5th Mar: Second Visit!

It was my second time visiting the elderly under T.H.E.S. yesterday! I was grouped with Clement and Kok Seng and we were assigned to visit Mr W. followed by Mr T.

We first bought Mr W his breakfast and bread at his request! Had a short chat with him at the door and he updated us on his health condition and visits to the hospital before he had to go and rest. Although it was only for a short while, it felt nice to provide a listening ear and show concern in whatever little ways we could. Also it was a good chance for me to get to know a new elderly uncle under this program haha.

Next, we went to fetch Mr T and brought him down for his usual coffee time at the kopitiam. My ability to speak Hokkien is horrible so most of the time I was only able to listen to him talk but could barely even respond to him :( Nonetheless it was really encouraging and nice being around Mr T because he’s such a cheerful and lively uncle! He was probably in a good mood yesterday and I really enjoyed listening to the stories he shared with us.

One thing I noticed about Mr T is his ability to remember and recognize many of the volunteers with the nicknames he gave for almost everyone of us! And it wasn’t just about remembering their nicknames but he’ll also make references to which home countries some volunteers are from, how many months they have before graduation and where they are working after graduation. I just think it’s really cute that he can remember so many of us because even our own volunteers weren't able to remember and identify everyone whom he talked about hahaha. And it says a lot about how he really appreciates us for what we do, and how much us volunteers mean to him because otherwise I think he wouldn't bother remembering these little details about us.

Another thing that struck me while listening to Mr T is the importance of not overpromising stuff to these elderly. While Mr T was talking about some of the volunteers, he also shared about the things certain volunteer(s) promised him that he was clearly looking forward to. As much as I know it might be instinctive at times or that it’s a good way to make them happy and more hopeful, I just feel that anything we promise (with or w/out much thought) may actually mean much more to the elderly than we think. I also hope that whatever Mr T's looking forward to will really come true so that he won't be kept waiting or left feeling disappointed at the end.

Okay yup that’s about all for today’s visit. As for what I learnt so far from the visits, I think that I really need to brush up on my Hokkien so I will stop feeling so verbally handicapped in future visits haha, and I also look forward to knowing more of the elderly especially the Chinese-speaking ones so I can chat with them about more things instead of just saying “mm”, “ah”, “eh sai”. ^^

- Ying Jun