Jacquelyn's reflection for House Visit

Hmms... I came in later than the rest that day. Actually, I wanted to peep from downstairs to see at which floor the rest were at but what amazed mewas that I couldn't do so at all. There wasn't any corridor when I looked from downstairs. begin to wonder how does the individual floors lokked like... called pin qi: "just come up its all connected." "???" I thought.

Upon reaching the 3rd floor, looked across the level when i stepped out of the lift, i sort of got a scare... It is like some ghost movies scene that i am walking into. I saw 3 shadows on each far end of the level. I noticed pin qi's and jia xiang's shadow at one corner and decided to walk towards them. It feels kindof eerie when i walked past the door corridors feeling uneasy all over. Luckily, along the corridor there were some occasional human voices coming out from the house which helped to calm my nerves. haha good experience anyway.

The first household that I managed to interact with was an old lady who claimed that she worked at KFC before. Or in fact she did worked at KFC before. She was a retiree and heard from her she got quite a good retirement pay from KFC. The funny thing about her was that she actualy was like helping KFC to promote and say it is a good place to work at... For a moment was thinking: "How I wish I could do that..." The next moment... "PoP!" The dream bubble burst. hahas. She is very friendly and was telling us her work story and family story. It was the first and the most lovely household I went to.

It is quite experincing to go on such home visits and I feel that the elderlys are happy to see us there as they can have people to talk to... that's something that they enjoyed doing most. never mind we'll get to see them agian when we delivered the fundraised items. Yeah!

pinqi's home visit experience

this shall be a short post(: a rather fulfilling trip down.triggered some thoughts!

this is not exactly my first trip to such hdb houses..so i sorta knew what to expect..it's like the show "just in singapore(一房半厅一水缸）" on channel 8...well..maybe i can say that the corridor looks even darker(bad lighting)..

however..i still felt jittery and somehow i was kinda paranoid when no one answered the doors and when i smell weird (not realli nice) smells..cos the old people living there may have fainted or sth bad has happened..

fast forward-ing to the 2 household we managed visit..the first was a highly jovial auntie...who kept smiling(too overwhelming though) and cos of the language barrier..it was a short convo..and the second household(which is the "susan" one mentioned by adele)...she's a very nice and welcoming auntie..spoke english...and so we started casual conversation with her..and she told us about her house(some bed bug problem)..her work last time at kfc..her mother(101 years old!!)..and their health...but when we asked her what she wanted/need..she refused our help immediately..this also happened at the previous household..rather surprisingly..

some issues and afterthought i had:

whether they are ALREADY self sufficient..or BLK 12 is actually getting alot of help already from various organisation including tj's leo club..and since they seem to be able to support themselves..and do not need our help..

living condition..bed bug problem..and because some of the residents pick up old and discarded items which may not be very clean..

lastly..it's the most important issue about the type of help that the people there really need...it seems that the old people enjoy company and financial well being is not their top priority..at least for me...i feel that they need/want care and concern..and any additional material welfare is deemed EXTRA..maybe instead of buying things for them...we can do house cleaning or some activities that has more engagment..(well..mr cheng says some residents ask if we can organise acitivities for them instead..though it sounds like a want, an entertainment and a luxury good..i think it'll be better than just giving them food aid cos it may brighten up their life more...alternatively..we can try finding another blk that really require the food/ neccessity aid!)

yep.that's abt it..paiseh for the incoherence..may do some editting when i have the time!

Adele's reflections for House Visits

"There are ex-convicts, ex-drug addicts, people with mental illness in the block" I heard this from the person in charge. It isn't the most pleasant thing to hear when you know that you will be visiting the people in this block.. but the housevisits wasn't that bad after all.

When we stepped out of the lift, the sight is like what you see in movies. dark corridors, most doors are locked... i can't describe it, but it was quite scary. when we started the house visits(chinese households), we knocked on the door of the first household, waited--no response, second household,waited--no response, third household,waited--no response. I was quite dissapointed initially, because we wanted to help, but we cant even get to talk to them. then we saw the person in charge. she knocked the door of the resident real hard and called 'susan', 'susan', 'susan'. at first, there was no reply, but few minutes later, someone opened the door. and we learnt, knock louder, call their name and wait longer. it was difficult doing so, cause it felt weired to call for someone so loudly...

afterward, i joined the girls from MCS to visit the maly households. though i don't understand malay, i felt the sincere care and love that the MCS girls showed towards the malay households. they were so polite and gentle. in return, the malay households also showed hospitality by inviting us into their house. all three malay households we went to did the same. though they are poor, though they might not have much to offer their guest, they were so willing to invite us into their house. i was touched by this. How many people are willing to open their doors and welcome "strangers" into their house these days? they were so sincere...

a sickly old man stayed in the first malay household that we went to. there was another woman staying there too, i think it's his wife. According to the MCS girls, they said they would gladly accept anything that we were to give them, cause they are living as the day goes by and accepting fate as it is. the man was weak and frail...

we did not get a reply from the second household at first, but when we went back again, a women came to the door. she was seriously ill too. she was lying on the bed and could not go to the door when we visited her the first time. she did not ask for much too, just the daily neccessities...

the aunty from the third household was smiley. she chatted with us and i could feel her joy. she said her grandson is studying in pasir ris sec. she said it proudly and with a smile. who says that without material wealth, there is no joy? i believe that the aunty is much happier than many other singaporeans.

the housevisits was a great experience. talking to people whom we seldom or never interact with in our daily lives was enriching. i'm glad that we perservered in doing this project. the people, the interaction and the hospitality made my day! :D