22S22

On SL Day, we got the opportunity to contribute back to society and show our care to the seniors in our community. We partnered with NTUC Health Senior Day Care, with the objective of engaging in memorable activities with the elderly, which stimulated their mind and body. We did a total of two activities during the visit, folding of giant origami and a mass dance.

To start off the day, we did a short introduction of who we were and what we were going to be doing on that day. Then we handed out arts and crafts materials like giant origami papers, stickers and markers for origami-making. We then showed a video with instructions on how to fold an origami crane, before having two classmates explain said instructions step by step in English and Chinese to the elderly so that it was easier to understand. We then spread ourselves out around the tables where the seniors were seated to aid and guide them in the activity. This also allowed us to spark conversations with them, and learn more about them on a personal level. After folding the giant origami cranes, the seniors could let their imagination run wild and utilize the decorative materials provided to personalize their own crane origami.

Lastly, we ended with a mass dance to the song YMCA by Village People! This definitely energized the elderly and us included. It was great to end the day on a high!

Overall, the class feels that the SL project was a success! Although we did run into a few challenges along the way during the preparation and execution of the project, we still managed to bring to the elderly joy and happiness in one way or another.

Some challenges include language barriers, the lack of manpower as well as time constraints. It was pretty difficult to communicate with the seniors as some were not fluent in both English and Chinese, and were more comfortable speaking in their dialects such as Hokkien and Cantonese. Hence, we were unable to engage in proper conversations with the elderly and communication was certainly an issue we faced. However, thankfully the staff there were really understanding and helped us to convey the instructions of the activities to the seniors.

Despite this, our class still feels that it was very fun to interact with them during the origami-making and mass dance. While discussing with the organisation regarding the project, we were informed that we had only an hour to complete the project and no more than 10 students were able to physically visit the daycare. Hence, the execution of the project was a little rushed.

In addition, we unfortunately were not able to interact with all the elderly an equal amount because of the lack of people but the staff were able to support us in this aspect. This project was really fruitful as not only were we able to interact with our seniors in the community, we also enjoyed ourselves and felt delighted after seeing the smiles on their faces:). It was really memorable knowing that they truly enjoyed the activities we planned and even though we faced some challenges, we were still able to bring joy to the elderly, which was our main objective!