Hello, yesterday was founder’s day. In Hwa Chong Institution, it is a practice that we do something for the society on founder’s day. This is also known as our Community Involvement Programme.
For our school, different levels did different things such as newspaper collecting, old folks home & children home visit and others. As for my level, my class, we went to the old folks home at Lentor residence. The purpose of going to the old folks home is to accompany, entertain the elderly and also understand certain values.
Before going to the old folks home, we did some preparation. We prepared a mini performance, which includes singing, reciting of poems and playing games. And also, we even raised some food and drinks like Milo and biscuit for them.
The day came very fast. It was 24th March 2010, the founder’s day. Everybody was excited until we reached the old folks home. To many of us, it was our first time visiting a home. We were all shy and embarrassed when we first face the elderly. Our performance was the first item. We had to sing in front of them, and slowly start to interact with them. But instead, we crowd among ourselves, and start to hope that someone doesn’t spot us.
But we got the teacher really angry and we started to interact with them. Even though we could not communicate with them properly, but under the help with the adults, we still manage to understand a little bit. And slowly we started to interact more with them, by hands signs or by verbal.
Because of the short of time, we decided to take off the reciting of poems and decided to go into the game. The game really entertained them, especially the game ‘bingo’. Although not all participated, by seeing them enjoying the game, and having a smile on their face, it really reliefs us. It means that our efforts we put in were not wasted.
After that, it was their lunchtime. So we help to do some cleaning by cleaning the stacks of chairs they had. Despite the face that it was really dirty and full of disgusting bird shit, our class worked together closely, and helps to scrub and dry the chair. It was really touching to look at that sight, the playful and naughty 2o3 actually did work together and clean the chair. I think that’s because at the moment, we had a same target in mind - really serve the elderly to the best we can!
Very soon, it was time to say goodbye. We left the place and headed back to school, feeling a little sad for the elderly, the lonely elderly.
Of course, like I mention in the previous post, there is always a learning point for everything you do. For this trip, I learnt that we should learn to spend more time with our families, especially with our parents. And also, we should take care of our parents in the future no matter what condition they are in. This is because it really hurts them if we leave them in the elderly home. Like the elderly in the home that we visited, they all seemed very lonely. Even though I don’t know why they are in the old folks home, but I know that if they were given a choice, they would rather live with their children instead of staying in an old folks home. Same things for me, if I am a parent next time, I will not want my child to leave me in the old folks home.
And I also, I learnt that staying healthy is also very important. Looking at many elderly on their wheel chair or when their movement is being restricted because of the physical conditions and feeling restless, I really sympathize them from the bottom of my heart. Thus, one’s healthiness is very important.
Well, many of you all may have different views. Share with me!
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