Lately, I have been assailed repeatedly by an insidious remark made during the debrief sessions at All Saints Home: We should have an All Saints Home volunteer’s tee shirt! Whenever this remark was made, half a dozen pair of eyes (sometimes it could be as many as a dozen) will fix their gaze upon me without fail. Hence, the laborious task of designing the tee shirt for All Saints Home had fallen automatically onto my laps.
Since there was never an All Saints Home tee shirt for the volunteers to begin with, the events committee has to resort to standardizing the color of the volunteers’ attires for any outdoor activities. So far, red seems to be the committee’s favorite color and until recently, white was endorsed as the color for our outing to the Singapore Flyers. Realizing that it will come to a point where the choice of colors will eventually run out for our activities, the volunteers proposed the idea of designing a tee shirt exclusively for our volunteering group.
The demands for the tee shirt design became stronger after we have won the tee shirt design competition at the ESN carnival. As akin to cornered animals when driven to desperation, I often have to rely on the most unsavory of tactics to wriggle myself out of this predicament. More than once, I simply brushed away this idea by counter-proposing an offer, which comes cross as frivolous at best.
Alas, the straw that eventually broke the camel’s back was finally unstrung last week, when Carolyn broached this topic to me again. Tired of throwing up half-baked excuses, I have capitulated to the fact that we do need a tee shirt uniquely designed for the All Saints Home volunteers.
At this juncture, I would like to urge all the volunteers to provide me with ideas for the tee shirt design. No matter how bizarre or seemingly ludicrous the ideas may be, all suggestions to the tee shirt design are welcomed. After all, this is a tee shirt designed to represent all the volunteers in All Saints Home, and your contribution to this design will make the entire affair more meaningful. Thus, I sincerely hope that you can contribute your ideas enthusiastically to the design of the All Saints Home tee shirt together. And with a stroke of luck, we might be wearing this tee shirt to the next outdoor event!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday, October 04, 2009
Mission Impossible: Operation Top of the World
Before any unnecessary misunderstanding arises, I need to emphasize that the title for this entry has got nothing to do with the cinematic trilogy of the same name starring Tom Cruise. Instead, it was chosen by me to describe the arduous preparation works involved in organizing an outing for the residents at All Saints Home to the Singapore Flyer in celebration of the Mid Autumn Festival. In addition to bringing the residents to the Singapore Flyer, an arrangement was also made for the residents to enjoy a 5-course lunch at Kia Hiang, a Chinese restaurant. When these 2 activities were conducted in 1 day, it could be effectively summarized into 2 words: Mission Impossible. As the highlight of the outing is the trip to the Singapore Flyer, this mission was unceremoniously codenamed, Operation Top of the World.
Unknown to many, this outing to the Singapore Flyer was the first outing for the residents organized entirely by the All Saints Home volunteers. All previous events, which had involved the participation of the residents from All Saints Home in outdoor activities, were collaborative efforts between our volunteers and the other volunteering organizations. Hence, as we were relatively untried and inexperienced in organizing this type of event, the committee for this event (Sook Ying, Carolyn and I) took an extra cautious approach in the planning of this outing. The number of volunteers required for example, was at least 20% more than that required of events organized at All Saints Home, to cater for any unforeseeable circumstances that may require for additional manpower.
Nevertheless, despite all the planning effort, the staging of this event was still fraud with obstacles. The obstacles that could potentially threaten to turn this event into a complete disaster included the logistical demands required for transporting the residents from the home to the location of the Flyer, and gathering adequate volunteers to run this activity. These 2 obstacles were further exacerbated by the fact that information on the number of residents who could participate this outing, were only made available to us only at the eleventh hour. Thus, we scrambled like mad to allocate each resident participating in this outing with a volunteer when we finally received the list of 13 residents who were going for this outing. As simple as it may seem, the allocation required meticulous consideration. As we do have quite a number of non-mandarin speaking volunteers, there was a need to pair up the volunteer and resident in such a manner where both could speak a common language. In addition, we also had to assess if the volunteer is able to push the resident on his/her wheelchair with relative ease. Thus, we tried our best to allocate the volunteer with a resident that could best match their physical profile.
As only 13 residents from the home were participating in this outing, a good majority of the residents remaining behind would not be able to join us in the Mid Autumn celebration at the Singapore Flyer. Thus, Carolyn had decided to buy 10 boxes of moon cakes as an after-lunch treat to all the residents at All Saints Home with the money provided by this event's sponsors. Alas, to lug all 10 boxes of moon cakes and the equipment needed for the outing to All Saints Home by herself would be unduly harsh on our venerable chairlady. But what do we have to fear when there is the always dependable Benny, clad in the humble ESN Carnival Tee-shirt and driving his MPV to the rescue? Like the noble cavalier from a bygone era, Benny has always offered the use of his car when the need to transport equipments to a remote venue arises. Furthermore, he had always rendered his service for all major events as a photograhper. And thus, Carolyn and I were whisked off in Benny’s car when he arrived at Carolyn’s place with his wife, Janette, and the 4 of us promptly reached All Saints Home at 9 am sharp.
Since this outing consisted of 2 major events (the trip to the Singapore Flyer and Kia Hiang restaurant), we were running an extremely pressing schedule. Thus, when we learnt that Rimei and Meng Kwee were helping us out for this outing, we were elated beyond words. The volunteers were quickly briefed by Sook Ying on the activities of the outing, and brought to their attention the point of rendezvous after the Flyer ride. Subsequently, the volunteers were paired up with their residents, and the start to a long and tiring day had officially begun when the bus chartered for this outing arrived.
