Saturday, July 12, 2008
thoughts by us;;
{{shairah;;-After visiting the home, my opinion of the officers there change....i thought that they were caring and will care for the elderly...but after what i saw, i find out that they are just normal people who will get irritated by the old people's attitude. On the first day that we went there, the officer was very strict and said that we could not take pictures of the elderly there. Uncle Lee also had complaint that the officer would scold the elderly if they misbehave. To me that was very unkind of them. On the second day i came, there is a different officer. This offficer was much more nicer than the previous one. He would talk to us kindly when he asked us to do something and he also treat the elderly nicely. He is also a funny man and often make us laugh. I really enjoyed myself there that day.
{{Huiping;;After visiting the home, i feel that the old people there is very poor thing. The officer there is terrible!!! During the first day exercise, one of the in-charge just tell one of the uncle " You can stand right!" i feel that she got no respect to the old people there. Later he just drag another uncle to the front, but the uncle refused and she just say "You people are veri stubborn". I was very disapointed and angry when the in-charge do that to the old people. I think the folks there were very friendly, there will say hi to you when they saw you. I think we did a very good job there by entertaining the folks there because we saw the happy faces shown from them. They also like the cranes we did for them. Hope that we can go back and entertain them as a group as i enjoy myself.
{{Valerie;; To me, after visiting the home, I felt that people that worked in the home doesn't really care for the elderly &don't fit the way that people think of them. They don't respect the elderly at all. &when we talked to the elderly, they actually said that they don't like the home, they wanted to get out from the home. But sometimes, the faces actually showed happiness. Why? I guess it's from our accompany because the officer that is nicer, whom Shairah mentioned, said that the elderly actually wanted to see new faces. So, when they saw us, they actually showed happiness when they talked to us or played with us. They can even dance with us, so what do you think? In Jamiyah home for the aged, I actually learn a lot. We must be patience with the elderly whenever we talked to them &we must show happy faces in order to make them happy. (:
{{Omairah;; What i had learnt from this visit to the home is unforgetable. Before the visit, i always thought that the people in the home are nice people and the elderly living there are happy.After listening to the complaints made by Uncle Lee, i started to think everything in a different perspective.Most of the elders' needs were not met, and even the people working there tend to scold the elderly.However, to me, that was why the school asked us to visit the homes.Maybe they wanted us to see the reality of the homes in Singapore.I know that i will surely go back to the home just to see their smiling faces when they see us. Even when i saw them colouring a picture, it made me think, 'This should be done by a child, why is an old man doing this?'.And it is really touching when you look at them and their face will suddenly beam with happiness.Even the crane that we gave them, they treated it as if its the most precious thhing to them.Maybe, i will also grant Uncle Lee's wish on having their complaints published on the forum page of Straits Times.
day 2:
Reached there the same timing as first day BUT shairah is LATE. Did the morning exercise with them &helped to serve tea-break as usual. Shairah was there at that time. After that, we played carrom with Jenny for 5 times.During the carrom session, there was a kompang session by the male residents. They sang old malay songs including 'Chan Mali Chan', 'Rasa Sayang' & 'Singapura'. Omairah was dancing with Jenny at the same time. However, after playing for 2 times, HuiPing went to play mahjong with the other residents, while I played one other time &went to join huiping. Omairah went round to take pictures after the 4th round. Shairah was still stuck in playing carrom with jenny &another auntie. Omairah went up to an uncle &he told the same jokes that he told Taufiq &his group. After that, we helped to serve lunch &we followed this granny &she led us to the entrance gate. Some of the residents there said that her children put her in the home &brought her out only once in a month &gave her $600 dollars to use.
However, she suffers from amnesia. So we left her at the entrance gate which she thought that we are going out, so that she can escape from the home. In the end, her plan failed. Next, HuiPing was stuck with this auntie &that auntie kept on saying that she is about to die, having liver failure. However, we were told not to believe her as they said that she has lost her mind. Again, we went round to give the cranes with huiping still stuck with that auntie. When we went to the office to sign out, the officer told us to volunteer ourselves in the home when we have time. After that, we went home.
---end----
day 1:
Reached there around 9.40 &went up to the dining hall. They were having morning exercise led by the officer over there, so we joined them. After their exercise, we helped to serve them the tea-break, which consists of bread &tea. We helped to take the plates &cups back to the kitchen before talking to the residents. The officer then brought us to the table &introduced us to uncle lee. He then talked about his life, his experience &his thoughts. Uncle lee even taught us how to play roulette &recommended us to 'beedis' cigarrettes. &he even said that smoking is not bad for health. He told us that if we wanted to be successful in life, we must be a chef or tour guide. WHY? So that we can travel around the world.
Complaints by uncle lee: {{we are helping him;;
first; he hates the food in the home because it's bland.
second; he said that the menu on the board is fake cos on that day they said that they are serving chicken stew instead it was vegetables stew.
third; he said that the tv was just for showcase cos when the pictures are clear, there's no sound &when there's sound, the pictures aren't clear.
fourth; he said that the home was supposed to make the elderly happy but instead, the officers made the elderly unhappy.
fifth;he said that the officers will bring them to places only if they are in a good mood when in the first place, the officers said that they could be out once in 2 weeks.
lastly; he said that we can help him to publish this to the Straits Time cos he can't stand it anymore.
Talked to uncle lee for about 2 hours &we helped to serve the residents lunch &uncle lee was right. It was vegetable stew instead of chicken stew. At 12.45, we went round giving the residents cranes that we made. After that, we went home.
playing carrom with jenny. ;D
uncle colouring.
cranes that we folded. {{see we are so kind;;
Giving the cranes to the residents.
huiping playing mahjong with them. {{tsk tsk;;
Shairah &Jenny! ;D
Omairah dancing with Jenny. ;D
Us with Jenny &an auntie. {{sad, shairah is the photographer;;
a 'kompang' performance from the residents.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Expectation:
-Give the elderly a good environment.
-Serve the elderly well.
-Entertain the elderly.
-Make them feel we are a part of them; make them feel that we are their family.
-Helping them to raise funds.
Thoughts:
-Hope that they can be happy when we entertain them.
-Hope to help them in every way we can.
-Trying our best not to let them feel left out.
-Hope that they would welcome us.
-Try not to feel nervous and avoid them.