Firstly, some of us went to clean the windows of the home while the others spent time chatting with the elderly. I was a bit embarrassed at first, but I soon found out that the elderly were quite friendly even though some of them plainly ignored me. Some of the elderly spoke different dialects such as Teochew, Cantonese and Hokkien, so it was sometimes quite difficult to converse with them. However, there were some of them who knew how to speak English and Chinese. I spoke to them about many things such as about their routine and stuff like that, but sometimes they might even turn the conversation around and ask me about my life. Many of the conversation were very interesting. Even though they might be old, but they still know how to strike up a conversation.
After that, the whole class sang five Chinese songs for the elderly before we left.
The biggest thing I took back from the visit is that it feels good to make someone feel happy. Through the chat, I found out that the elderly lived a very boring and routine life at the home. I think that our class going to the home certainly raised the elderlies' spirit as well as made them happy. During the sing-along session, all the elderly actively took part in it and I saw that all of them were smiling. It was the first time I ever did such a CIP programme and it certainly felt good to make someone happy, even though we may not know them.
This event also taught me about caring for the elderly. I felt very sad for the elderly living there as it was very boring and many of them had nothing much to do. Thus, I told myself that when my parents grow old, I would not just toss them into an old folks' home and not care about them. I would support them and make them happy. My school should organise more of these events as I feel that it is important in our character development.
No comments:
Post a Comment