Virgin Entry

This is my second visit with Touch Seniors.

I guess being in the Canto group really makes me feel appreciative that I am a Cantonese and I’m glad it helps me a lot during the visit. The day started with the few of us traveling to Block 62, 11th floor to Madam Choi Moi’s home where it was actually my second visit there. I always remember Madam Choi Moi as a humble lady who has a lot of laughter on her face, she giggle like a child every now and then. But sometimes, when you actually take notice of her, you would begin to feel the vulnerability she held towards her hearing which she felt that she is deaf but interestingly, most of the time she could respond to our question. She really has a booming voice and sometimes I wonder what’s the secret behind that voice.

The second visit was at Madam Tham Po (Ok, I’m not so sure how to spell her name) who lives on Block 61, 6th floor. The moment we stepped into her flat, we were overwhelmed by the sticky floor which we knew needed some serious mopping (Woo hoo! My first experience with house-cleaning). She talks a lot about her leg problem which created much inconvenience with her movement. She gives me the feeling that she wanted to go to many places but she just couldn’t. She told us that she fell down in her home recently, and in the process she banged her hand against one of the wall, leading to a serious blue-black on one of the finger. I’m not exactly sure how rubbing her finger with saliva (which she claimed is therapeutic) could help much, but I’m rather concerned about it. Hopefully we can make a trip down the next visit to see how she is doing so far.

Some of us have grandparents, but many times I believed we are all so caught up with life and work we barely take the time to truly know each other. I always feel the need to never take things for granted, at the end of the day we should take some time to reflect what is really precious to us, and put some sincere effort to saying “Thank you” or “How are you doing?” Life is simply not just only about ourselves and how we feel.

I will always remember the smile behind the frail faces of Madamn Choi Moi and Madamn Tham Po which are filled with so much words unspoken.

James

The 2nd visit :)

HI!
so 12 Sept 09 was my second visit and i had fun :D

First, we went to (English)Mr Tan's house. As usual, we waited outside for him to change his shirt and open the door for us. Haha! The funny thing is his shirt was like torn in the middle. I was so tempted to ask him why.. coz i was thinking maybe he didnt have money to buy new clothes or something like that.But in the end, i asked him. yeah. So he said he purposely tore it coz the weather is hot so that he would feel cooler. HAHAHA! so funnY! but so cute!!! only he would think of that! He could have just taken off his shirt right! Haha! so maybe ill get some cool singlets for him to wear so that he wouldnt need to tear up his wardrobe. :D

Next, we went to (i think) Mr Chew's house. Oh it was my first time there. But nonetheless, had fun :D He's a great singer and he gets very engrossed in his singing! So he sang for us and we clapped for him. hhaaha. Hes a very bubbly man and he was happy too! Oh but his house was hot coz the fan broke down. But its okay! we enjoyed his company and he kind of felt sad when we said we need to leave. :(

Lastly, we went to (Chinese) Mr Tan's house. Oh this time, his wife was there! So cute! And i really think they look alike! okay back to Mr Tan's house. Realised that he had this urine bag attached to him. But he was still as happy! :) Yeah. so sat and talked. Then Mrs Tan and Mrs Tan said they didnt have Channel U in their TV. So Han Shao helped him tune Channel U into their TV. Yeah. And they were really happy and grateful! Oh now they can watch Suria too! :D

Overall it was great! Cant wait for the next visit! See you all soon! :D
Vanessa :)

My first time (bogging)

Hi, never thought I will end up bogging but it end up I have to give my first time (bogging) to TOUCH visit. Haha, forgive me if it sound weird

Since this is not my first time visiting so it is ok for me now but seriously, until now I still dun seem to remember all the names of the people around there. Ok, let me start by saying the feeling when I first visited. I have never taken a interest in community work b4 so at that time, this was just another boring event to me recommend by my friends but after the whole thing is finish, I was feeling great but sleepy (not used to sleep early so sleep at 4 the night b4).

Let me continue with the first elderly we visited, when we go there, she warmly invited us into the house and we started to do the chores shortly after that. I was assign to clean the window and seriously, it is the second time I clean a window (not in NS because I always act busy so window is out of my job scope, wahaha) so I would tend to take a longer time compare to those with experience. by the time, I am done with the window, I saw they were fixing back the fan so I just try to offer my help also but the end, the fan dun "behave" so instead of 1 whole fan, we return it in 2 separate parts (1 is the fan itself, another is the blade arm). We even ask other people for help but I not really sure what goes on after that because by that time, I am in the next house le.

Next, when we reach there, the finally location where food will be provided but first, some chores need to be done. She is a fun-loving lady and even joke with us. I even got 2 nicknames, fat guy (in hokkien) and Mr. goat (because my surname is yang, in Chinese, it refer to goat) but I am ok with the nickname because since it is able to bring laughter to the elderly so why not just laugh it out and dun take it too hard. Oh talking about that, I think I should continue to the food le, there are chicken wings and fried noodles, they were good and healthy (chicken without the skin) and I even eat 2 chicken wings. At first, I try to eat the chicken wing with fork and spoon but end up, it is just me thinking too much and finally, I just eat the chicken wing the way I eat at home (by hand).

