Tuesday, March 02, 2010
CNY Celebration on 20th Feb 10
What a saturday! But i meant a happy and fun one with All Saints Tampines home celebrating CNY on 20th, there were plenty of volunteers who turned and had great joy with the old folks together..
Friday, February 12, 2010
February Birthday Babies and Makan Session on 6 February 2010
We celebrated birthday for 14 residents and 2 volunteers on 6 February 10.
Our All Saints Airline 'Stewards'
New year goodies - Loveletter, Pineapple tarts and Kuek Bolu
Residents representatives Uncle Christopher, Uncle Kum Meng and Katherine.
Kudo to An's amazing cutting skill.
Singing performance by Emily and Rae 
More of our 'Stewards' at work.
Most hardworking volunteer of the day - Linh
February Baby 1 : Czek Xing
February Baby 2 : JennyThursday, February 04, 2010
Akin to Standing Next to a Boiling Cauldron
Of the million things in this country that I could possibly think of to explain my affection for Singapore, the searing hot weather is certainly not one of them. Yes, you can cite the half dozen deserts strewn across the equatorial belt as places that doubtlessly record much higher temperature, but the high relative humidity of our sunny island allows us to trump them effortlessly to win the ‘country-that’s-so-hot-that-even-the-natives-find-it-unbearable’ award. Unsurprisingly, last Saturday’s weather was scorching. Despite the air-conditioned network of shopping centers and public transport that connects my home to Bugis, I briefly had an idea of what it must have been like for the luckless villain who was left for dead in a desert after offending an eminent Caliph.
I had taken the train to meet Carolyn and Benny at Rochor Center to buy the gifts and prizes for the Chinese New Celebration at All Saints Home. The moment I left the sanctuary of the air-conditioned train station, I knew all was lost. Almost instantaneously, I was ‘head-butted’ by the rush of hot, humid afternoon air as I left the train station and huge beads of perspiration wasted no time in trickling down my forehead. In spite of the terrible weather, Carolyn beamed with energy, outpacing Benny and I to rummage through the various shops selling Chinese New Year decorations and gifts. I made a mental note to myself never to register in any competitive event that involves Carolyn, shopping or tight alleys flanked by a caravan of pushcarts.
To add fire (figuratively and literally speaking) to the situation, Benny recommended us to try the herbal mutton soup at Jalan Basar hawker center during lunch after shopping for the gifts and prizes. The mutton soup was predictably yummy, but the situation after the meal? Dicey! For the entire length of journey back to All Saints Home, I felt as if I had a nuclear reactor that underwent a meltdown within me even though the air-conditioner was already operating at full blast in Benny’s car. Thus, when we arrived at All Saints Home, I was already coming dangerously close to dehydration, with every bit of strength fleeing from my body.
By a tremendous stroke of luck, the activity at All Saints Home for that Saturday was a handicraft session, which involved folding the edges of ang pow (red packets) into triangles and assembling them into an oriental styled lantern. If that Saturday’s activity had been mass games, I would probably have fled from the home. Due to the intermission of service at SN home, we were very fortunate to have Meng Kwee, Ben and Xia Xi to join us at this handicraft session, which aimed to bring the festive spirit of the lunar new year to the residents at All Saints Home.
In perfect tandem, the residents folded the edges of the red packets, while the volunteers did the assembling of the red packets by stapling the edges of the red packets together. It was very encouraging to see the residents participate in this activity with as much vigor as the volunteers, despite being afflicted with physical ailments such as arthritis, which severely restrict the dexterity of their fingers. After all the red packets were prepared with their edges duly folded, the volunteers broke up into small groups to get the red packets assembled into lanterns. Standing beside Linh and Anitha with a small pile of red packets, the three of us proceeded to work busily to get the lantern assembled. Anitha provided her meticulous plans to get the lantern assembled, I did the stapling, while Linh pretty much nit picked at everything I was doing (which really tempted me to staple her lips instead of the red packets). Miraculously, our unlikely alliance had produced the most magnificent (if unusual) looking lantern.
Scorching weather aside, judging from the din the volunteers and the residents were making (which made me wonder if anyone was as dehydrated as I was), the handicraft session was highly enjoyable and served the purpose of decorating the corridors of All Saints Home. As I scurried away hurriedly from All Saints Home after the service, I couldn’t help but wonder if this dry spell would persist on our sunny little island. Chinese new year celebrates the dawn of spring, but judging from the unbearably hot weather, which conjured the image of standing next to a boiling cauldron of oil, it seemed like we're celebrating an eternal summer instead. Oh rainy days, cloudy nights, where art thou?
I had taken the train to meet Carolyn and Benny at Rochor Center to buy the gifts and prizes for the Chinese New Celebration at All Saints Home. The moment I left the sanctuary of the air-conditioned train station, I knew all was lost. Almost instantaneously, I was ‘head-butted’ by the rush of hot, humid afternoon air as I left the train station and huge beads of perspiration wasted no time in trickling down my forehead. In spite of the terrible weather, Carolyn beamed with energy, outpacing Benny and I to rummage through the various shops selling Chinese New Year decorations and gifts. I made a mental note to myself never to register in any competitive event that involves Carolyn, shopping or tight alleys flanked by a caravan of pushcarts.