In my previous entry, I had mentioned residents at All Saints Home are mostly wheelchair bound. Therefore, each resident would have to be painstakingly carried by the nurses from the bus to their wheelchair when they alight, as the buses chartered for most outings are rarely designed to be wheelchair-friendly. At the same time, the volunteers will need to unload the wheelchairs hastily from the bus and unfold them from their stowage position. The process is equally tedious during boarding, as the nurses will still be required to carry the residents to their seats on the bus, and the volunteers will fold the wheelchairs to their stowage position just as hastily, and gingerly carry them onboard the bus.
But we were soon to forget the toils earlier when we finally arrived at the Singapore Flyer. Arranged into 4 different groups, all the residents, volunteers and nurses were ushered into 4 different capsules by the Flyer’s staff, that were reserved specially for All Saints Home. Needless to say, the residents were visibly enlivened by the entire experience as we marveled together at the enthralling sight of the city’s skyline, which had deservingly served as the backdrop for Singapore’s F1 night race. I had never taken a ride on the Singapore Flyer before this, and had always wondered what was all the fuss behind this gigantic merry go around that offers nothing more than a fancy name. But now, I had to eat those words, whole. The resident whom I had the opportunity to speak to, remarked of the tremendous changes in Singapore’s busiest district, and continued that he has never imagined that he was able to be view the sight in front of him from such a height. The brief, but meaningful exchange left a profound impression on me, and I was glad that we were given the opportunity to stage this event.
Although we were told that the ride would last 40 minutes, the entire ride felt more like 15 minutes to us! I guess this was largely attributed to the fact that we took countless number of pictures in the capsule, and spent most of the time explaining each building towering over the Singapore River to the residents. After disembarking from the capsule, we continued to take numerous group photos with the Flyer in the background, before boarding the bus to Kia Hiang restaurant. Predictably, the residents were hungry after spending the entire morning at the Flyer. This was especially true for the residents in our capsule, as a certain someone had forgotten to bring our share of moon cakes, which were intended as snacks during the Flyer ride (I guess I will be put to death after posting this entry). Hence, the residents and volunteers alike, dug heartily to the meal at Kia Hiang restaurant, which had generously given us a whooping 50% discount off the total expenses.
After I had unglamorously polished off the last grain of rice from my bowl, we proceeded to wheel the residents to board the chartered bus and made our way back to All Saints Home. The end to a long and tiring day was finally in sight. Although they were worn out from the barrage of activities, the residents had thoroughly enjoyed the outing. I guess the most heartrending encouragements to the volunteers came (again) from Dennis, who said (I could not remember his exact words, but it goes something like this), “I am already very happy that you (the volunteers) took the effort to do this for us, and I’m thankful for that.” Although I did not tell Dennis this, but I guess I would be echoing the sentiments of the rest of the volunteers, when I say that his encouragements further reinforced our passion and energy to continue our volunteering work at All Saints Home.
Mission Impossible did not end immediately after we wheeled the residents back to their respective wards at All Saints Home, as we proceeded to distribute bite-size slices of moon cakes to the rest of the residents in the ward. In fact, we even managed to find the strength to conduct our usual singing session to most of the residents as they savored the moon cakes in their wards. As the last of the moon cakes was distributed, we were at once relieved that Mission Impossible had finally been accomplished! I did not have the opportunity to thank all the volunteers who had lent their aid to this outing in person, and hence, I shall proceed to do it now. The reason why this outing was so important the All Saints Home volunteers, is the fact that from henceforth, we are able to retort with certainty that All Saint Home volunteers are capable of staging a successful outing on our own. The significance of this capability implies that, with the experience garnered from this outing, we would be able to do more for the residents by staging a similar outing in the future. All these would not be possible without the services of the volunteers, who had joined us in this meaningful Mid Autumn Festival outing. Whether it was the Vietnamese trios, who had taken valuable time off from their preparation for the exams, or the sacrifice of Anitha, Benny, Janette and Esther, who could have spent a precious Saturday afternoon with their family, or the selflessness of Emily, Run Biao, Tina, Anne and Shikhar, who could be taking a much needed respite from work by sleeping in late for the weekends, I guess the gratitude I had expressed here will not be fully sufficient. More than you would realize, any recognition in the success of this outing really belongs to you.
I was also reminded of the steadfast dedication of Rimei and the tireless effort from Meng Kwee. Although Rimei was unable to join us in the Flyer ride, she had provided invaluable assistance in ensuring that all the residents and volunteers were safely disembarked from the capsules, and gathered at the point of rendezvous. Thank you Rimei and Meng Kwee, I hope that we could have the pleasure of roping you into our activities in the future. In addition, from all the volunteers and residents at All Saints Home, we would like to thank all the sponsors for this event (one of them is a volunteer initiator person, VIP), the Singapore Flyer and Kia Hiang Restaurant for their stellar services in providing all the necessary assistance to us, and of course, the generous discounts off our total expenses for this outing.
