10 MAY 回家走走

Hello!!!!!!! 

It has been a long long time since I last blogged. Good to be back! I really miss the elderly alot :'( It always feels comfortable and good to be back, to see all the new faces and of course to have short catch up with the old ones. I was grouped with Jiemin and we were assigned to visit Mdm C.M. and Mdm T.A.K.

We went to visit Mdm T.A.K. first. We swept and mopped her floor while talking to her. Topics covered were: jia ba buay(if she has eaten), whether the food was nice, the hot weather and how bathing just doesn't help, her broom bristles are coming out and littering her floor, Mothers' day celebration by TOUCH, how she prefer to fan herself rather than using electronic fan AND SHE REMEMBERED how I screamed and scared her when I saw a cockroach after lifting up a cloth. She was like ,"Oh it was you!" I still remembered how I scared her and other volunteers. But it was a natural reaction :p Whenever I see the tap at the elderly's house, I would laugh to myself. The special design of the tap only leave you with two scenarios: 1) you fill the pail with water 2) you make your back wet because you turned on the shower accidentally. Because the second scenario had occurred to me too frequently, I would instinctively move aside whenever I on the tap XD. After we were done with the chores, we sat down and ask if she remembered going to 新世界 last time. Her eyes lighted up at that topic=) She remembered she always went there to 看大戏 and shop for clothes. She said there were plenty of food stalls also, especially the yong tau foo stall which only charges 10 cents for 3 ingredients! She said in the past there were so many roadside stalls that she was able to shop from Kallang to Chinatown with her friends when they were not working. I really loved how enthusiastic she was when she was telling us all these=')

Next we visited Mdm C.M. AS usual we laughed first before talking. She looked more alert today as compared to the last time I saw her(yayyyyy!!!). But her memory is really failing. She tend to forget where she put her keys and had to search for it. I think she needs encouragement from us whenever this happens because she would to call herself "siao" when she couldn't remember where she left her keys. She taught us how to people-watch and was beaming with pride when we praised her about her cactus. When we asked her if she remembered about 新世界, she said she do! But forgot what she did over there. I am really thankful for Mdm C.M.
It must be scary to keep forgetting about things, to forget the people around you. But she never let all these
fears stop her from smiling. Her smile is still as infectious and cute. Thank Mdm C.M. For being so brave
and such an inspiration!

Sheng Xian

Last Saturday, Jeraldine, Jiamin and I visited Mdm Chow and Mdm Cheng :D

Mdm Chow is still as cute as the last time I saw her, with her signature smile. Jeraldine was the only one who was able to communicate with her with the limited hokkien that she knows and inevitably there were some silent pauses here and there during our conversations. However, whenever we look into her eyes without saying anything, she would return the gaze with a really really bright smile and we would tell her that she's very swee. She said that she is already over her 90s, how can she be swee but during our interaction I really can't help but notice over and over again the beauty she exudes with that genuine bright smile of hers.

We saw the santa hat laying around, made her wear it and took selfies and polaroids (which we left on her fridge door). These are photos of her being amused with the pompom (which has been in her house for quite a while) and trying to straighten the strands of the pompom very seriously (how cute!! :D).

When we were leaving, she stood by her door waving goodbye to us until we were out of sight. This scene makes me a little sad inside because seeing her thin arm waving down the dark corridor reminds me of how she would once again be alone after we leave :< This makes me really want to commit to coming for THES every Saturday whenever I can because I see that we really can make a difference and bring a little more happiness to them with our company.

Next, we visited Mdm Cheng next and helped to change her bedsheet. Mdm Cheng can speak chinese so Jiamin and I were able to contribute more to the conversation directly haha :) It is really comfortable talking to Mdm Cheng. She told her about her kampong days and family. We also managed to see Mdm Cheng being quite excited trying to play with her neighbour's dog, Doudou, when it passed by her door :D

Just like the other visits, this visit made me reflect quite a bit.

Happy New Year everyone! May the elderly have a healthy and happy year ahead too :D

- Mei Na :)

Last Saturday, Janice Jeremy and I visited Madam Ho. It was my first time volunteering with T.H.E Seniors and I was armed with expectations that we may have to help the elderly with their chores and talk to them. I was actually more apprehensive about the latter-that there will be a communication barrier as I cannot speak any of the Chinese dialect (although I can count 1 to 10 in Canto :D).