To add fire (figuratively and literally speaking) to the situation, Benny recommended us to try the herbal mutton soup at Jalan Basar hawker center during lunch after shopping for the gifts and prizes. The mutton soup was predictably yummy, but the situation after the meal? Dicey! For the entire length of journey back to All Saints Home, I felt as if I had a nuclear reactor that underwent a meltdown within me even though the air-conditioner was already operating at full blast in Benny’s car. Thus, when we arrived at All Saints Home, I was already coming dangerously close to dehydration, with every bit of strength fleeing from my body.
By a tremendous stroke of luck, the activity at All Saints Home for that Saturday was a handicraft session, which involved folding the edges of ang pow (red packets) into triangles and assembling them into an oriental styled lantern. If that Saturday’s activity had been mass games, I would probably have fled from the home. Due to the intermission of service at SN home, we were very fortunate to have Meng Kwee, Ben and Xia Xi to join us at this handicraft session, which aimed to bring the festive spirit of the lunar new year to the residents at All Saints Home.
In perfect tandem, the residents folded the edges of the red packets, while the volunteers did the assembling of the red packets by stapling the edges of the red packets together. It was very encouraging to see the residents participate in this activity with as much vigor as the volunteers, despite being afflicted with physical ailments such as arthritis, which severely restrict the dexterity of their fingers. After all the red packets were prepared with their edges duly folded, the volunteers broke up into small groups to get the red packets assembled into lanterns. Standing beside Linh and Anitha with a small pile of red packets, the three of us proceeded to work busily to get the lantern assembled. Anitha provided her meticulous plans to get the lantern assembled, I did the stapling, while Linh pretty much nit picked at everything I was doing (which really tempted me to staple her lips instead of the red packets). Miraculously, our unlikely alliance had produced the most magnificent (if unusual) looking lantern.
Scorching weather aside, judging from the din the volunteers and the residents were making (which made me wonder if anyone was as dehydrated as I was), the handicraft session was highly enjoyable and served the purpose of decorating the corridors of All Saints Home. As I scurried away hurriedly from All Saints Home after the service, I couldn’t help but wonder if this dry spell would persist on our sunny little island. Chinese new year celebrates the dawn of spring, but judging from the unbearably hot weather, which conjured the image of standing next to a boiling cauldron of oil, it seemed like we're celebrating an eternal summer instead. Oh rainy days, cloudy nights, where art thou?
Saturday, January 30, 2010
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JANUARY BABIES
A fulfilling 2009 has passed and promising 2010 has come to our door. During the course of 2009, we have achieved so much in terms of many successful events that we organized such as Singapore Flyer outing, Chinese New Year and Christmas celebration. However, I think that the greatest achievement that I had was that I had a chance to be part of an UNITED, FUN AND AWESOME volunteer group like All Saints Home volunteer group, had a chance to get to know more about the old folks and help them to enjoy their life a little bit more and on top of that I had a chance to have friendship that I will treasure for life. Think back to the time when I first join, how blur I was when the old folks asked me in Chinese, how funny I sounded when I sang an old Chinese song, I know I can't be who I am today without all the volunteers, my peers, my friends from All Saints Home volunteer group. Thus, it would be my biggest mistakes if I don't scream this out loud: HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JANUARY BABIES (and other months babies as well :D).
THANK YOU for the time you have spent to come down and help us, THANK YOU for the smiles that you always bring to All Saints Home, and of course, THANK YOU for being born and be the person that you are today. :D
This year, a new traddition has been made, this month is the first month that Volunteers and Residents birthday celebration is combined. Now, our lucky Jan Babies (Trang, Thu, Rachel, Sharon and Wooi Cheng) can celebrate their birthday with 89 more Jan "BABIES" (according the record, the oldest baby is 101 years old :D).
THANK YOU for the time you have spent to come down and help us, THANK YOU for the smiles that you always bring to All Saints Home, and of course, THANK YOU for being born and be the person that you are today. :D
This year, a new traddition has been made, this month is the first month that Volunteers and Residents birthday celebration is combined. Now, our lucky Jan Babies (Trang, Thu, Rachel, Sharon and Wooi Cheng) can celebrate their birthday with 89 more Jan "BABIES" (according the record, the oldest baby is 101 years old :D).
Trang and Teck Ee
Thu and her trademark smile <3>
preparing the cake
We would like to thank All Saints Home for sponsoring BIRTHDAY CAKE, All Saints Home volunteer group for the karaoke session and all other volunteers for actively participating and serving the elderly. And for OUR DEAREST JAN BABIES, WISH YOU AN ENRICHING, AWESOME YEAR AHEAD :D And this is a small wish for myself, I wish years from now, I could still see you guys every Saturday afternoon, giving the best we can to see the elderly bright smile :D
AN
preparing the cake
We would like to thank All Saints Home for sponsoring BIRTHDAY CAKE, All Saints Home volunteer group for the karaoke session and all other volunteers for actively participating and serving the elderly. And for OUR DEAREST JAN BABIES, WISH YOU AN ENRICHING, AWESOME YEAR AHEAD :D And this is a small wish for myself, I wish years from now, I could still see you guys every Saturday afternoon, giving the best we can to see the elderly bright smile :D
AN
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