Hi everyone!

Since Vanessa and I are in the same group, I’ll share about our visit to kam po’s house and Van will share her thoughts on our visit to Madam Cheong’s house :)

We first visited kam po and helped her cleaned her house. She was in a pleasant and cheerful mood and invited us to sit down and talk to her. Unfortunately only Hui Ting in our group could speak Cantonese so she had to talk to kam po for most of our time there. The rest of us sat at one side and could only understand some parts. Hui Ting was telling kam po about her family’s wanton business and most of us could understand the word wanton so we guessed that they were talking about food and that’s about all since our understanding was minimal :) I guess I’ve got to learn Cantonese so I can better communicate with the elder generation. That’s all and here’s a quote to end off~ “I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.” By Edmund Everett Hale

Have a good day ahead!

:D

One of the elderly my group visited was Mdm cheong.
She is very nice and courteous. We helped her to clean her windows and mop the floor. We also tried to pick up a conversation with her. Then, she told us about her late daughter and even showed us pictures of her and her daughter. We were afraid that she would feel sad and start tearing when she started talking about her daughter and all the things she has done with her. However, she seemed to have accepted the fact that it has happened and moved on with life. Mdm cheong also commented that she is really happy living there as she has lots of friends to keep her company.

Life is short. let's treasure those around us and make the most out of the time we have.


“Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself.”
George Bernard Shaw

see you all soon :D


Vanessa

Double experiences for me on the 22nd may. Being it is my first time being a facilitator, going around knocking the doors. And knowing more elderly from the canto group. Merely knocking the doors got me excited in the morning, because I have never been assigned such task. It’s an experience gained. And from it, I realize I should really go brush up my dialect so that I can communicate with those elderly as most of them speak dialect.

I’ve never been in the canto group before. Having watching some Hongkong dramas do help, sometimes one can get to learn and listen, and know what the conversation was about. We visited Madam Chua, coping with the language barrier over there was fine as she speaks Hokkien. As usual, helping her with housechores, sat down and talk to her. She’s very caring, keep asking us to drink water but we just keep rejecting. I can remember her keep saying she is “lo shuo”; naggy. I think when one ages, what she need is a company and a person to listen to her, one should bear with it when talking to any elderly. Heard from the senior volunteer that often she may look optimistic, but deep inside her heart, she’s still grieving and got upset easily especially when she is alone. She misses her husband a lot as she was rather attached with her husband when he is around. She spoke to us about her granddaughter and family. One will not feel good when she speaks about her grand-daughter. I guess no one would know what will happen next. Unpredictable. We should always live life to the fullest. (:

Second visiting to Madam Cheong, a pro supervisor, giving and guiding us the housechores to do. She will always treat the volunteers drinks after every visiting to her house. I remembered receiving packet drink from her. A small action like this is valueless; it’s her way of expressing ‘thank u’ to the volunteers. Appreciate it though it’s just a drink.

Third visiting, Madam is a very friendly cheerful elderly. When she gets shy, she will cover up her face with her hands. Quite adorable. Both Hui Ting and Wynne did the talking. It’s like canto vs hokkien. The conversation was funny with the mixture of canto and hokkien. She has poor listening, we need to speak to her in a louder volume. She may look petite, but she can speak really loud.

That's all for the visit!!(: Drink more water and take great care of ourselves ya. The weather is scorching hot...

Pei Jen(:

22 May Visit!!!

Yo, I'm supposed to write a blog entry for last saturday's (22 May) visit!

1st place: Mdm Lim Ah Neo
She's feeling kinda depressed, cuz she had a fever the night before. Although her fever has subsided in the morning, she was still feeling a bit of discomfort. She shared with me how she cleared the fever by drinking a bottle of cold Yakult and then a packet of cold Soya Bean drink!

2nd place: Mr Tan (not Johnny)
My first time visiting him. Very friendly uncle. He's suffering from a prostate disorder. He likes watching TV and spends a lot of time doing that. When we were at his house, he was watching 'Zhong Yi Da Ge Da". He knows quite some bits on Mandopop idols!

3rd place: Mdm Tan
She requested that we help her with her house cleaning on alternate visits. We spent quite some time talking about her life experiences. She went through a lot of hardship in her various jobs when she was young. She told us that she was really happy that the town council has allowed her to stay in her current flat.

