What: Volunteering at Tse Tho Aum Temple
When: 26th June 2011
Where: Tse Tho Aum Temple
Participant(s): Celest, Charmaine, Jean, Jiamin, Joanne Chong, Joyce, Kah Yin, Rachael, Sandra, Shirley, Shu Pei and Xinyi
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Shu Pei, Participant
This is the first time volunteering with RBKD. Our first task was to serve them drinks (Chinese tea). After a while, 4-5 buses ferrying elderly from the old folks’ home from all over Singapore arrived. A few of the elderly are wheelchair-bound and some of us volunteered to wheel them from the loading bay to the dining hall. This was not an easy job as we have to push the wheelchair up a steep slope; lift up a step before reaching the entrance of the hall. From there, the elderly have to be shifted from the wheelchair to the dining chair and lunch was served.
As the elderly were preparing to go home, it started pouring heavily. While the elderly were being sheltered from the dining hall to their buses I was busy keeping the chairs and cleaning the table. After cleaning up, we had a light refreshment and souvenir before heading home.
As some of the elderly had difficulty moving around, they rarely get to go outside. Seeing them enjoying their lunch prepared and interacting with them was a joy thing.
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Kah Yin, Participant
It was another meaningful memory we had created at Tse Tho Aum Temple, for both the elderly and ourselves. You can really feel the volunteers were all together as one on the day to take care of the elderly and their safety, especially when it started raining. Though they, and we, were all so drenched, it’s touching to see how everyone was doing their best and making sure that the elderly get on the bus safe and dry.
Elderly smiling, patting our hand and saying/gesturing thank you to us (and we even got a kiss!) after the lunch were more than enough to make up for all the things we have done. *wide grin*
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