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.

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

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.

Barbecue: Love it or hate it

To me, barbecue has always been a slightly bizarre affair. For starters, barbecued food is neither spectacularly delicious nor healthy at all. In fact, I believe we often hear about how the potentially cancer causing barbecued food can shave a couple of years off your life expectancy. Then comes the hassle of preparing the wretched barbecue pit by stacking the logs of charcoal into little 'Inca-styled' pyramids, each housing 1 or 2 fire starters (in our case, I counted 3). By the time the brave soul is finished with this chore, his/her hands would be stubbornly stained by the charcoals as the presence of a pair of gloves is almost always unavailable. But all these could still be considered as bearable inconveniences. After all, you could always peel off the burnt portions of the barbecued food, thereby avoid eating the carcinogenic parts. The gallant 'pit crew' (pun is unintended) could always wash and vigorously scrub their hands with soap after they've completed their mini pyramids. The most unbearable thing about a barbecue, is the lingering smell of grease and smoke, which clings onto your clothes and continues to plague you as an unbearable odor when you journey home.

However, despite all these inconveniences, there is something magical about barbecue. In fact, it has evolved into a distinct way of life in America! It is almost always the most ideal activity for any gatherings and it is not entirely hard to see why that is the case. In a barbecue, everyone could have something to do. As mentioned previously, a barbecue will need a decent team of pit crew to assemble the mini charcoal pyramids and get the fire started. Failing which, the barbecue will be finished before it even begins. Then there will be at least 2 or 3 'chefs du jour' to barbecue all the food. Due to the intense heat at the pit and more importantly, to have a chance to eat, the 'chefs' will have to rotate their duties with the rest. Thus, almost everyone will get their hands dirty (quite literally) at any point during the barbecue, and strangely, enjoying the entire process.

Staying true to the volunteering tradition at All Saints Home, the welfare committee organized a barbecue at East Coast Park for the 4th anniversary of volunteering at All Saints Home. My love-hate relationship with barbecue could be aptly described by this one at East Coast Park. Already stricken by a serious bout of cold 3 days before, I went to the barbecue with a sore throat and a nasty cough, but determined not to take any of the barbecued stuffs that could potentially plunge me further into misery. Alas, when I saw that the welfare committee had catered enough food to feed a small country, I groaned inwardly. Our barbecue was lavished with rows of chicken wings, chicken chops, otaks (spicy fish paste wrapped in a banana skin), satays (cubes of meat skewered onto a stick), fishballs, chinese sausages, asparagus wrapped with a strip of bacon, sting ray, vegetable curry, a large plate of bee hoon, corns and sweet potatoes. By the time the caterer had finished with delivering all the items, my jaws had dropped to a level that is lower than my ankles.





To give credits to the welfare committee, besides arranging for the food to be catered, they had thoughtfully organized some ice-breaking games for all the volunteers. Before I could realize what had happened, I was unashamedly telling everyone 10 ridiculous facts about myself and at the same time, learnt 10 equally ridiculous facts about more than a dozen others. In the ensuing whirlwind of chaos that followed, I was running half mad with Linh and Kee Teck to persuade hapless cyclists and couples taking a stroll at the park to pose awkwardly for our cameras. Yes, the games may not make any sense if you weren't at the barbecue, but I guess it would be best not to reveal ALL the embarrassing moments during the games.

Almost immediately after the games, we set about to prepare for the barbecue. Hunger is invariably an effective taskmaster. Needless to say Kee Teck and Damien took on the unenviable task of setting up the barbecue pit, and predictably had their hands blackened hideously by the charcoal. But their sacrifice paid off as a fire was burning brilliantly shortly after they lit the small mound of starters within the charcoal pyramids. Thereafter, An, Linh, Thrang, Jessica and Shirlyn surrounded the pit and proceeded to barbecue the food. With unspeakable glee, I watched the delightful irony unfolds before me. The quintet had broken the stereotype of letting men do the barbecue, while the ladies unabashedly feast at a corner. These girls really are bold and couldn't care less. I began to love barbecue with each passing minute.


Now you see satays...

Now you don't...

