Getting to know the elderly

This was a very fulfilling session when I got the chance to celebrate my national day through giving back to society with my class. For our project, we got to go to the NTUC senior daycare centre at Serangoon. When we entered the place and attend the briefing, it was firstly very heartbreaking to see so many vulnerable seniors having difficulties in their mobility or speech. The volunteers there were also extremely detailed with the care of the seniors. For instance, we were constantly being emphasised on how to approach the seniors and how to squat down when talking to them so we do not seem as intimidating as when we stand up.

We planned a performance and an easy arts and craft activity for the seniors. I was chosen to be the emcee for our performance and the experience was honestly surreal for me. To begin off, it was quite a rush for us. The moment we entered the activity room, I was handed the mike and my classmates had not finished setting up their instruments. I remembered how I tried to engage the seniors when I ask if they had eaten in chinese. When they answered me as a whole, it just warmed my heart and I felt an unexplainable sense of being moved. During our performance, we met with some accidents but it was once again heartwarming to see how the volunteers and seniors did not blame or scold us but just waited patiently and even encouraged us. I remembered us singing our final song with the seniors when they clapped their hands and sang along. It was a very classic chinese song called “月亮代表我的心” which meant how the moon represents my heart literally.

After our performance we started out rough, we had our arts and craft activity. We did an activity called paper quilling. It was when the elderly had to roll strips of paper into small cylinders and paste them on a template we have made in advance. There were different colour strips for them to freely decorate their artwork. It was fun when we had this chance to engage with the seniors and get to know them more. I remembered chatting with this senior who shared with me about his family. How many children he had, how old they were, what they were doing and how life was like in the past for him. Some of the stories told were honestly unimaginable for me. It got me to reflect how lucky I was to be able to born in such an era, reaping the fruits of those before us that sowed it.

The session ended when we had to say goodbye to the elderly. Honestly, I could not bear to leave them because I felt although they were old, they had a bit of adorable in them at times. How they do something wrong accidentally at times does not make me feel that they were incapable but made me felt that they were really like kids that just made a mistake. It was surely not enough to just visit them once and I felt that such event would definitely have to be consistent. This may be a small action on my part but a big impact on them when there have new and different visitors. The overall event may not be all smooth-sailing but I had a great and memorable time with both the elderly and my class.