4th place: Mdm Lim Chuey
She 'complained' why we came to her house so late. I think next time we have to arrange our visit to her house between 11-12pm! We did the usual cleaning of chairs, windows and floors. Jerome did a very impressive job of wiping the chairs squeaky clean!

By Ah Hua

Hi guys!! I guess I should start with an introduction abt myself! =) I'm Wen Hui, a new volunteer with you guys =) but I'm from NTU. hahas. I have been staring at this page for super long!! (Still can't escape from blogging) =X Pardon me if this post is boring cause I'm not really good with words =(

Okay, I gave my first time to you guys ! LOL. My first volunteering experience. =) The day started with Mr Johnny Tan's home. Honestly, I’m impressed with his fluency in English language. He shared with me about his past experience though I couldn’t really make out what he was trying to say at times but I love his facial expressions when he was speaking. He looked so sincere about sharing his experience with us. It was REALLY warm that day yet he rotated the fan towards us. I'm touched with this little action of his because it reflects his appreciation towards us. <3

Next was a visit to Mr Chew's home and lastly Mdm Tan's home. Mdm Tan greeted us at the door with a warm smile =) We did some cleaning for her. I love the way she smile and talk to us, it really made me feels good about what I am doing.

Simple things that we do for a short duration could really help someone in need and bring smiles onto their face. I love this feeling of giving and making a difference. Thanks to you guys for opening the door to this wonderful experience! <3

-Wen Hui-

Overwhelmed with enthusiasm, smiles, and gratitude

Enthusiasm. It was really a wonderful experience last saturday to begin with. Totally overwhelmed by the elders' enthusiasm for the event. Their radiant smiles, warm greetings, and jovial laughter did hyped up the whole atmosphere thoroughout the entire event. Not forgetting the volunteers as well, the responses were spontaneous and totally awesome I would say.

Smiles. I could not recall a moment that I had failed to capture the smiles on the faces of the elderly. They were always there; ever ready for my camera to flash at. Never daunted by the humidity and the blazing sun, elderly and volunteers should be applauded for their perseverance in completing the walk.

Gratitute. Having said that, though many were tired after the walk, their spirits did not seem to dampen at all. Smiles, slight nods, and waving goodbyes were their forms of expression of gratitude to us; and arguably the most sincere and heart felt. Last by not least, I am really grateful for the volunteers who came down last saturday, and to my friends in Touch Seniors as well, thanks for making it possible and successful!

-All the best for your revision!- -ken-

Henderson Waves Outing

Hello to all !!! Last saturday was a good day for a walk in the park and CSC did just that, bringing the elderly from Henderson Waves to HortPark.

The whole journey covered many slopes but we can see that the elderly were generally very happy and enjoyed the whole process. As for myself, I was taking care of the old lady who was more than 80 years. Whoa, that is an impressive age, and I wonder what I'll be when I'm her age ( i.e. if I have the fortune of living to that ripe old age. )

From the conversation, I can tell that she is very proud of her grandchildren, one of which is going to graduate from some overseas uni this year. This set me thinking, our grandparents are actually proud of our achievements, even though a uni degree may be something that we take for granted. Hence, we ought to be grateful for whatever we have, especially when our family are rooting and supporting us without expecting any payback.

I think most people nowadays are not very close to their grandparents. This is sad, as they are a vast source of knowledge and experience. True, they may not have studied much, but they know how to appreciate kindness which greatly touched me. When the volunteers offered them cakes and biscuits, they insisted to share them with us, even though we declined profusely. And from their expression and gestures, it is apparent that they are very happy and grateful about the whole trip.

Initially, I had apprehensions about how to break the ice and talk to them. But I soon realised what matters is not the language, but the heart and thought that matters. As long as we are sincere about making their day, we will naturally click and the conversation will just flow. And it definitely helps that the walk goes through nature which makes everyone feels light-hearted with the fresh air and nice scenery surrounding us.

Lastly, I would like to end this post with this video. This is a Hokkien song by this Taiwanese singer: 蕭煌奇. This song was written for his grandmother whom he was very close to and which he was overseas when she died, hence he couldn't appear by her deathbed.

Enjoy the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an8kaGjzeKs&feature=PlayList&p=2035EFC9FE564410&playnext_from=PL&playnext=6&index=5

Signed:

Huixiang