Unknown to many, this outing to the Singapore Flyer was the first outing for the residents organized entirely by the All Saints Home volunteers. All previous events, which had involved the participation of the residents from All Saints Home in outdoor activities, were collaborative efforts between our volunteers and the other volunteering organizations. Hence, as we were relatively untried and inexperienced in organizing this type of event, the committee for this event (Sook Ying, Carolyn and I) took an extra cautious approach in the planning of this outing. The number of volunteers required for example, was at least 20% more than that required of events organized at All Saints Home, to cater for any unforeseeable circumstances that may require for additional manpower.
Nevertheless, despite all the planning effort, the staging of this event was still fraud with obstacles. The obstacles that could potentially threaten to turn this event into a complete disaster included the logistical demands required for transporting the residents from the home to the location of the Flyer, and gathering adequate volunteers to run this activity. These 2 obstacles were further exacerbated by the fact that information on the number of residents who could participate this outing, were only made available to us only at the eleventh hour. Thus, we scrambled like mad to allocate each resident participating in this outing with a volunteer when we finally received the list of 13 residents who were going for this outing. As simple as it may seem, the allocation required meticulous consideration. As we do have quite a number of non-mandarin speaking volunteers, there was a need to pair up the volunteer and resident in such a manner where both could speak a common language. In addition, we also had to assess if the volunteer is able to push the resident on his/her wheelchair with relative ease. Thus, we tried our best to allocate the volunteer with a resident that could best match their physical profile.
As only 13 residents from the home were participating in this outing, a good majority of the residents remaining behind would not be able to join us in the Mid Autumn celebration at the Singapore Flyer. Thus, Carolyn had decided to buy 10 boxes of moon cakes as an after-lunch treat to all the residents at All Saints Home with the money provided by this event's sponsors. Alas, to lug all 10 boxes of moon cakes and the equipment needed for the outing to All Saints Home by herself would be unduly harsh on our venerable chairlady. But what do we have to fear when there is the always dependable Benny, clad in the humble ESN Carnival Tee-shirt and driving his MPV to the rescue? Like the noble cavalier from a bygone era, Benny has always offered the use of his car when the need to transport equipments to a remote venue arises. Furthermore, he had always rendered his service for all major events as a photograhper. And thus, Carolyn and I were whisked off in Benny’s car when he arrived at Carolyn’s place with his wife, Janette, and the 4 of us promptly reached All Saints Home at 9 am sharp.
Since this outing consisted of 2 major events (the trip to the Singapore Flyer and Kia Hiang restaurant), we were running an extremely pressing schedule. Thus, when we learnt that Rimei and Meng Kwee were helping us out for this outing, we were elated beyond words. The volunteers were quickly briefed by Sook Ying on the activities of the outing, and brought to their attention the point of rendezvous after the Flyer ride. Subsequently, the volunteers were paired up with their residents, and the start to a long and tiring day had officially begun when the bus chartered for this outing arrived.
In my previous entry, I had mentioned residents at All Saints Home are mostly wheelchair bound. Therefore, each resident would have to be painstakingly carried by the nurses from the bus to their wheelchair when they alight, as the buses chartered for most outings are rarely designed to be wheelchair-friendly. At the same time, the volunteers will need to unload the wheelchairs hastily from the bus and unfold them from their stowage position. The process is equally tedious during boarding, as the nurses will still be required to carry the residents to their seats on the bus, and the volunteers will fold the wheelchairs to their stowage position just as hastily, and gingerly carry them onboard the bus.
But we were soon to forget the toils earlier when we finally arrived at the Singapore Flyer. Arranged into 4 different groups, all the residents, volunteers and nurses were ushered into 4 different capsules by the Flyer’s staff, that were reserved specially for All Saints Home. Needless to say, the residents were visibly enlivened by the entire experience as we marveled together at the enthralling sight of the city’s skyline, which had deservingly served as the backdrop for Singapore’s F1 night race. I had never taken a ride on the Singapore Flyer before this, and had always wondered what was all the fuss behind this gigantic merry go around that offers nothing more than a fancy name. But now, I had to eat those words, whole. The resident whom I had the opportunity to speak to, remarked of the tremendous changes in Singapore’s busiest district, and continued that he has never imagined that he was able to be view the sight in front of him from such a height. The brief, but meaningful exchange left a profound impression on me, and I was glad that we were given the opportunity to stage this event.
Although we were told that the ride would last 40 minutes, the entire ride felt more like 15 minutes to us! I guess this was largely attributed to the fact that we took countless number of pictures in the capsule, and spent most of the time explaining each building towering over the Singapore River to the residents. After disembarking from the capsule, we continued to take numerous group photos with the Flyer in the background, before boarding the bus to Kia Hiang restaurant. Predictably, the residents were hungry after spending the entire morning at the Flyer. This was especially true for the residents in our capsule, as a certain someone had forgotten to bring our share of moon cakes, which were intended as snacks during the Flyer ride (I guess I will be put to death after posting this entry). Hence, the residents and volunteers alike, dug heartily to the meal at Kia Hiang restaurant, which had generously given us a whooping 50% discount off the total expenses.
After I had unglamorously polished off the last grain of rice from my bowl, we proceeded to wheel the residents to board the chartered bus and made our way back to All Saints Home. The end to a long and tiring day was finally in sight. Although they were worn out from the barrage of activities, the residents had thoroughly enjoyed the outing. I guess the most heartrending encouragements to the volunteers came (again) from Dennis, who said (I could not remember his exact words, but it goes something like this), “I am already very happy that you (the volunteers) took the effort to do this for us, and I’m thankful for that.” Although I did not tell Dennis this, but I guess I would be echoing the sentiments of the rest of the volunteers, when I say that his encouragements further reinforced our passion and energy to continue our volunteering work at All Saints Home.