Overall, I really enjoy my times there, kaisheng aka KS. =)

初体验。。

损友: wah seh...y suddenly you wanna go join csc?
Me: 我人好有爱心不可以吗?
损友: 屁la..少来。。亏心事做太多right?
Me: ya lor..must earn some good karma ma..cause 认识了你之后，是我的不幸lor.

Well...Okie lar..quite lame but then..its something along that line lar..haha..when my friends and i was talking/chitchat (start of sem quite 'zhuo bo') like..what are you doing this sem etc, taking what modules....so 聊着聊着就聊till this topic lor.. (anyway by now you should see that i m really not blogging in 'Standard English' so bear with it lar hor..will definitely come across chinese la hokkien singlish etc one...)

So like wanted to try out how volunteering work is like..so joined csc. Actually was expecting like some 'tough' work maybe in a sense like help to do chores or really help them cause they might be physically too weak to do certain stuff. So when i got there, was quite surprised that the center was closed. (Then what we supposed to do?) In the end, i realised its more to a house to house visit rather than center based that kind lar...So okie lar..but in the end, there wasnt really much of a physical chore for us to do lar...so just talk to the elderly...Quite relax actually...haha or maybe cause new ma..so dont wanna scare you away on first orientation...Haha..Just kidding...

就 canto站左边，hokkien站右边，english chinese站中间...like tat divide liao...Well i can listen to hokkien but lousy in conversing so 就with my friend 站中间 lor...

Went up to Mr Tan's house..Well he is an english speaking so really 'test' my english also sia...so as the group of us chatted with him, 就满funny 的 lor。。cause he's real old lar..n cant reali hear us well..then we asked him like which places he visited before...he said, "Thailand". After which we switched topic already like 'where to you go and cut ur hair'..he replied, "orh...barber from thailand". We were like 'huh?' so kind of 牛头不对马嘴like that...but a guy for his age..and can talk to us for one hour..wah..realli must 佩服him..

Then we went to the second Mr Tan's house.. again not much of chore help up..just talk to him...then listen to his problems like medical fees and learnt more about him.. what he did when he was young etc...was really enjoyable...

So after the session and also during the session quite a lot of tots went thru my mind..Like its beeen really long since i chatted with an elderly for an hour lar...since my grandma passed away...its like..memories of mine... like sat down listen to her stories in hokkien when i was a child so..yup..就想起阿ma...Then erm...at some point of time there's like moments of silence lar..like dont koe what to ask them le..so maybe the atmosphere kind of awkward at those point of time lar...i guess..maybe we can visit more elders lar..like 45min in one household...instead of an hour for one..which i feel abit long lar..cause...not much to chat with them..maybe cause its the first time also...

So..yup...looking forward to the next session!

-ken-

First TOUCH Visit(:

hellloooo to whoever who's reading out there(: i'm huiting and this is my first time blogging here!hope that i wont bore you guys haha!



after arriving at geylang bahru block 61 and making our first round of introductions, we were dispatched to our respective homes!i felt rather excited cuz i can finally put my cantonese to good use (or so i supposed hahaha).first up,we visited mdm chua(: BUT horrors!she speaks hokkien instead of canto!for those who know me well they shoould know that my hokkien is really really bad.like i only know how to say one to ten in hokkein haha.mdm chua warmly invited us to her house and we sat down and chatted with her as there wasnt any much chores to do.she was being really nice and cute as throughout the whole session of interaction,she kept asking us whether we want any drinks haha.like asking us for 4 or 5 times?probably as it was my first home visit,or that my hokkien is really terrible,i was pretty quiet throughout the whole session and only talked to her for like one or two sentences HAHA.the rest of the talking was mostly done by the two seniors attached and jolene had to multi task as a translator as well haha.overall it was a really good experience to be able to know more about mdm chua(:



next up was mdm chow mui!as most of you alrdy know,mdm chow mui is this really vibrant and loud and cute lady!:D haha so as usual, there wasn't any chores for us to do and hence we sat down and chit chatted haha.at first,mdm chow mui spoke hokkien and hence as usual the 2 seniors were doing the talking.but after we spoke to her in canto,she still replied in hokkien even though she said shes a canto haha!only when she started to reply in canto then i began to talk more and chatted quite a bit with her.got to know that she was previously a samsui woman,doesnt really enjoy going down to the centre and interact with the elderly over there as she wants to avoid any possible disputes or arguments,has a daughter who gives her allowance and 2 grandchildren and she'll go and buy e groceries herself.and we were told to guess her age and she said that she was 85.but after looking at her ic then we realized and told her shes actually 88 yrs old!haha.mdm chow mui is really nice to talk to and i told her that i'll see her again!hope that e next time round we can help her more with the household chores!



e last home visit was to this uncle's house.i cant rmbr/dont know his name as we crashed this group and basically just listened to their conversation haha.it was a pretty sad moment when the uncle told us about his son who died of appendicitis at e age of 3,when they sent him to a tcm doctor and subsequently to a hospital but there were no specialist doctors there to save him.and he was also talking about the high medical fees in which he couldnt afford.this has really taught me that we are really blessed and fortunate and hence should really treasure it and be filial to our parents haha.


