First official visitation after exams (^.^) 8 Dec 12

It has been 1 month since so many volunteers came together for visitation. I believe all elderly must have missed the volunteers, so do the volunteers missed them. Personally, I missed the elderly especially within last month. How is Mdm Ho? Is there anyone to accompany Mr. Tay to his Saturday Kopi session? How is Mdm Chua and Mr Lin? Are the other elderly doing well? These concerns really make me look forward to the end of the exams, to visit them once again.

Back to yesterday's visitation, our group has 5 members (Bee Siang (from L-derly Befrienders), Yin min, Sheng xian, Li jia and me), and we visited 3 elderly, Mdm Tan, Mr Lee and Mdm Lim. It was a memorable visitation for me till today.

We started off at 11am @ Mdm Tan's house. She was so happy to welcome us into her house, as she said to us that "it has been a while since so many of you came". As you all know, her house is so clean that we barely need to any cleaning at all. However, as it is December, nearing to a new year, all elderly have a same request "Can you help me to clean the windows?". With that we start the day by cleaning the windows and mopping the floor. :)

Cockroach at Mdm Tan's house

When we were about to start the cleaning, a secret guest arrives. Its presence freak sheng xian out! what is it?? A cockroach appears underneath a cloth that we are using for cleaning. She screamed!! Haha everyone was shock even Mdm Lim. After we got the fact that it was a cockroach we all laugh and Mdm Lim was so calm and cool to explain why is there cockroach and how to catch it. We end up using some pesticide to end this faithful event :D.

Moving on, Yin min shared her exchange experience with Mdm Tan. We have a hard time trying to explain what is kangaroo to Mdm Tan. An animal that hops on two legs, size as big as human with a long tail. it have a pouch to carry its baby.... I wonder if Mdm Tan gets the correct picture.

We also asked Mdm Lim how she spends her day at home. She told us that as she cannot see clearly, she usually listen to the radio for news. The news will broadcast at 11.30am in Teochew and 12.30pm in Hokkien. This really leads me to think about my future, now i am using computer to kill time, as i age television will become my partner, we i cannot really see radio will be my companion. Who says that the current technology serve us better? Haha.

When we about to leave, Mdm Tan ask us for a favour to help her red some stuffs. She has some tickets for community centre parties and utility bill. We tried to translate everything into hokkien with our limited capacity, and hopefully it will help.

Next up, we visited Mr Lee aka senior volunteer for block 61. As usual when we step in his house, he show us his new photo collage in the shape of 爱心 and 吟敏. It is so impressive how he arranges his photos with some sequence and able to conduct a tour with his lecture stick he bought. LOL.

After the mini tour he showed us an exercise book inside is filled with a list of chinese words. You must be wondering what he wants us to do with that exercise book. Actually, he wrote down all the words he want to use in SMS but not sure about the han yu ping yin (chinese phonics). Li Jia being so studious, she has no problems with all the words written.

In exchange for he help, Mr Lee conducted a mini lecture (module TC1001- Understanding Teochews)
He taught us the difference between Teochew and hokkien. It was definitely a valuable lesson. So volunteers who have the chance to visit him, and do not know how to teochew or hokkien, can grab the chance to learn!!

Lastly, we visited Mdm Lim, who was at the void deck. She was sitting down resting with a cat by her side. She told us that the cat has a name call "bao bei". It is a male cat that is obedient always sits next to Mdm Lim to take a nap. I believe the presence of the cat keeps her accompany which i feels that it is a good thing to have. It is my first time with Mdm Lim, and she look so cheerful and cute. She waves at us when we came and when we left, so cute right??

Alright, that is about all for the first exciting visitation after exam. To end of the day and this post, here's a photo to motivate us for the next visit. See you guys next week!

What an enjoyable day!! See you all next week!

Woon Yong :D

What's up everyone! Today's visit was a very special one as it is our first official visit in a month (due to our study break). For today's visit, I followed two groups where I visited Mdm Ho and Mr Tay respectively.



