Memoirs of a Pioneer Generation (Visiting the Location)

CAS, Local Service

LO2: Demonstrate that challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process.

We started visiting the location this week and I met the lady I was going to be interacting with for the next few seasons.

As I had anticipated during the planning stage, she was one of the elderly who couldn’t speak English. The language barrier was one of the biggest challenges we faced. Even though the centre had provided a translator, he had to attend to everyone else as well. This meant that in the short time that I could actually ask her questions, I had to make them relevant, specific, and engaging. I also had to be quite sensitive when wording my questions since a lot of the people there didn’t have family and I didn’t want to make any unintentionally rude or emotionally insensitive comments.

Something that really benefitted my in the most recent week however was partnering up with one of my friends who could speak Mandarin. Although this was a short term solution, since her partner would return again next week, it was the most informative session I’ve had so far. She helped me ask all the burning questions I had and I learnt so much more about the lady I had been interacting with. Keeping in mind that this was only a short term arrangement, I asked as many questions as possible. I noted down everything I found interesting about her and even asked her to draw something for me in order to connect with her more.

For future sessions, I asked her what she would like to do and she said that she would love to try something like origami or something more hands on. I’m going to try and find some more arts and crafts for us to attempt together while the translator makes his rounds so the session doesn’t go to waste.

 

Memoirs of a Pioneer Generation (Planning Sessions)

CAS, Local Service

photo taken from: lionsbefrienders.org.sg

LO1: Identify their own strengths and develop areas for growth.

The heart of a country is in its people, their experiences, their thoughts, and their stories. For this reason, it was very important to me to sign up for this service again. I wanted to connect with the local community in Singapore directly through its pioneer generation. This service will definitely be a way I learn about the rich culture and history of Singapore.Over the course of the last two weeks, I started my local service, Memoirs of a Pioneer Generation. I already did this service last year and thoroughly enjoyed it which was why I signed up for it again. This service is about visiting old-age homes in Singapore, interacting with the elders there, and writing their stories. I found it so unique and interesting when I did it last year. To me, it was a way to give a voice to the people who shaped Singapore.

I left the first session looking forward to all the work we are going to do. Although there were some minor changes (such as the location we would be visiting) to the service, the fundamental part of the service which entails capturing the stories of these people stayed the same. In the second session, we began to develop our skills as interviewers and journalists.

These couple of weeks were so important in gaining foundational skills to start visiting the location next week onwards and I definitely learnt a lot. I became more conscious of how sensitive we need to be around the elderly since many of them would have dementia or we would have a language barrier between us. However I also learnt that this was part of challenging myself to find connections with people without even having to say anything. I’m very excited for this week.