Mission Impossible did not end immediately after we wheeled the residents back to their respective wards at All Saints Home, as we proceeded to distribute bite-size slices of moon cakes to the rest of the residents in the ward. In fact, we even managed to find the strength to conduct our usual singing session to most of the residents as they savored the moon cakes in their wards. As the last of the moon cakes was distributed, we were at once relieved that Mission Impossible had finally been accomplished! I did not have the opportunity to thank all the volunteers who had lent their aid to this outing in person, and hence, I shall proceed to do it now. The reason why this outing was so important the All Saints Home volunteers, is the fact that from henceforth, we are able to retort with certainty that All Saint Home volunteers are capable of staging a successful outing on our own. The significance of this capability implies that, with the experience garnered from this outing, we would be able to do more for the residents by staging a similar outing in the future. All these would not be possible without the services of the volunteers, who had joined us in this meaningful Mid Autumn Festival outing. Whether it was the Vietnamese trios, who had taken valuable time off from their preparation for the exams, or the sacrifice of Anitha, Benny, Janette and Esther, who could have spent a precious Saturday afternoon with their family, or the selflessness of Emily, Run Biao, Tina, Anne and Shikhar, who could be taking a much needed respite from work by sleeping in late for the weekends, I guess the gratitude I had expressed here will not be fully sufficient. More than you would realize, any recognition in the success of this outing really belongs to you.
I was also reminded of the steadfast dedication of Rimei and the tireless effort from Meng Kwee. Although Rimei was unable to join us in the Flyer ride, she had provided invaluable assistance in ensuring that all the residents and volunteers were safely disembarked from the capsules, and gathered at the point of rendezvous. Thank you Rimei and Meng Kwee, I hope that we could have the pleasure of roping you into our activities in the future. In addition, from all the volunteers and residents at All Saints Home, we would like to thank all the sponsors for this event (one of them is a volunteer initiator person, VIP), the Singapore Flyer and Kia Hiang Restaurant for their stellar services in providing all the necessary assistance to us, and of course, the generous discounts off our total expenses for this outing.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Senior Citizen cum Volunteer Appreciation at All Saints Home on 12 September 09
This is the first Senior citizen cum volunteer appreciation organized by All Saints Home that I’ve attended and to me, it was amazingly impressive!
We arrived earlier than usual, at around 12.30 pm. The home was decorated so nicely that once you just entered the familiar greyish gate, you could tell there was going to be a small carnival brightening up the place. That simply made us so excited even before the event began.
We gathered in our volunteer room and prepared many lovely and colourful gift packages with ovaltine, biscuits, etc for our beloved old folks on this special occasion. Surprisingly, we found out that these stuffs actually came from some warm-hearted individuals who really care about the welfare of our uncles and aunties.
At 1 o’clock, the hall was already adorned with a lot of bright-colour flowers and balloons. We saw many old forks wearing little red and yellow scarves already sat nicely in rows arranged by the home nurses. Many of them dressed up prettily and handsomely, they all looked very happy with smiley faces. Even their wheelchairs were also decorated eye-catchingly with colour paper and ornaments. Every time we welcomed a pretty auntie/handsome uncle into the hall, our nurses and volunteers would blow their whistles so loud that I just wanted to cover my ears with my palms but instead I decided to clap to join the FUN! Our old folks looked like some famous and attractive artists whose appearances were extremely important in all the festive events. And guess what? They will be performing to us many items later. I still remember last year when I performed a Chinese dance item during the Moon-cake festival to the elderly, this time, I no longer felt nervous as I would be the audience watching our old folks’ performance. The experience was really new and different.
Speech by Board of Director
The performances were really enjoyable and worth-watching. Either items performed by the old-folks themselves or a combination between the old folks and the nurses, either they danced or sang, all were so fun and lovely that made us, volunteers, smile, laugh, scream and even shake our bodies along with the cheerful music. The festive atmosphere was everywhere that it made every single person who was sitting in the hall feel involved and that they have a part to play! Despite the fact that our old folks are not very mobile, when they were on stage, they looked so confident and professional, no trembling, absolutely natural, it was like they had been practicing their items for the past few weeks. With the help of the nurses and ASH staffs, the elderly really put in a lot of efforts in perfecting their own performances and making the whole event a success. There was not just English and Chinese music, we did hear Indian dance music, the first time in ASH I believed. The “Yue Liang Dai Biao Wo De Xin” song, the L.I.M.B.O ROCK dance, the New York, New York dance in which the auntie looked like “a runaway bride” and many performances were really memorable to all those who attended.
Volunteer appreciation for schools, organizations and our regular volunteers who have contributed to ASH!!!
And then we had prize presentations for our very own old folks^^
After the main event ended, we had a mini food and game carnival for our old folks, this reminded me of the ESN carnival last week which was really interesting and enjoying! This time, besides choosing their own free food provided by different stalls, each old folk was given special $5 coupon to buy food from Kopitiam and/or play games. As many other old folks, my auntie really enjoyed her food, she kept saying “Good! Good!” while eating half-boiled egg and drinking coffee. Though the food hall was a bit small and squeezy causing trouble for us to move the wheelchairs, everyone was really tolerant and nobody complained from the beginning till the end of the makan session.