To avoid worsening the condition of my throat, I had deliberately selected the 'safe' food. Bee hoon, fish balls and satays (without dipping them into the gravy). So far so good. Not the slightest tinge of irritation stirred in my throat. Then came my undoing: the chinese sausages. You must be wondering how could the innocuous-looking chinese sausage possibly assail my stricken throat? One gluttonous bite later, I screamed inwardly, "The darned thing was seasoned with chili!". Controlling the tirade of expletives that were threatening to erupt with each passing seconds, I forced down that offensive lump of sausage, thereby condemning my throat to its doom. This unfortunate event did not sour my mood for sure. At least not yet. A gentle sea breeze had blown invitingly across the entire beach front, which prompted me and a couple of volunteers to shift our spot to the beach and feasted luxuriously on the platter of fruits prepared by Benny. As dusk approaches, the rows of tankers at the horizon lit the rapidly darkening skies with the myriad of lights onboard their decks. It was a quiet, yet magnificent view of the seas off our island city.

As the barbecue was about to come to an end, the welfare committee gathered everyone to celebrate the birthdays of all the July babies. They are An, Tina, Sabrina and yours truly, me. The welfare committee works wonder don't they? Pulling off a barbecue is no easy feat. Top it off with games and a birthday cake, it qualifies as a herculean effort. The members of the welfare committee (Jiahao and Sook Ying) are the heroes who made this barbecue happened. Kudos to them. Nevertheless, all the happy moments at the barbecue thus far, were just building up for a gigantic anti-climax. As we proceeded to cut the semi-melted mango cake, we learnt that Sabrina will be leaving Singapore to further her studies. Just when my impression of barbecues changed for the better... Although Sabrina had joined us not too long ago, she's just as enthusiastic with the volunteering services at ASH as the veterans. In fact, she was game (and feisty) enough to volunteer as an emcee for the Dumpling festival, a brave feat for a new volunteer. There is no doubt everyone at ASH will miss Sabrina, and it goes without saying that we hope she will continue to volunteer at ASH when she returns from her studies. If you are reading this, on behalf of everyone from ASH: bon voyage and best wishes to the exciting lease of campus life that awaits! And one thing's for sure, you will be missed.


The July babies, (minus Sharon in the background), An, Tina, me and Sabrina.




The picture that has everybody (nearly)

After everyone had done their part to finish the huge rim of mango cake, we began to clean up the compounds of the barbecue pit and lazily packed up all the barbecue equipments. As with all barbecues, there was a large portion of unfinished food. I am pretty certain that Jiahao will be having them for his breakfast, lunch and dinner over the next couple of days, as he loaded them to the boot of his car. Heavily stuffed with food, we left East Coast Park together as the celebration of the anniversary came to an end. Needless to say, the barbecue was incredibly organized by Sook Ying and Jiahao, and I would be kidding myself if I were to say that I did not enjoy it. But that did not prevent the persistent smell of grease and smoke from clinging onto my clothes. Journeying back home on the train, I was trying my best to ignore the conscious movements of the passengers as they try to shift away from me to a spot with fresher air. I was ever more certain of my love/hate relationship with barbecue.

Let them eat cakes!

Infamously uttered by the Bourbon Queen of France, Marie Antoinette, the phrase "Let them eat cakes" ultimately proved to be her undoing. It could be argued that the starving Parisians didn't like cakes very much (and neither do I, but if Marie Antoinette really bore any semblance to Kirsten Dunst, I would most definitely swallow cakes whole). However, the very same phrase uttered by our undisputed Queen of ASH, Miss Carolyn Tan, brought about quite the opposite effect. It had cemented her regal status at ASH.

It all began with the idea of treating the elderly at the home to snacks (whipped up by the volunteers) during tea once or twice a month. This idea became an instant hit with the elderly at the home, as it provided a refreshing change to the repetitive menu at the home. On yesterday's service, the snack served during tea time was butter cakes (baked by Carolyn's sister). As expected, the butter cakes were finished to the very last slice. Although I had yet to reach ASH during tea, first hand accounts by Benny and the rest of the volunteers attested to the immense popularity of the butter cakes. Indeed, some elderly had even requested for a second helping! Like a seasoned food critic, Benny managed to describe with painstaking details of how heavenly the butter cake tasted. When quizzed on how would he know, Benny sheepishly admitted that he had helped himself to a slice of the butter cake. Without missing a beat, Benny continued that he could tell that the butter cakes were baked from the finest of ingredients, which separated them from those sold at the confectionaries. For the very first time, I had actually chided myself for failing to be punctual for volunteering service.