For Mdm Ho, we helped her out with the usual cleaning and other household chores. As I was wiping the table, she asked me if I was staying in Bedok. I was really surprised that she managed to remember where different volunteers stay! We were guessing that she has "pin-dropped" each one of our faces onto her "map" in her mind. In addition, she also shared with us stories of what she used to do in the past. We had a long nice chat but when we had to bid goodbye to her, we could sensed that she is a little emotional, which is one of the hardest part for the volunteers, when we need to leave when time is up.



Next, I visited Mr Tay where he was enjoying his usual cup of buttercino with our fellow volunteers. He seems to be very cheerful today and shared with us the things he used to do, such as fishing and learning the 三字经 (Trimetric Classic) in school.


Along the way, I also met other elderly such as Mdm Chua and Mr Lee, where the volunteers and I chatted with them. After the one month break, I am glad that the elderly still remember us and this visit definitely refresh my memories as to why I joined CSC in the first place. All in all, it was a fun-filled visit.

*Meanwhile, special thanks to the volunteers who helped out in the dialect video!

Cheers
Kok Seng

End of Semester 1 AY 12/13!

Today marks the end of our first semester (of lessons) of AY12/13! 

6 official visits..... many volunteers.... and countless precious moments..... 

Time really flies and now, we are moving and loooking forward to our upcoming major outing on 19 Dec 12!

Just want to share my thoughts on what we have done so far. Every official visit might seem very routine... we visit the elderly... help them in their household chores... as well as interacting with them... However, it is through simple things like this that makes us all human... Apart from all the competition and stress we face everyday, it is simple things like this that makes us who we are. We may not notice it but I believe the elderly appreciate our presence, even though we may not speak the same language at times.

Just like some of our modules are graded on a continuous basis, our care and concern shown towards others should not be a one-time event, but instead a consistent display of support towards others. But unlike a module that might have a final exam, there is no end to showing your love. 

There is this time when I was having a project meeting, and one of my group-mate asked me a random question, "Why are you so happy everyday? as in every time I sees you?" Then I answered him, because I am optimistic about life! Haha. There ought to be times when you are down and upset, but that's what makes us human. After a while, you get over feeling upset for yourself. You learned to face your fears and develop a sense of who you really are, so that nothing will ever break you and take that optimism away from you.

Only by being genuine and honest, not only will you TOUCH the HEARTS of ELDERLY SENIORS, but you will TOUCH the HEARTS of EVERYONE SURROUNDING you:)

Kok Seng

Hi everyone! :) It has only been a few days since 10th November but I'm surprised to see that a handful of volunteers have already posted entries about last Saturday's event! Or am I too slow... Haha please forgive me. Anyway, I'm Jia Ai and I'm a new volunteer! 10th Nov was my first visit to this regular project and I just want to share some of my feelings here :) 

Just some background on myself, I'm a year 1 student intending to major in social work and I've always been inclined towards working with the elderly. Thus, I was pretty excited when T.H.E.S finally contacted me regarding the volunteering project! Even though a part of me was filled with uncertainty (since I'm joining sth new afterall...), a larger part of me was really looking forward to interacting with the elderly! :)

My group (consisting of Amirah, Yu Lin, Camy and myself) visited Mdm Cheong and Mr Lee, and it was indeed a good feeling to be greeted with smiles from the elderly when we arrived! When we were at Mdm Cheong's house, we helped with some basic cleaning, did sand art together, and chatted with her. Since she mainly communicated with us via Canto/Malay - both of which I don't understand - I felt a little disappointed that I couldn't really interact with her that day. Nevertheless, I could tell that Camy and Amirah were doing a great job in interacting with her! It was actually comforting enough for me to know that Mdm Cheong was happily giving us tasks to do, trying her best to do the sand art, and sharing her old photographs towards the end of the day :)

When we visited Mr. Lee, he was singing karaoke in his house! Ok maybe not singing, but the music was there. Haha his enthusiasm was felt nearly instantaneously. I read through the recent entries of this blog and I have to agree with shurui that he has this very positive mindset towards life! Also, like what shurui mentioned, he eagerly explained to us the meanings behind this huge collage of photos which he has pasted on his wall! He also told us that he's planning to form two other words - 友情 - on his walls as he takes more pictures along the way, which I feel that it's pretty meaningful :) He's like having some personal art gallery at home, and I know he's proud of it. Haha we also tried to get him to sing but he rejected us.... (And a pity I didn't get to see the numerous toilet rolls and soap bars in his toilet :P)  Anyway, visiting Mr Lee was really interesting cos I didn't face the language barrier and I think he's a really funny guy (sneaking up just when I was sharing about him during the debrief session haha). 