Our lovely volunteer group photo!
7 ESN babies wearing the “add life to years” T-shirt designed by Wei Zhong, haha, what a FUNNY coincidence!!! =))
I had a nice talk with Anitha after the whole event; it was pretty surprising that she needed to rush somewhere to teach the children Bible right after our ASH event. She said that God gave her time and it was her turn to give time to the elderly and spread the love for God. We both agree that volunteering really helps us to relieve our stress and makes us feel good. The old folks are more or less like the kids who always want to be cared and loved. Every time we feed them food, they always ask us to enjoy the food as well. They like to play fishing games and ball games; they enjoy and sing along the songs that we sing no matter how terrible our voices can be. And yes, absolutely, being an elderly is sometimes having a second childhood, the lovely and memorable time that we all wanted to come back to.
Time is flying so fast, it has been more than one year since the first day I came to All Saints Home. I still remember one year ago, on the 5th July 2008 when I just stepped in this place, everything was so new to me, the home, the old folks, the other volunteers as that was the first time in my life I had been to a nursing home. Now, things have not changed, just that my feeling is different, if you think language barrier is a big issue then believe me, just a smile on your face may brighten up someone else’s day. Things have become so familiar that I am sure that I can remember almost every single face I’ve met in ASH, not just the old folks, the volunteers but also ASH staffs.
To all not-so-new (old) ASH volunteers: keep up the spirit as we will have many more coming years to volunteer our services and better our elderly’ lives.
To all new ASH volunteers: welcome to ASH, you would love this place and don’t worry, you will become old (I mean experienced) volunteers one day!
Really enjoyed the nice dinner!!! HAHA, we don’t call this a group of volunteers but rather a FAMILY! (:
Regards,
Linh
Sunday, September 06, 2009
Pandemonium at the ESN Carnival (2009)
It had nearly demanded a supreme effort for me to complete this blog entry and recount the chain of events that took place at the ESN Carnival 2009. This hardly came as a surprise largely due to a grueling week at work and an equally intensive volunteering session at the ESN Carnival, which took place on yesterday afternoon. For the benefit of new readers to this blog, the ESN (Elderly Sector Network) Carnival is an event, which brings together all the volunteering organizations under the umbrella of ESN to set up games and food stalls for the carnival. The residents from the nursing homes or homes for the elderly from these organizations, patronize these stalls and spend credits (in the form of ice cream sticks) sponsored by donors. Each credit is worth a dollar, and all the proceeds from each individual stalls will go directly to their respective organizations as funds for volunteering work. Held annually at Yishun Junior College, this event has come to its 3rd consecutive year of promoting volunteering at homes for the elderly and the disabled, and raising funds for each participating volunteering organizations.
In the previous years, I had offered my service as an assistant to wheel the residents from ASH to the stalls at the carnival, and aid them with the games and food. This year, I had decided to try out something different instead and tread the path less taken (so to speak). It was probably out of pure curiosity or even folly, that I decided to volunteer for our home's game stalls at the carnival. But in a logical sense, this decision should have been sound. Considering the fact that I have never run a game stall at a carnival before, the novelty of this idea simply proves to be irresistible. But alas, it was not meant to be a bed of roses, as I was soon to discover.
Volunteering for the game stalls would mean that you are expected to arrive at the venue of the carnival very much earlier than the rest of the volunteers to handle the logistics, and of course, to set up the stalls. If Benny had not selflessly offered to transport the prizes for the game with his car to the carnival, Carolyn and I would have been doomed by the burden from the logistics (there were 6 cartons of instant noodles, 3 crates of canned desserts, and countless bags of 3-in-1 instant cereal beverages). After unloading the cargo to our stall, we spent close to an hour to decorate the stalls for ASH and set up the props for the games. When these were finally completed, I could feel that my energy was nearly drained for the day. Hence, when the residents from the homes started to stream into the carnival, I had to summon the remnants of my energy to run the game stall in the most enthusiastic manner possible. Fortunately, I was amply assisted by Christin and her friend, Hui Fang to run the game stall. In fact, we had managed to register the first spending at the carnival when this elderly from Kreta Ayer Community Center approached our game stall.
In the previous years, I had offered my service as an assistant to wheel the residents from ASH to the stalls at the carnival, and aid them with the games and food. This year, I had decided to try out something different instead and tread the path less taken (so to speak). It was probably out of pure curiosity or even folly, that I decided to volunteer for our home's game stalls at the carnival. But in a logical sense, this decision should have been sound. Considering the fact that I have never run a game stall at a carnival before, the novelty of this idea simply proves to be irresistible. But alas, it was not meant to be a bed of roses, as I was soon to discover.
Volunteering for the game stalls would mean that you are expected to arrive at the venue of the carnival very much earlier than the rest of the volunteers to handle the logistics, and of course, to set up the stalls. If Benny had not selflessly offered to transport the prizes for the game with his car to the carnival, Carolyn and I would have been doomed by the burden from the logistics (there were 6 cartons of instant noodles, 3 crates of canned desserts, and countless bags of 3-in-1 instant cereal beverages). After unloading the cargo to our stall, we spent close to an hour to decorate the stalls for ASH and set up the props for the games. When these were finally completed, I could feel that my energy was nearly drained for the day. Hence, when the residents from the homes started to stream into the carnival, I had to summon the remnants of my energy to run the game stall in the most enthusiastic manner possible. Fortunately, I was amply assisted by Christin and her friend, Hui Fang to run the game stall. In fact, we had managed to register the first spending at the carnival when this elderly from Kreta Ayer Community Center approached our game stall.
