My visit on 3 October 2015

Hi guys! This is my 3rd session on 3 October, along with Vernon and Vina, we made two house visit to Mr and Mrs L as well as Mdm C. We visited Mr and Mrs L first and we were shocked when we saw Mrs L holding a plastic bag full of medicine. She explained that as they are old and full of different illness, they need to eat medicine to control their it. My initial thought was how does they remember which medicine they need to eat since most medicine requires different dosage and perhaps at different timing. I was also worried how they are able to afford so many medicine which I believe will be expensive. Fortunately, it seems that the government provides a sizeable amount of subsidies which helped them a lot. We talked to them about their health, medicine, health and about their past (like how they met each other and get married!). Mr L is wheelchair bounded and so Mrs L who is already near 70 years old still need to travel very far to work in order to support the family as well as her much older mother at around 90 years old. I admired her strength and determination!

After that, we visited Mdm C. She is near 90 years old but her mind is still pretty alert. Moreover, not only can she speak Dialect, she can also spend fluent Chinese and is currently learning basic English words from the volunteers. Mdm C now understands a few english words and is keen to learn more, this really shows the spirit of Lifelong Learning! She have difficulties walking and thus sit in a wheelchair. However, she told us that she will do basic exercise daily! She will do both hand and leg exercise in the morning so as to keep fit. From our conversation, I realised that she is elated to have people come by, talk to her or bring her around the nearby market and learning new English words. I think other than just basic necessity, people also requires companionship in order to live happily.

I believe we can all learn from the spirit shown by them. Personally, I learnt a lot from their stories and experiences they shared with me.

Thank you for reading.

- kevin

My second visit on 3/10/15

Hey guys! It's my first blog post here and I'm really thankful for this second round of wonderful visiting experience with both Vernon and Kevin. This time round, I'm glad to have made two visits in the morning, namely to Mr and Mrs Lim, as well as Mdm C places. Our first visit was to Mr and Mrs Lim's house, and to be honest, i was pretty worried as I was still new to this and was afraid that I'll have difficulty communicating with both Mr and Mrs L. However, Mrs L's gesture proved otherwise as she greeted us warmly upon our arrival! I was taken aback when I saw the big bag of medications that Mrs L had on her lap as she searched through the packets inside. The first thought that came to my mind was to think how arduous it would be for her to wake up to dosage and dosage of pills every single day..Mr and Mrs L then had us seated down and naturally the conversation started with the types of medication that she's taking. Mrs L shared how she have realised the importance of diet and reminded us to eat healthy as and when possible so that we won't face the same health issues in the future. As we went on to talk about food, Mr L got really interested and recommended us some of the good food around the estate, and what I found really cute was how Mr L repeatedly emphasised on the need to put vinegar when eating Lor Mee!!! We could tell Mr L really loves eating many of the local delights. However, it's pretty sad to see how he has to cut down on most of his food choices intake as he has a strict diet to follow due to his health condition. Mrs L have it all well taken care of as she shared with us how she usually take care of Mr L's meals everyday. She puts in time to prepare home cooked meals when time allows, just so Mr L gets the adequate amount of nutrients and vitamins. Seeing how much Mrs L has put all her love for Mr L into actions really warms my heart as I could see the amount of sacrifices that she has made just to make sure Mr L is in good hands, based solely on the one hour that we were with them. I guess this is what love has no boundaries really means. The fact being able to be someone you love through sickness and health, and doing anything for him wholeheartedly and expecting nothing in return.

After bidding goodbye to both Mr and Mrs L, we went on to our next visit to Mdm C's place. We helped ourselves into the house as Mdm C had difficulty moving around the house. Mdm C is another friendly lady as she immediately offered us seats right after we went in. Vernon then went on to ask if there's anything he could help her do and Mdm C was more than glad as she kindly accepted his offer. As Kevin and I sat down to talk to her, we learned how strong and independent Mdm C is as she shared stories of her past with us. Age may be catching up with her but Mdm C's great positivity and mental resilience has got to be one of the few that I've seen thus far. Despite all setbacks, Mdm C still finds joy in everything she does in her life, even simple pleasures such as taking a walk in her vicinity and visiting the morning markets in the weekend mornings. Hearing how Mdm C faces everyday positively got me thinking how we've greatly neglected some of the simplest pleasures in life and also how life can be easily fulfilling if we face everyday with an open heart and start cherishing what is given to us. Happy people wake up feeling grateful :) That's all I have for this week! Thank you for reading.

Cheers,
Vina

Visit to Mr and Mrs L and Mdm C!