That's roughly my summary of visits to Mdm Cheong's and Mr Lee's houses! Oh and not forgetting the ketupat part. Haha like what kai him said, it was a great challenge for some of us and our elderly might not be interested (like Mdm Cheong who strongly refused to keep the ketupat even though camy has already made for her. I think she prefers deepavali :P). Nevertheless, I feel that it doesn't really matter cos we can always improvise and seek other ways to interact with the elderly instead! Even if it's just chatting :)

All in all, I was really thankful for Saturday's experience. Even though it wasn't my first time interacting with elderly persons, I felt the same level of happiness when I met Mdm Cheong and Mr Lee :) And I certainly hope that I'd be able to get chummier with the elderly as time passes! (hopefully meet famous Mr Tay and his buttercino *shocked* haha!) Cos currently I feel that I haven't completely stepped out of my comfort zone yet. (Maybe need to start learning Canto and Malay already...) More often than not, I ask myself this question, "why am I so inclined towards working with the elderly population?" I love children and I enjoy working with the intellectually disabled, ... After taking out some time to read the past entries of this blog, it dawned upon me that the reason behind why I enjoy interacting with elderly more is because of the way they are so easily neglected. I believe none of us would want to envision ourselves staying in an old folks' home or living in loneliness during old age... (for those who does prefer solitude, I'm not judging haha). But yeah, my point is, I believe majority of us would want to spend our old age with our precious family members - people whom we would have slogged our guts out for at least half of our lifetimes. But the sad thing for some of our elderly is, their family members are not necessarily there for them. And I think that's when volunteers like you really play an important role in their lives :) 

Like what Jocelyn mentioned in her entry about Mr O, I believe that there are also many other elderly persons out there who are not so healthy, and have to go through the tough process of taking countless medications a day and going for countless doctor appointments. That's happening to my grandma currently, and tbh, I feel that it's not something we can control. However, we can always make their days better by being there for them, even if it's just for awhile. In the case of my grandma, she gets really grouchy when no one visits her/when she has to constantly go for check-ups. But she also gets contented very easily when we just bring her out to the nearby supermarket to buy...nothing in particular. Haha she just likes crowds :)

So...yup, just wanna remind everyone (including myself) not to neglect our own elderly grandparents or parents at home too! And to end off, I just want to say that even though I've only recently joined you guys, I can tell that the passion and dedication in you all are like...raging! Hahaha it really surprises me :) And I'm very appreciative of that - Singapore's ageing population has hope! Haha in the meantime, jiayou for finals everyone!

- Jia Ai

Hello kids, it's me again bringing you the next episode of T.H.E.S. visit again! So with me in my group are Jocelyn, Chun Hai, Kai Sheng and 3 NAS students. The NAS students are from Wushu and are here for CIP. So according to Jocelyn, we're to be their da ge ge and da jie jie. Haha.

We were assigned Mdm Chua and Mdm Ho. Unfortunately, Mdm Chua wasn't feeling well and wanted to rest so we visited only Mdm Ho.

Mdm Ho was just discharged from the hospital. She was feeling dizzy last week so she called the ambulance on her own. When we visited her, she looks healthy like her old self except a bit tired. We did the usual things like helping her with household chores, and also sand art and ketupat folding.

So the visit started off with Jeremy teaching the folding of ketupat, which I picked up in no time.

Jeremy teaching how to fold ketupat, Wynne can't believe how easy it was.


Me picking up quickly.


Chun Hai getting stunned by the complexity.


But still, Kai Sheng was the best cause the visit ended before he learned how to fold. And Mdm Ho was scolding him stupid throughout the visit. Haha.