Benny's comments aside, the rest of the volunteers agreed that the butter cakes were a much welcome treat for the elderly at the home. Some elderly had even remarked that they have not had cakes in ages and that the butter cakes had lifted their spirit. Although we were glad that the elderly at the home enjoyed the butter cakes, I could not help but feel overwhelmed by the fact that such a mundane dessert could mean a world of luxury to them. Thus, the tea sessions will become a permanent fixture in ASH volunteering activities.

Besides the resounding success of yesterday's tea session, the service had recorded the most number of volunteers for the month of June. 16 volunteers in all turned up for the service, and the occasion even prompted a photo taking session (with great difficulty, as we tried to squeeze and get everyone to fit nicely into a picture with Carolyn's camera). When we made our way to each individual wards for the singing session, I couldn't help but notice that we need not sing at the top of our voice to project the volume of our singing. Ah, the might of sheer numbers!



Before I end this entry, I would like to (on behalf of everyone in ASH) thank Carolyn's sister for generously offering to bake the butter cakes. The butter cakes had without a doubt, given the elderly at the home an unforgettable tea session.

On a side note, I did not realize that there are readers outside of Carolyn who scrutinize this blog diligently. I got the shock of my life when Benny confronted me yesterday on my previous post, as it had almost gotten him into trouble with his missus! That being said, I will definitely exercise greater tact for all my future entries. But on second thoughts, I probably won't (and they say women are capricious!). In doing so, all the volunteers' fun and laughters will inevitably be lost. Hence, it is the duty of this blog (and mine) to chronicle all the ridiculous, wild and even embarrassing happenings at ASH.

Cheers,
WZ

Upcoming Events: ASH Flag Day and ASH Volunteers' Anniversary

Dearest readers,

it has been awhile since I did some serious blogging on this blog site (again, Carolyn will not be pleased with this), so I've got to get my act back together and do what's need to be done! But please don't be mistaken. I love to blog, I seriously do. It's just that I'm rarely conscientious enough to do it on a regular basis (it doesn't help that I'm a hopeless procrastinator). Before I proceed to digress any further, I'm charged with 2 important announcements. Firstly, the date for the annual All Saints Home flag day is drawing near. The details for this event are as follow:

Date: 11th July 2009

Reporting Stations:
1) Jurong East MRT Station
2) Woodlands MRT Station
3) Ang Mo Kio MRT Station
4) Saint Andrew Cathedral Church (behind the bus stop on the main road)
5) Kovan Hub
6) Tampines North CC Foyer

Shifts:
1) 0800 to 1300
2) 1130 to 1630
3) 1600 to 1900 (Only for Tampines North CC Foyer volunteers)

If you are interested to raise funds for our beneficiaries at All Saints Home through this flag selling event, please send your particulars to ashvolunteer@yahoo.com.sg. We look forward to your response because All Saints Home needs you!

Now that I'm done with announcing the important stuff, I shall move on to an informal one. All Saints Home Volunteering turns 4 years old this July. I've to admit that I've always hated to celebrate birthdays or anniversaries, but this is different. The 4th anniversary celebrates the priceless camaraderie shared by all the volunteers, who have been regularly visiting all the elderly at ASH. Something which means the world to me.

During this time, we have made close friends with each other. How can anyone forget Carolyn's high pitched laughter, Kee Teck's reticent but reliable demeanor, Jiahao's Mambo-crazed moves, Sook Ying's energy and playfulness, Ah Xing's compulsively meticulous event planning skills, Benny's charm that swept all the aunties at ASH off their feet, Eric's feeble attempts at cantonese, the painfully innocent (and shy) Vietnamese girls, Eunice's powerful vocal chords, Chloe's witty sarcasm and of course, my buckets load of nonsense. If I've missed out anyone, I sincerely apologize. There are simply many names to remember! But please do join us in the celebration, and this time, look me in the eye, and make me remember your name!!! At least that was how I could learn to pronounce and remember the Vietnamese girls' name (if albeit with great difficulty and practice).

The question really is, how could we not celebrate such a joyous occasion, which marks 4 years of meaningful volunteering and friendship? So c'mon, get your act together and join us!

Regards,
WZ