What: Bingo & Afternoon Tea Session with the Elderly
When: 10 December 2014
Participants: Bi Hui, Jaslin, Jiamin, Joanne, Phyllis, Xinyi, Yanjun, Yanling, Yanping
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Yanjun, Participant:
This isn’t the first time I’m doing volunteer work in the elderly environment but this is definitely the first time I’m playing the BINGO game with the elderly. Having the mindset that the elderly are clueless about the rules of BINGO and being a non-dialect speaker myself, I was a little worried that I won’t be able to explain the rules to them well. However, this worry was uncalled for because little did I know, they are actually experts at the BINGO game and in fact, they play the game every week at the activity centre.
It’s been a really meaningful Wednesday afternoon and I believe that it has created fond memories for not just the volunteers but also the elderly. It’s really heartwarming to see the enthusiasm of the elderly and I hope they have enjoyed our companionship even though it was for a mere few hours. The smiles of the elderly is definitely more than enough if there’s ever a need for reciprocation.
It’s a great feeling to be showered with care and love from strangers, isn’t it? I think it feels even better to be the one to shower those care and love to make someone’s day.
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Jiamin, Participant:
It’s been almost 4 years since we had a similar volunteering session – playing bingo with the elderly that I almost forgot how the game was being played. Luckily, the Senior Activity Centre’s In-Charge gave us a short briefing and soon the game began!
We started with a few rounds of warm up and prizes (sponsored by both the centre and our members) were given out at each round. Each of us took care of 1-2 tables and our job is to assist the elderly in case they missed out any numbers. Even though most of us do not speak their dialects, but we could still communicate easily through a mix of Chinese/English + hand gestures. It was fun seeing the elderly “chanting†their anticipated numbers and even more heartening to see the smiles on their faces when they bingo-ed.
It was definitely a well spent afternoon and I really hope we can do more of such charity on a regular basis.