      Hi everyone, it's been a long time since I last posted here! This week, along with Vina and Kevin, we visited Mr and Mrs L. We don't usually get to see Mrs L at home because she needs to work on saturdays occasionally, but this week she was at home. My first question for Mrs L was whether she wanted us to help her with her housework. I know that Mrs L is the main caregiver in the household due to Mr L's conditions, and she usually does the housework after she returned from work, so I thought it could be a good break for her if we do the housework for her instead on Saturdays. However, her response surprised me because she insisted that she can do the housework herself. So we sat down and began talking to her and Mr L. Through our conversations with Mrs L, I noticed that Mrs L is someone who have her complaints and I can sense the fatigue in their tone when she talks about her daily life. But despite all these, she told us that she wants to continue working although she is reaching the retirement age because she will feel very uneasy if she stops being active.

      When the going gets tough, the easy response for a lot of people, especially people of our generation (who grew up in an era where ideas like "You Only Live Once" and the pursue for "freedom", "choices" are overly romanticised at times) is to run away or blame someone else for our problems. We sometimes start thinking that life is the one that lets you down. Not for Mrs L. Maybe at times she will feel tired and weighed down by unexpected happenings or circumstances but the point is, she never stops facing them. I can almost hear Mrs L's mental attitude telling life to "Just Bring It!". And that is something we all can learn from Mrs L.

      After visiting Mr and Mrs L, we then moved on to visit Mdm C. Mdm C is another strong lady whom we can learn a lot from. For those of you who don't know, she was a Malaysian and due to some family issues, she packed her bag and took a train to Singapore alone. She was only around 20 years old at that time. She shared with us that she went back 12 years later to visit her family. But she returned not with the intention to go back to the comforts of her family, but purely out of concern and see if her family was doing well. She later came back to Singapore and carried on with her life here. Till today, even though Mdm C is wheelchair-bound, she never stops learning, and she is learning the English language from Kai Him, who appeared halfway through the visit to give Mdm C some fruits that he bought and also to give her a mini pop-quiz on English. For the record, Mdm C knows how to pronounce English words like "Handsome", "pretty", "watermelon" and alot more.

     After the visit, I also visited Mdm H at the nursing home. She is doing fine at the nursing home and still being the boss that she has always been despite being 90 years old this year. It's evident from the way she teased the nurses at the nursing home by asking random questions in English, One example would be how she hurled a random question "Saturday never go out ah?" to a young nurse who was just passing by. All these strong elderly ladies never fail to amaze me.

      As volunteers, we get to see a lot of people in need of help. The knee jerk reactions that people tend to have nowadays is to help them more with their housework; give out more welfare items; give more medical subsidies; give more money to these people; see the doctor, get more medicine and the list goes on and on. But I urge you to stop for a while and think about this, do they really need all these? Sometimes we forgot that maybe after all what a person really needs is just emotional support and most importantly, our dignity and sense of self-worth.

      A human (regardless of whether you are male/female/young/old/with physical or mental disability/poor/rich) is stronger than you think. And that applies to every single one of us too. No matter what you're going through now at work or in school, just remember to keep going :) Jia you everyone for the busy period ahead :)

-Vernon

nokia 6100

Uncle O tried to ask us if we could help to set his 6100 to chinese. This was because he was afraid that if he was in hospital, someone might lay their eyes and hands on his samsung smart phone while he was asleep. But eventually we did not change for him as that required the transfer of sim card etc that might not be easy to execute on his own for that matter.

That was the state of his mind at the moment. A few weeks after I last visited him, he looked notably more restless, tired today. His body had taken a toll no thanks to the surgery, treatment, and probably the most significantly - numerous blood samples nurses had to take from him daily. But i was glad that amongst all this he was still able to converse with us pretty well, energetic enough to chat and able to take care of himself on his own. He mentioned that he was able to eat well and had porridge plus chee cheong fun x2 this morning! it certainly was a bright spot out of this uncomfortable period for him.

Here's wishing him a speedy recovery!


kai him.

香港仔 times 500

婆婆!

香港仔!

Mdm L's sharp ears (@ 84!)enables her to have voice differentiation ability. 

I am happy not because i am remembered but that this proves that with time and heart, one is able to make a small little difference to someone else's life, and be a part of it. 

As my group and I greeted her from outside the gate, Mdm L was standing at her basin, taking her own time to wash up as she always does on her saturday routines. I can hear the joy in her voice. 