The NAS peeps helping Mdm Ho with the chores.


See how satisfied Mdm Ho is with their work.


After everything we tried to get Mdm Ho interested in sand art, taught by Chun Hai.


Thats all folks, till next time.

-Yi An

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Hello! this saturday was my 4th visit with T.H.E.seniors but i already feel like i fit into this group so comfortaby! it is a great feeling. i feel so at home because of the elderly who let us know that they appreciate our efforts, because of you people's energy and your courage to show your love, in your actions and in your words. it is great to feel connected in such a way (not many people around me are open to expressing their emotions like some of us do, esp for guys haha, im quite rare ;)) i cant say more! this is like the best thing that happened to me in NUS for 3 years and running. i love people, especially like-minded people who see beauty in the simplest of things which the fast-paced world seem to leave behind.

anw enough of going on and on abt this, shall share more about the visit itself! first up, i have to say that generally i thought that the program wasnt very suitable. dont get me wrong, we all all appreciate the efforts by jeremy esp when he had to teach us all how to make the ketupat! it was no easy task. but i felt that it was a great idea to celebrate hari raya + deepavali but maybe the execution wasnt very appropriate. the ketupat was really difficult to make hahhaa im ashamed to say that but it really was evidently complicated for most of us. i think the thing is also that it distracted many of our volunteers from what was the real task, to engage the elderly to take part tgt etc. at least that was the case for my group. much time was used in learning first, then trying to complete it later on. because mdm lim did not show interest in the two forms of program we had, we thought that we would just do it for her ourselves and so the two ngee ann sec boys were very engrossed in completing the sand art work and i felt that the short term aim was not directed well. thats of cos mainly our own fault in failing to engage them. i wish we had done it better! and mdm lim also pointed out that she is sensitive to the sand art and i think that is a very note-worthy point which i already informed jeremy of. because the sand is fine and easily blown by the wind, it might cause respiratory discomfort or even choking etc for our elderly whose bodies do not work as well :(

so yes, mdm lim was the first elderly criss, kok seng, swee fen, the 2 ngee ann sec school boys and i visited. she was not interested in the art work so i started chatting with her instead. and i was SO HAPPY that she spoke cantonese!!! for the first few visits i had mostly visited hokkien speaking elderly and had no chance to use my only talent: canto! hahaha. i felt bad i talked to her a lot in canto cos that excluded the rest from the convo most of the time but im still glad that i felt that i was able to engage her personally. she talked about her usual habits of coming downstairs to cui cui feng which i really agreed. she also said that if we couldnt find her downstairs at the block or at her hse den she would be away as sometimes her neighbours invited her to their house to sit sit and chit chat. i also fully encouraged her to do so. but in the convo i felt that she didnt really like to talk about herself or felt that she didnt have much to talk about with others, and she said she would just sit and listen to her friends talk. she also complained about her heart problems. she take medicine three times a day. and when she had heart ache she was to immediately put a pill in her mouth. i dunno the name of the medicine but those are common medications for heart problems etc. she said some disheartening things that went along the line of being sick is horrible she would rather not be around :( struck me quite badly because i dunno how to comfort her. but all i could do was to say, dont say such things, and to give a small little pat and gesture on her arms to show a little love and concern. we were trying to engage her to share some stories with us, but as previously she didnt have much to tell. maybe her past wasnt as exciting as she hoped it was. maybe she had some sad events that she did not want to recall. i dunno. she also said that she couldnt speak a lot because it gets tiring sometimes, and i could vaguely hear her louder and more forceful breathing. so, i told her next time, i'd visit her and i'd do the talking! everytime we expect and want them to talk to us, to share their history, ideals etc. i actually wonder how interested they will be in our own life story! not as exciting, but next time i would share with mdm lim some small little happenings in my life as well. friendship works both ways doesnt it. perhaps you all could think about it and try it too. sometimes the elderly get tired of talking so much in one shot esp if they do not talk a lot normally, one day use up one week's quota. we could do more talking, instead of asking all the time! and as i had to break the news that we had to leave to see mdm tan, i felt a tinge of sadness. in her eyes i saw a lil loneliness, a lil gratefulness, but all i could do was to hold her hand and give her a smile, and hope that she feels my sincerity. i hope to talk to her again very very soon (:

