking much happier today.

(Something extra) After being a part of T.H.E.S. for nearly a year, I find it really interesting to see the various lives of the elderly. Sometimes seeing the problems the elderly faced, it gave me a clearer reality of I will and may be facing many years down the road, and so I think it gave rise to a purpose of how I am able to contribute to helping them whenever I have the time. Also, I am glad to know that a simple conversation is enough to make their days brighter, and so it is for me.

Soon after a few visit I decided to try being a part of T.H.E.S. committee, as I never really take part in any organizing role before, so I thought it will be a fresh experience. Truthfully I don’t think I have contribute much, but it was fun to be part of the committee, attending meeting, and seeing how much work everyone put in just to ensure all the activities work out, more importantly, having both the elderly and volunteers will leave with a smile after every outings/celebrations. Personally I enjoy the most when making volunteers’ gifts, haha, as doing all the handicrafts is really enjoyable.

Overall I think I have benefits from being a part of the committee, especially being able to learn from Yi An and Wynne on how they plan and execute all the meetings.

For the past 10-11 months, though I may not be there most of the time, but whenever I have the time to be there for the visits, it has always been a rewarding one :)

Sorry for the chunk of text, haha, see everyone again at the next visit!

Eng Soon

My invaluable first experience with THE seniors

Hello, my name is CHAUR ANN and the visit on 7th June 2012 marks my first step at volunteerism. Initially  I did sign up for CSC as I am interested in offering a helping hand to those in need. However, I place too much emphasis on studies for the past one year as i tried to get accustomed to the new environment after army. it is not until now that i finally join my friends, Jeremy Tay and Criss Ang, in helping out for the elderly. And well, here I am as I hope i can brighten their days as much as they did for me within that short few hours:)

Of course, I didnt know what I got myself into for my first visit. My group (Wynne, Camy, Jeremy, Yixiu). 

and I went to visit 3 elderly that day -Mdm Cheong, Mr Tan and Mdm Tan. Despite a short interaction with Mdm Cheong-- because i had to leave for another activity and she is the only elderly I had interaction with-- I find that it is quite meaningful. Mdm Cheong is quite friendly and nice to us, and we all feel cheerful even though we are helping with her chores like mopping and cleaning the windows. Through this short visit, i find out that there are still many elderly in Singapore who are still very much in need of help. Unlike us having living in 3 or 4 room flats, they only had a small unit of their own, a place they can barely walk around, which they call home. Because of their considerable age, they may face difficulties doing things we deemed easy, and i feel that it is only right that we try to do what we can to help them out. 


This may be my first experience participating in such activities, but im pretty sure that it is not my last. I hope that i can get to see more elderly and help them out to the best of my ability. I wish to be close to them, understand their thinking, and be friends if thats even possible. I hope there will be more surprises awaiting for me to discover as i continue this fruitful and meaningful journey


To infinity and beyond, 
CHAUR ANN signing off =D 

Visit on 7th July 2012

Hello!

My group (Wynne, Camy, Jeremy, Chaurann) and I went to visit 3 elderly today - Mdm Cheong, Mr Tan and Mdm Tan.

We went to visit Mdm Cheong first. As usual, she told us where and who to clean the different things in her house. We mopped the floor, cleaned the windows and chairs, and also cleaned the door and window of her toilet. Her gate was recently painted blue so we didn't need to help her clean that. She still looked cheery and strong:)

Next we went to Mr Tan's house. His wife was in as well. They asked us to remove the cloth and plastic wrapping on the 4 black rollers of the cupboard they had near the door as there were many dead bed bugs in them. They were saying that the bed bugs love to hide in such places as they are black in color. After removing the cloth and plastic wrappings, Mr Tan equipped himself with a face mask and baygon (or whatever that spray he used to kill the bed bug is called) and got ready for BATTLE!.... WITH THE ROLLERS! Lol joking. He basically sprayed the rollers with that baygon thingy before we helped him wrap the rollers up with plastic and LOADS and LOADS of tape. Heard from his wife that she got the plastic from an event where she and Mr Tan invited to go for. The cutleries for the food were placed in these plastic bags so they collected 4 and took them home for this very purpose! Haha shes so resourcefulXD She was telling us that she likes to collect alot of such things as she said you never know when you may need them:D Their bed bug problem seem to be solved as we do not see any bed bugs running around. But that could also be because they had the bed bug killing people coming to their house 2 times that week. We will know if the bed bugs is completely removed when we visit their house the following week. Hopefully they are all removed:) They also received a new bed, a clothes closet, a fan and 2 new chairs if I remember correctly. Hopefully with these new things and the old things thrown out the bed bugs will no longer be in their house:)) We stayed for a while longer to watch tv with them before heading over to Mdm Tan's house.

Mdm Tan had recovered from her cough just that during the visit she did feel that her throat occasionally got itchy causing her to cough. We advised her to drink small sips of water whenever she felt the itch. We helped her to mop the floor and cleaned her fridge. Camy was tasked to clean her fan and like a pro she dismantled it, cleaned it up and and fixed it back again:D

That's all!:D

Signing off
Yixiu