First official visit since I got back! ;) Woots!

Hellooo peeps! I am back! :)

This is my first official visit since I got back. It was heartening to see so many volunteers the past two unofficial visits, and even more this Saturday. There were a few old faces and many more new faces this time, so I guess we will all get to know each other better after a few more weeks!

So the first elderly we visited was Mdm Tan. I haven’t seen her for at least 4 months, and I was quite concerned when I saw a moody Mdm Tan opening the gates for us. Probably thankful for Shengxian’s screech when she discovered a cockroach hiding amidst the stack of cloth, for it totally erased the sadness on Mdm Tan’s face haha. And thankfully for Woon Yong the brave soul, who helped eradicate the pest. After the big commotion, Mdm Tan went on to speak about the different types of animals in the zoo, and shared with us the many places she had visited before, such as Kusu Island, Pulau Tekong, Bird Park, Zoo, etc etc. I would say she is rather well-travelled, and would have been much more active if not for her failing eyesight. I guess she does love the outdoors, and we can always try to encourage her to have walks around the neighbourhood under our accompaniment so as to keep herself active and not just confine herself to her flat and the void deck. We also had quite a fun time trying to explain about kangaroos in Australia and the two pandas who have arrived in Singapore recently. While 5 of us tried to crack our brains to think of how to translate ‘panda’ in Hokkien, Mdm Tan suddenly said “熊猫啊？”. Cheyyy, Mdm Tan also knows about it. Haha. Guess we didn’t have to think so hard after all. ;)

After that, we went on to Uncle Lee’s house. Uncle Lee greeted us warmly as usual and offered us drinks. Recently, he has been learning how to sms in Chinese, thanks to 脚酸’s secret hanyu pinyin manual. Lijia also helped Uncle Lee fill in the hanyu pinyin for some additional words that were not in the manual, and honestly, it felt like she was sitting for some primary school Chinese exam hehe. It was really nice to see Uncle Lee being so enthusiastic about learning and embracing the spirit of learning so positively. To practice his newly mastered skill, he SMSes us daily to ask if we have taken our meals, whether we were home, etc, and seeing him improve after each message is really fulfilling. Oh and having done landscaping and flower arranging work in the past, Uncle Lee loves arranging photos in his flat into words. That’s why he constantly requests for photos to be taken and printed, so he can make more collages on his wall. I guess that’s how he keeps himself occupied, especially during the weekends when the SAC is closed.

Lastly, we went on to find Mdm Lim and her 宝贝 cat. She loves talking to the cat because she says it is very tame and it keeps her company whenever she sits downstairs. Honestly I was quite shocked two weeks back when Mdm Lim suddenly called out to me and said “你从澳洲回来了啊？ (in hokkien)”. I didn’t expect that she will remember me, because we rarely visited her in the past, and I thought that she would have forgotten since I was away for so long. I was relieved at that point of time, not that she acknowledged me, but rather, because it meant that our presence had an impact on her. And don’t get me wrong, being a volunteer isn’t about getting acknowledged by your elderly companions, but being acknowledged testifies that there is a bond being built between you and the elderly, and so that they know that there is someone there for them whom they can count on if they need any help.

So, to round up, it was yet another fruitful visit for me. And as 940 always say, every visit is a new story to be uncovered, and I believe it is also a new story to be written. We can learn and discover something new about our elderly and also about ourselves every visit. So do take time to think, what new story have you written this week? ;)

Yinmin