next we visited mdm tan. i had been to her place on my first visit and remembered her to be extremely cute! adorable she was, no doubt. the contagious giggling! as usual the place was so clean but we still mopped the floor. oh there is a hole in one of her pails! :( any ideas on how to sort this out? and since i cant speak hokkien, i could only sit and listen to criss and kok seng's conversations with her. i love how adorable our two ladies were. and i wish i could converse in hokkien! starting to learn more actively now :D after mdm tan talked for a period of time, she choked a bit probably due to some flam or something. which again leads us to the same point. as we love to hear them speak, their bodies feel tired much faster than us and we have to remember that. since she cant see well, she cant remember people and can only personally remember a few of the older volunteers! we should build an "identity" with the elderly so that they can rmbr us better, and we would be able to connect and build our friendship even better! and before we left, we also held her hand and said see you in our own ways.

i think some people go through the motion of shaking hands, to holding hands, to giving a hug, to giving a pat on the back. but to me, it means so much more. this short period of physical contact is actually a transmission of emotions, of love, and shows how much you care for the other party. the next time u do so, do not do it hurriedly. slow down, look at the other party in the eye and feel the connection as your hands touch. believe that the exchange of care and concern will reach both parties, and i promise you it will. holding the hands of the elderly, i feel no less love and emotions than holding the hand of my partner, if not more.

and since the last time gillian shared her story about her visiting her grandparents more after joining our program, i also had a thing for it. my grandma lives right above me (hdb) but due to her determination not to "bother" us we dont even have meals tgt and she lives alone. i dont see her frequently and even when i do at gatherings, we dont talk a lot because she would be talking more to my parents/uncle/auntie and me talking to my siblings/cousins. last week i could leave school early on wednesday (once in a long time) and i eagerly went home early to visit her. it is a different experience all tgt as i feel i have much more patience and much more interest in her stories etc. loves. for us who have the blessings of having grandparents around, i hope we can show a bit more love and concern and give them our love. also as lijia rightfully reminded us: our parents deserve so much more of our time.

i know i am a very naggy person, and i have digressed a lot. and i know that long essays dont work as well as short ones with good organisation. however, i also know that at least a handful of you will be reading my post word for word hehe so i 'm not worried, and i hope that i have brought some new insights to you guys as well (:

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kai him

Hello everyone!

Ms VM is finally blogging!!! After such a long time (: Just a background about myself…I actually entered T.H.E.S close to August/September this year , despite how old I look *cries* Being an inactive volunteer for much of my Year 1, I can safely say that I was more than happy and grateful, to have that volunteering spark reignited in me. And for that I give my thanks to Remy and Criss for pulling me into this family…and of course, our elderly..What made me stay after the first official visit was none other than Mr Tay himself. Come to think of it, my first visit was to T.H.E.S’ dumpling festival celebration where I met all the elderly (some of which are not under our visitation list) and the impression they left was a deep one, with their happy faces and spontaneity to the MCs’ questions. I was also ultra-touched to receive the VM gift which was a handmade rice dumpling keychain. Still have it till today :’) because it serves as a reminder to myself to put my heart in my work.

I know I don’t express much gratitude on the social platform in general. But I am, deep down, really relieved and jubilant that this batch of newcomers (with a mixture of senior year and junior year students) has given me a sense of security that T.H.E.S and our elderly would be in very safe hands. Not only to this motivated bunch of volunteers (new and old), our dear seniors taking time off their weekends to help out with our visitations never fails to make me feel more secure and safe. So thank you, thank you all for always backing us up (:

I really, really hope that while we constantly derive joy from our own volunteering experience, this spark can be passed on to others as well...because only then can our elderly be receiving a constant stream of care and concern which is self-enhancing through one batch inspiring the next <3 nbsp="nbsp">

SO back to our visit which took place on the awesome date of 10/11/12!