Setting up and decorating the stalls at the carnival
ASH game stall 1: Fishing Game
ASH game stall 2: Bean It
The concept of the game at our stall was a simple one and it was aptly named as 'Bean It'. There were 3 rectangular pieces of cardboards (labeled 1, 2 and 3 points) plastered at different distances on the floor from a line, which serves as a marker for the player of this game. The player is required to stand behind that line and chuck bean bags (hence, the name of the game: Bean It) onto the rectangular cardboards to score enough points to win themselves a prize. Needless to say, the cardboard labeled '3 points' was the farthest from the line, and conversely, '1 point' was the nearest. 1 to 3 points will win you a towel (sponsored by Gerina), while 4 to 6 points will get you a 3-in-1 cereal beverage, and finally, 7 points will bag you an instant noodle.
ASH residents, nurses and volunteers
ASH volunteers preparing the wheelchairs for the residents
No, your eyes are not playing tricks on you. There was a Wii game stall at the carnival!
Response at our stall was lukewarm at first, and I secretly wondered how long it would take to fill the plastic container allocated to our stall with the ice cream stick credits. I was soon to realize that this question was uncalled for when business at our stall became brisk barely 15 minutes into the opening of the carnival. Less than an hour later, pandemonium broke loose at our stall. A long snaking queue had formed itself in front of the stall and it had gotten increasingly longer with every passing minute. In utmost exasperation, I found myself yelling my throat hoarse to explain the rules of the game to each elderly who came to our stall over the loud din of music that was broadcasted at the carnival. At the same time, I had to collect the ice cream sticks, marshal the snaking queue, hand the elderly the bean bags and tally the score for the game. Feeling the end of my limits fast approaching, I suppressed a scream and wished that I had 4 pairs of arms to juggle the tasks at hand. Slowly, I began to understand why the helpers at wildly popular hawker stalls could get really snappy with their customers.
ASH game stall 1: Fishing game
Moments before pandemonium broke loose
Pandemonium...
But all these hassles were worth it. For the regular volunteers at ASH, I believe you have come to understand that the residents at the home do not regularly get the opportunity to go outside of the home to attend outdoor activities. This type of event has come be a rare form of luxury for the residents at ASH. As most residents at the home are either bedridden or wheelchair bound, it requires a significant number of nursing staffs to accompany the residents, and provide them with any necessary assistance. Furthermore, transporting the residents from the home to the venue of the event is no easy feat either, as it calls for volunteers and nursing staffs to cautiously carry each individual resident onboard the chartered buses. I have forgotten the number of times I felt utterly dejected when I saw residents at ASH, such as auntie Puay Lin succumbed to morbid pessimism due to inactivity from the confinement to her bed. Events such as the ESN Carnival provide them with the opportunity to venture outside the home and preoccupy their minds with activities. Thus, despite the strenuous amount of planning and coordination, the volunteers at ASH will always strive to ensure that the maximum possible number of residents from the home could attend events such as the ESN Carnival.
Meanwhile, the situation at our stall had worsen as the day wore on. Elderly and the volunteers assigned to provide them with assistance alike, flocked to our stall and capitalized on how easy it was to win prizes from our stalls by playing the game repeatedly. I remarked dryly to 1 of the volunteers who came to win prizes for herself that our stall was getting cleaned out by looters like her, to which she just dismissed with a string of uncomfortable laughters. As the prizes at our stall dwindled to a miserable stack, I guess I must have lost it somehow, as I found myself yelling to the queue in front of our stall that our prizes were fast depleting, and they should really not waste their time queuing up in anticipation of winning any more prizes. I have got to admit, it wasn't 1 of the most glorious moments in my life, but I was glad I did that as the queue forlornly dispersed itself when they saw for themselves that the prizes had indeed been wiped clean. Smiling wearily at Christine and Hui Fang, I brought to their view our plastic container, which was now threatening to overspill with ice cream sticks. Bean It had been an overwhelming success!
Karaoke Singing competition for the elderly
Additionally, our home has also won the T-shirt design competition held by the organizers of the carnival (the ESN committee). Although I knew of the outcome for this competition a couple of weeks ago, I was nevertheless pleasantly surprised to see the T-shirt I had designed up close for the very first time. It almost felt like I had won Project Runway, except that there was no Heidi Klum to hand me a trophy or garland of course (a hug from her will do actually)! At the risk of coming across as a narcissist, I must confess that the mere thought of knowing that my design will eventually be worn by the 140 shoppers who had purchased the T-shirts, pleases me to no end. Coming back to reality, I know that I'm neither Gianni Versace nor Choco Chanel. Toying with the idea of making it big in the fashion industry has never been within a mile of the orbit of my thoughts. Instead, I am already elated that I could put my passion for drawing to good use. For that, I have to express profuse thanks to ESN for making that happen.