Isnt it beautiful to meet someone like this on a saturday morning? Many times we go to work like a zombie, go to LTs with a sian face. It always lights my day up when I meet a friend, or just any other human being, and detect a smile on their face knowing that they appreciate your presence. just that alone. This, i ought to improve on myself, to greet everyone with a wide smile :D

Rong Shan, Jocelyn and I began to start working on the chores for the day. Changing the bedsheets, washing bottles and cups, boiling water, sweeping and mopping the floor, cleaning the dusty fan. As usual, she shouted 香港仔! ........ 香港仔!......... 香港仔!..........香港仔!.......x 500, once whenever she wanted something haha.

It wasnt that difficult a task for able-bodied young men and women like us, but it wasnt that effortless either. But it felt rather happy to sweat a little bit doing some work for her!

Of course, how can a visit to her place be complete without free breakfast?? I wasnt very hungry, nor too interested in her beehoon/ lontong/ fried snacks. So the girls devoured those up. Mdm L repeated asked me to eat, to have a drink, of which I only took half a stick of you tiao and rejected the rest, citing my full breakfast as a reason (real reason btw). But she kept on asking again! Lucky the girls were good eaters today when wei feng wasnt in the house for this specialised task lol.

I am always happy to team up with newer volunteers on such visits. It reminds me of the first few sessions that i came for, the big change it had on my year 4 life then, and the subsequent 2-3 more years thus far. As i always recall and share with fellow buddies, the positive energy, joy, and moments shared on such sessions will always be remembered and impactful for the rest of my life. I am definitely not as nice as the seniors who guided me when i was new, but i hope i show the newer volunteers, in my own little ways that we can be friends with the elderly, that they are not the beneficieries that many thought they were at the beginning. I hope that with the jokes that i play on the elderly, they can start feeling more at ease and be open to engage them in conversations they have never thought they could and not just ask very politically correct questions. I hope that the tiny little bonds we have built with the elderly will be shown and felt in our gestures and mannerisms and interactions and perhaps one day inspire someone else to contribute to this lovely cause that most of us truly believe in. 

Most of all, I certainly hope that our diminishing (??) family can expand and continue to involve as many passionate students as possible.

Cheers,

香港仔 kai him 

03 10 2015 visit to Mr T

This post is the 3rd post of me writing about Mr T. To think about it, I have indeed visited Mr T for several times over the past 1 year.

Today, it was Vigilia and I visiting him and Gary joined us towards the end of the visit. Just like usual, we ran some errands for him and brought him down to the nearby coffee shop for his usual cup of buttered coffee.

However, he didn't seem to be feeling well today and was in a rather negative mood. He complained of something like a ear block that caused him to not hear well for the past 2 weeks and he wasn't feel well in his stomach too.

He was feeling rather sad and was indeed moody. We tried to persuade him to go visit the doctor, but he claimed that he did not want to trouble us too much and insisted that he does not want to seek medical attention.

However, when it comes to health-related affairs regarding others, he seemed to be rather concerned.  He will instead persuade others to go seek medical attention and recuperate appropriately. An example was he was talking about an elderly lady in her 60s who visits him every Monday was not feeling well and had to go for an eye check. When he was talking about that elderly lady, I can tell that he seemed rather concerned about the well-being of she. In-fact he even encouraged that elderly lady to go visit the doctor to get her eyes checked instead of visiting him on Monday.

From that, it proved that Mr T was indeed a person who put others ahead of himself and that is a rather positive attitude we can learn from him.

-Chew Jun Kai Joel

A visit to Mdm W on 3 Oct 15

Today's my second time visiting Mdm W. Unlike my first time visiting her, this time it's a smaller group (Just Wei Feng and I). It also meant that we would have to do the speaking instead of just being the listeners.

Mdm W is a cantonese-only speaking elderly and it is a bit of a challenge to me and Wei Feng. I am able to understand canto but not as good when it comes to speaking. I need that 0.5 second to process my thoughts before I speak. However, it got better after I spoke for a while; although some pronunciation is not so zhun. On a side note to Wei Feng, you may visit Mdm W more to pick up Canto. haha.

Mdm W is 88 years old this year and going strong. She is an independent person who takes care of herself and the up keeping of her house. Speaking to her was casual and easy. She is a person who expresses positivity and quickly builds rapport with students who visit her. To the rest of us who can't speak Canto, fret not, do visit her and try to speak to her in simple mandarin and you can slowly learn some Canto too.

Recently due to the haze, it has cut down the time Mdm W goes out to the street. She limits her travelling to buying groceries and collecting her packed lunch at the void deck. Hopefully the haze situation turns for the better for her and other elderlies to spend more time at the neighbourhood parks.

Good to see that Mdm W is doing well. Many thanks to her, our PG!

Cheers,
Jonathan Chew