Fortunately Mdm Ho was a bit of a polyglot (we were told she could speak Eng Mandarin Canto, although predominantly Hokkien). As she had some difficulty with her mobility, we helped her with some simple household chores like the sweeping and mopping of her apartment, and the cleaning of her bathroom floor. There were some initial hiccups- we accidentally used the “dry mop” as the “wet mop”. On hindsight, we realize that it might have been better if we had checked with her beforehand. But it's okay, an honest mistake. We know now ^^

Mdm Ho also shared with us stories about her grandchildren and also the sharp pain she have been having behind her ear. I only realized the details of conversation after the visit when Janice translated it for me- but I was really struck by the expressions on her face during the chat. The grimace on her face when she was describing the intermittent pain she felt, and how the medications were not doing much for it. But also the smile on her face when she was sharing her stories…asking after the other volunteers who had visited in the past, gossiping hehe.

All in all, I think this was quite a great first visit for me. I have so much to learn especially when it comes to understanding each of the elderly better. And I also look forward to future visits, can brush up on my dialect eh heh. 

Oh and happy new 2014! ^^

-Jacy

T.H.E Seniors - Geylang Bahru

On the 28th dec, I went for my first house visit and we went to Mdm Khadijah's unit. I was expecting to help with some household chores prior to going there. But Mdm Khadijah's house was actually very clean and tidied up. We spent our time talking to her. She shared with us her personal stories and things that she liked and enjoyed. She likes monkeys and pandas and was telling us that she would like to visit the Zoo again, although she had gone to the Zoo several times before.

She was also telling us about her upcoming medical appointments and that she will be accompanied by volunteers. Towards the end of our meeting she told us that she liked to eat longans, but preferred to eat Papayas for dietary reasons. Victoria went down to buy for her Papayas and Longans and Mdm Khadija was very happy for it.

I am happy that I was able to spend time with her. It was a pleasant experience and I am looking forward to future sessions!
-Kali Charan

hi, I am posting about my visit to uncle lin on 9 nov, which was a few weeks back, sorry for the late(and short) post :P

When we visited uncle lin, he was having his meal before going off to an appointment. We chatted with him most of the time. I remember that even though we ask him to have his meal while we chatted with him, he still concentrated on talking to us which made me feel a bit guilty for interrupting his meal. It felt that he was happy to chat with us.  This made me feel that our visit is really appreciated by the elderly as much of the time they are alone on the apartment.

-song han

Last Saturday, my group (Hui Jia, Eileen and I) visited 2 friends, Mdm Goh and Mdm Tan. We went over some simple house chores and chatted with them for a while before ending each of their respective session. Both elderlies are bubbly and cheery which made my day and this is what I look forward to whenever there is a visit.

The visit to Mdm Tan place was more memorable. Not just because I accidentally destroyed her mop due to overexertion of strength :P ( cheese I am still guilty bout that), but also how much it lifted her mood when we are around her interacting with her. It was the kind of emotions that make our weekly visit mroe worthwhile. It is also very heartwarming to hear that neighbours has been helping out with one another when they need each other the most. Apparently, Mrs Tan was helped by the malay neighbours across her house in times of need. Now that's what I would call the Kampong spirit.

I realised that quality time has been wasted if no communication and interaction was made. This made me more motivated to do more to improve the relationships around me. Looking back, I have lost quality time and friendship because I have not followed up. The experience at Mdm Tan house has reminded me that people are not to be taken for granted and time and effort are needed to keep relationships going, so if friends suddenly receive a text from I, please do not treat me as a weirdo. With this, it is going to be the end of the year. 2013 was a great experience for me in THES and I hope it would be a better one ahead in 2014 J. Happy new year !!!

- Edwin

Hihi everyone (:
Yi'an here and I'm here to blog about my visit to Mdm Ho and Mr Ong which happened many weeks back o.o so pardon me if I'm leaving out many details and thank you if this post benefits you in any way (:

On that fateful Saturday Mr Ong was not home, so I stayed with Mdm Ho through the entire duration of visitation time. Kai Him's group was standing in for me before I arrived and they helped with much of the chores till they left for their own duties (thankyouuu hehe). I proceeded on to mop for Mdm Ho and it was actually my first time helping her with her chores, despite my presence for the past one year (?). You wouldn't expect an elderly to remember, but Mdm Ho did, and I guess it really shows how much attention she pays to each and every one of our volunteers coming in and out of her house every time. I chatted with her about random stuff, her kids, life in geylang bahru with my group mate which happens to be Criss and only Criss hahaha.

We've not been back for long, but I guess at the end of the day we were glad to have made the decision to revisit our elderly here. Seeing lots and lots of new faces around and I guess it made me miss the old faces for a bit. So.....heh hope our lovely existing crew keeps up their good work and wishing everyone a HAPPY 2014 to come ^^

Yi'an