Last of all, I shall end it off with a picture since I'm quite sure that those who even took e time to read this would be bored to tears hahaha.I wanted to join TOUCH last yr but couldnt make it for e orientation visit and subsequently forgot about it haha.this time round,i'll definitely come back for more!:D


-huiting(:

TOUCH Visit - 08 Aug 09

Yay! 1st Blog post so here goes:

10:30a.m. on 8 Aug this year, armed with unwanted clothes and a dialect-spewing mouth, I arrived at Geylang Bahru, ready to help the elderlies in whatever way I can. Although there were only 2 freshies on that day and it was our 1st time doing TOUCH, we did not feel left out as all the people there were nice and friendly :D. After a brief briefing, all of us went up to the 1st home to visit, only to be chased out as there were too many people in the room haha. We then split into 2 groups to visit different units as the turnout rate was way too good.

1st unit: Mdm Chua
Mdm Chua is a very happy-go-lucky person who had just lost her husband a month ago. I was expecting her to be depressed and emotional but she seemed to be quite strong mentally and i really have to salute her for that. When we arrived in front of the door, Mdm Chua shocked us with the fact that a group of students came yesterday and helped to tidy up the entire house. Oh man no use for my unwanted clothes T_T. Pin Chuan then asked her whether we can come in and have a little chat. She agreed and our talkathon commences.

Luckily for me Mdm Chua speaks Hokkien, which is my dialect, and I was able to talk to her in "half bucket of water" hokkien. She was complaining about all the stuffs that she bought and how much space they are taking up. She also went on to talk about her past and how life is much better now in Geylang Bahru as there were always people and volunteers showering her with care and concern. Words like this make me feel that we are doing something for a good cause and it has a huge impact on the lives of the elderlies.

Throughout the entire conversation, Mdm Chua was constantly asking us if we need any drink or coffee. She then offered to treat us to coffee at the kopitiam downstairs - "I treat, you all pay, haha". Actually I really don't mind going for the coffee as I didn't have much for breakfast but looking at Zhen Xiu's stern face, I realised that it was wrong to do so :P. Mdm Chua also gave us some packets of cold ice lemon tea and white chrysanthemum tea which none of us touch at all. In the end, Pin Chuan told Mdm Chua that we are going to visit the next unit at on the fourth storey. Conincidentally, Mdm Chua and Mdm Cheong already knew each other as they were always playing board games together in the TCS centre so Mdm Chua followed us to the next unit.

2nd unit: Mdm Cheong
Unlike Mdm Chua, Mdm Cheong is more of a quiet and introverted person. She lost her husband 7 years ago and I heard that she was hospitalised due to depression at that time. Time heals all wounds and Mdm Cheong seemed to have gotten over her husband's death. Together with Mdm Chua, we went into Mdm Cheong's house and again no cleaning T_T. I will really like to know which cleaning company the group of students are from.

Mdm Cheong speaks Cantonese and this time round I cant really understand what she was saying. I can only grasp bits and parts out of the mixture of dialects used in her conversation with Mdm Chua. Occasionally she will try to explain what she was saying in Mandarin to us and we would laugh together with them. I still remember Mdm Chua whispering to me that she thought her house was messy but Mdm Cheong's house was even more untidy! Haha they still can't beat me if they compare my house with theirs.

Mdm Cheong was cooking her lunch when we visited her and the smell of spring onions on the steamed fish filled the entire room. I really pity Shi Tien who was sitting beside the fish and he told me the smell was overwhelming over there. She also showed us some of the pretty artworks that she have created and how to write her name in Chinese. She then proceed to write her phone number under her written name and she exchanged numbers with Mdm Chua. Oh so sweet! :) But Mdm Chua was saying that it was quite unnecessary to do so because they see each other everyday haha!

Time really flies when we were having fun. It was already 1 o'clock and we had to leave already. We took a quick photo together and bade farewell to both ladies. All the volunteers then met together downstairs for the debrief where Pin Chuan announced that Chen Hua and him are stepping down and the upcoming chairman and vice chairman. Although we only interacted with the elderlies and never really helped them in their daily chores, it was a fun and fufilling experience for me :D.

From

Mdm Chua on the left and Mdm Cheong on the right

-Jerome

Dear T.H.E. Seniors Volunteers...

YOU ARE WANTED!!!

We require manpower & womanpower to paint TWO homes (a 1-room flat & a 3-room flat). As both units are quite old and very gloomy-looking, the seniors would really appreciate a fresh coat of paint that will certainly brighten up the whole house and also brighten up their moods. It is quite a challenging task (especially for the 3-room flat) but sure to bring great satisfaction and joy upon completion. Really appreciate if you can help us out in this during your June hols.

Anyone keen to take up this painting challenge, please contact Pinchuan, Jolene or myself (6297-5818 or email sac@touch.org.sg). Thank you soooooooo much, in advance!

Huey Ming

Centre staff