Last Saturday my group first visited Mdm Wong who welcomed us with a jovial disposition. When we presented her with the lantern and mooncake we brought to celebrate the mid autumn festival, she took out another lantern that was given to her earlier and proudly explained to us how to use it. 

We spent time solving lantern riddles with her and had to translate them into Cantonese as she is unable to understand Chinese, the language in which they were originally written in. It was hilarious as we tried to translate it as accurately as possible with our mediocre Cantonese. Mdm Wong was a great sport and put in a lot of effort in deciphering the riddles.

She is also a resourceful person and showed us a bamboo frame she made herself for steaming food out of bamboo poles used to hang clothes; she had to use a knife to chop the bamboo into smaller pieces.

Mdm Wong posing with her mooncake

Homemade steamer bamboo frame

After that, we moved on to visit Mr Wong. However, he complained about a bad backache and was unable to sustain a conversation. Thus we decided to leave early so that he could rest.  As we had some extra time, we also visited Mdm Cheong and spent time conversing with her over mooncakes.

Every Saturday spent with the elderly is a constant reminder of how incredibly gratifying it can be, that a single individual’s dedication at a discrete point in time can have such a simple, direct impact on someone. And I am more than glad to be that vessel.

-Victoria