The T-Shirt design for ESN Carnival 2009
As the carnival drew to a close at 415 pm, I finally sank onto the nearest chair and stared blankly into the crowd that was beginning to make their way out of the carnival grounds. The moment reminded me of the movie 'Black Hawk Down'. There was 1 scene in that movie that showed the aftermath of the US rangers' retreat from Mogadishu. Utterly shattered by exhaustion when they arrived at friendly territories, the rangers slumped to the ground and stared blankly into the medics gathering around them to examine their wounds. I may come across as over exaggerating for this instance, but the intensity of the day's event had undoubtedly made me cave in to fatigue.
When I came to my senses, I realized that the members from ESN had already embarked on the task of cleaning up the venue with astounding vigor. In my previous blog entries, I had often waxed lyrical of their admirable passion for volunteering and their exemplary organizational skills displayed in planning events like this, but they truly do not cease to amaze me every time. This year's ESN Carnival saw the most number of residents attending the event from the various volunteering organizations, and to cope with the throng of masses at the carnival grounds, ESN had thoughtfully arranged for the air-conditioning units at the venue to be switched on. Furthermore, they had even managed to secure all the resources needed for the performances and every stall to ensure that the entire carnival was run in a clockwork fashion. Indeed, I did not even sense a single glitch that threaten so much as to upset the flow of events at the carnival throughout the entire day. More importantly, I have to thank all the members from ESN for the exceedingly superb job of staging this carnival, without this, the residents from our home would not be able to bring this wonderful piece of memory back to ASH with them.
In addition, I would like to express thanks on behalf of ASH to Christin, Clara, Gek Huay and Hui Fang for volunteering to help out at the ASH game stalls. I guess we could never thank Christin's mum enough for supplying ASH food stall with her heavenly pineapple rice for 2 years in a row for free. Every year, her pineapple rice will build up a legion of fans, and I'm beginning to suspect that Xing is yearning to be the chieftain of the pineapple rice's loyal followers. He has been describing the lip smacking good comfort food in salivate inducing detail ever since the carnival on Saturday!
The famed 'ASH pineapple rice' in the background
To all the ASH volunteers:
I would like to thank all of you for helping out in this carnival by safely bringing the residents from the home to this event, and partake a share of the residents' unforgettable time at the various stalls. I would also like to echo the thoughts of all the committee members from ASH and ESN alike: please do continue to participate actively in events like these as they do mean a world to all the residents at ASH. For the more adventurous (and probably younger) volunteers, you could always try to 'tread the path less taken' (à la moi) and volunteer to help out at our stalls for the coming carnival. I could assure you that it will be an experience to remember!
ASH volunteers in a sea of red, who made everything happen for the residents attending the carnival (but could you spot the trio missing from this picture?)
Regards,
WZ
Monday, August 10, 2009
Count on us Singapore!
Whenever someone impolitely quizzes me on the excessively long delay between each blog entry, I would rely on one of the following evasive techniques to wriggle my way out of such a predicament:
1) If we were to discuss this unpleasant topic over coffee, I would seize an opportunity to take a deliberately long sip of the cup of Java and mumble something inaudible at the same time into the drink (I do not bother to repeat myself after that).
2) If I know that person really well, a cold frosty stare usually kept further probing at bay.
3) If by some chance that I happened to be in a good mood, I would smile politely (but not genuinely) and reply, “It will be soon.”
But the real reason behind the delays could actually be summed up by an abstract equation, which explains my motivation to write an entry for this blog. Running the risk of coming across as an insufferable geek, my willingness to blog can be described as a function of my mood, the weather and of course, the occurrence of an amusing event at ASH. Hence, it is apparent that the stars must have aligned, as all the variables in the above equation satisfied the necessary conditions to yield this entry. In fact, I have decided to squeeze 2 entries into 1 to produce a lengthy account of what had transpired at ASH during the past 2 services.
Exactly 2 services ago, I was absolutely amazed to realize that All Saints Home Volunteering has become increasingly cosmopolitan. This phenomenon did not occur overnight of course. It had only dawned on me when I did a quick mental arithmetic to discover that non-Singaporean volunteers comprised of nearly 70 % of the total number of volunteers! Indeed, the ranks of volunteers at ASH now swell with the Malaysians, the Vietnamese, the Indian, the Chinese, the Indonesians, the Filipinos, and even an American at one point (he is none other than Benny’s son-in-law).
As Singapore poises herself to celebrate her 44th birthday, I could not help but feel proud over this achievement. Most of the residents at ASH have been through the tumultuous times in the early years of Singapore’s independence, and they had forged on courageously to mould Singapore into the stable and prosperous country that she is today. With a stable political climate, a robust economy and a strong emphasis on providing equal opportunities for all her residents, Singapore has continually attracted migrants from nearly every corner of the globe.
By offering their services as volunteers to the nursing homes in Singapore, these foreign volunteers have shown that volunteering work is absent of borders or international boundaries. As a result, the residents at ASH have benefited tremendously from this wonderful ideal. In fact, the foreign volunteers at ASH have become indispensable to both the volunteering corp and the home.
Volunteering at ASH would be very different without Chloe’s bright and cheerful disposition, Eric’s mischievous attempts with languages, Ah Xing and Sook Ying’s tireless efforts in organizing programmes and activities for the residents, and the Vietnamese quintet’s relentless energy from the flower of their youth. In addition, we found a novice baker in Emily, who had baked a cake for the residents’ tea session. Perhaps the word 'novice' should be omitted from my description, as the residents were full of praises for her baking skills. They had in fact specifically asked for second helpings of the cake baked by Emily, even though there were Pandan and butter cakes (bought by Ah Xing) to choose from. Again, the opportunity to savour home-baked cakes was lost to me, as I had yet to recover from the sore throat and irritating fits of dry cough that have been plaguing me since the BBQ. Thus, I will never be able to know the success behind those home-baked cakes from all the tea sessions, and probably should also resign myself to the fact that my fate with home-baked cakes is pitiful at best.