There are actually two parts to my day! :D 

The first actually begun at 9.30am where Rui Fang, Yu Lin and I did facilitation! Knocking on the doors of the elderly and making sure that it was okay to visit is actually something that I enjoy doing more than picking up volunteers from the train station :P  It’s like saying good morning to them and giving them something to look forward to with our volunteers coming to visit within a few hours’ time. At times, some elderly require a little “push” for them to say yes to us visiting (: Facilitation allows us to do that, and it also allows me to get a good feel of how our elderly are doing, and I can make changes to the manpower allocation accordingly.

The second part comes when you guys make your way down to TOUCH center!!! I’m always damn very excited and happy to see our volunteers strolling into the void deck XD IT MAKES ME REALLY HAPPY CAUSE PEOPLE ARE COMING!!!!! And so I take attendance and try to chop chop send you angels to the elderly ^^

Today I allocated myself to visit Mdm Cheng and Mr Tan with Pei Jen, Woon Yong and Jeraldine together with 2 newcomers from Ngee Ann Secondary (: I was hoping that they’ll have a good time with us, not sure if they did at the end of the day…but super glad I found pei jen, woon yong and jeraldine thoroughly enjoying the process of guiding our elderly through the making of ketupat and sand-art :B

Mrs Tan wasn’t around when we visited so we guided Mr Tan along. He liked the end product a lot and was eager to put it up somewhere in his house as decoration xD So glad they liked what our Programmes cell came up with ^^ 

Our newcomer engrossed in making Ketupat

Mr Tan!!! 

 He shared stories of how he met Mrs Tan and turns out, they met through a common friend and she was working as a seamstress at a factory in the past. When asked how he felt when he first met his missus, he said:

“灵魂颠倒”

Hahahaha it was such a great experience listening to him going on about how they used to frequent Queenstown bowling center and movie theatre, also, Princess and 大世界！Like zomg. Cos all these places are sorta defunct already. I also learnt from him about the importance of health, cause he says they don't paktor much now due to deteriorating health :'(

And because most of us had our eyes glued on the TV show showing footage of animals gone wild, he brought in the topic of a circus in Singapore in the past! Like a cool O.O We then moved on to talking about Japanese Occupation in Singapore and the cruelty of the soldiers from the past. Like placing humans into the fridge to freeze them and sawing the human ice cubes after ><

We then visited Mdm Cheng who resides at Blk72! For those who have yet to visit her, she’s a keen and quiet lady who’s one of our newer beneficiaries! She converses in Mandarin mainly which is a language she picks up from watching Channel 8 drama serials! She handles herself very well by making adjustments such that it’s easy for her to move around on her wheelchair. She’s very ready to answer our questions, but to me, there’s always a quiet sadness lingering around her because of her husband’s recent passing. The sewing machine which stands at the doorway is an object which is dear to her, left behind by him. Really hope that we can be with her as much as we can :/

Due to her deteriorating eyesight, she watched us as we did sand-art for her and held easy conversations. We managed to clean the windows for her which she requested since a few weeks ago. Her favourite colour is red! So our floral pattern was filled with a lot of pink patches heh. Like Mr Tan, she loved the art piece a lot and wanted to keep them to show her friends visiting her next week =)

Our product :D

A mandatory tutorial for self-shots

Jeradine, Mdm Cheng and I

I know that this is a really long post that I’ve churned out hahahaha so thank you, if you managed to last till the end here =) It’s funny how easy it was to type out 1000plus word document on my Saturday at T.H.E.S relative to churning out an equivalent word-count on microbes.

At the end of this all, I just want to say Thank You All once again for making Semester 1 such a memorable one. Thank you all for the teasing and cooperation during visits, and turning up week after week after week :’) It’s not time to bid goodbye forever yet, but it is, goodbye for this semester as everyone turns their attention to studying. So all the best to everyone for your exams, please work hard and have a well-deserved rest afterwards. 

I’m really sure our elderly would be looking forward to our outing on 21^st December 2012!!! (((((:

Chop yall for that date ah! 

T.H.E.S forever <3 font="font">