In conjunction with Singapore's National Day Celebration, Kee Teck had brilliantly decided to involve the residents with the decoration of ASH using red and white balloons during last Saturday's service. Understanding the significance of Singapore's 44 years of independence better than anyone else, the residents embarked on the decoration with quiet devotion, as they were aided by the volunteers to draw and color the balloons with crescent and stars to resemble the flag of Singapore. This sight has without a shadow of doubt lent a new meaning to the words, "One united Singapore".
Last Saturday's service also marked the end of the Community Involvement Programme (CIP) for the 4 Chinese students from the Singapore Polytechnic. However, they have expressed the interest in continuing to volunteer their services at ASH despite the completion of the CIP. At the end of the service, I couldn't help but feel that this National Day Celebration is more meaningful than the previous years. An unexplainable surge of patriotic sentiments almost made me screamed at the top of my voice, "Majulah Singapura!", but I had wisely decided that a simple "Happy Birthday Singapore!" will do.
1) If we were to discuss this unpleasant topic over coffee, I would seize an opportunity to take a deliberately long sip of the cup of Java and mumble something inaudible at the same time into the drink (I do not bother to repeat myself after that).
2) If I know that person really well, a cold frosty stare usually kept further probing at bay.
3) If by some chance that I happened to be in a good mood, I would smile politely (but not genuinely) and reply, “It will be soon.”
But the real reason behind the delays could actually be summed up by an abstract equation, which explains my motivation to write an entry for this blog. Running the risk of coming across as an insufferable geek, my willingness to blog can be described as a function of my mood, the weather and of course, the occurrence of an amusing event at ASH. Hence, it is apparent that the stars must have aligned, as all the variables in the above equation satisfied the necessary conditions to yield this entry. In fact, I have decided to squeeze 2 entries into 1 to produce a lengthy account of what had transpired at ASH during the past 2 services.
Exactly 2 services ago, I was absolutely amazed to realize that All Saints Home Volunteering has become increasingly cosmopolitan. This phenomenon did not occur overnight of course. It had only dawned on me when I did a quick mental arithmetic to discover that non-Singaporean volunteers comprised of nearly 70 % of the total number of volunteers! Indeed, the ranks of volunteers at ASH now swell with the Malaysians, the Vietnamese, the Indian, the Chinese, the Indonesians, the Filipinos, and even an American at one point (he is none other than Benny’s son-in-law).
As Singapore poises herself to celebrate her 44th birthday, I could not help but feel proud over this achievement. Most of the residents at ASH have been through the tumultuous times in the early years of Singapore’s independence, and they had forged on courageously to mould Singapore into the stable and prosperous country that she is today. With a stable political climate, a robust economy and a strong emphasis on providing equal opportunities for all her residents, Singapore has continually attracted migrants from nearly every corner of the globe.
By offering their services as volunteers to the nursing homes in Singapore, these foreign volunteers have shown that volunteering work is absent of borders or international boundaries. As a result, the residents at ASH have benefited tremendously from this wonderful ideal. In fact, the foreign volunteers at ASH have become indispensable to both the volunteering corp and the home.
Volunteering at ASH would be very different without Chloe’s bright and cheerful disposition, Eric’s mischievous attempts with languages, Ah Xing and Sook Ying’s tireless efforts in organizing programmes and activities for the residents, and the Vietnamese quintet’s relentless energy from the flower of their youth. In addition, we found a novice baker in Emily, who had baked a cake for the residents’ tea session. Perhaps the word 'novice' should be omitted from my description, as the residents were full of praises for her baking skills. They had in fact specifically asked for second helpings of the cake baked by Emily, even though there were Pandan and butter cakes (bought by Ah Xing) to choose from. Again, the opportunity to savour home-baked cakes was lost to me, as I had yet to recover from the sore throat and irritating fits of dry cough that have been plaguing me since the BBQ. Thus, I will never be able to know the success behind those home-baked cakes from all the tea sessions, and probably should also resign myself to the fact that my fate with home-baked cakes is pitiful at best.
In conjunction with Singapore's National Day Celebration, Kee Teck had brilliantly decided to involve the residents with the decoration of ASH using red and white balloons during last Saturday's service. Understanding the significance of Singapore's 44 years of independence better than anyone else, the residents embarked on the decoration with quiet devotion, as they were aided by the volunteers to draw and color the balloons with crescent and stars to resemble the flag of Singapore. This sight has without a shadow of doubt lent a new meaning to the words, "One united Singapore".
Last Saturday's service also marked the end of the Community Involvement Programme (CIP) for the 4 Chinese students from the Singapore Polytechnic. However, they have expressed the interest in continuing to volunteer their services at ASH despite the completion of the CIP. At the end of the service, I couldn't help but feel that this National Day Celebration is more meaningful than the previous years. An unexplainable surge of patriotic sentiments almost made me screamed at the top of my voice, "Majulah Singapura!", but I had wisely decided that a simple "Happy Birthday Singapore!" will do.
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