Category Archives: Service

LO 6: Engaging with issues of global importance

It is unfortunate that we were not able to achieve the missions of our service because of the coronavirus but besides, there is actually a lot that I learned from ‘memoirs of the pioneer generation’. Most importantly I learned to accept other people’s differences. This is an issue of utmost importance looking at the fact that we are living in a world where no two people are the same. I absolutely understand that in my service, we dealt specifically with seniors and assisted them in making their lives sound more meaningful but even so that gave me the platform to relate to other people’s differences, including myself. For instance, our clients were seniors and I am a teenager, they are Singaporeans and I am Tswana, they are disabled whereas I am not. These are some of the things that I took time to sit down and start thinking about them because I felt that they are very relevant to everyday life. Being able to recognize those differences and accept other people made me realize how great and amazing it is to understand each other and live together peacefully. It made me wonder and start imagining how amazing the world be if everyone cared about others and accepted their unique differences.

#LO6: Engaging with issues of global importance

Memoirs of the Pioneer generation always gives me the platform to learn a wide range of global issues among which include health and fitness as linked to this idea of ageing. I essentially learned that it is important to stay fit and healthy at all times when you are old and this is a significant issue to me and to everyone out there because at one point in our lives we will too get old and similarly have to make sure we are in a good state of health at all times.

My actions have been of a positive impact on this particular issue because in our service we do activities that contribute towards the health of seniors. For instance,  we play various games such as ball games and board games that all enable the seniors to exercise their bodies both mentally and physically. My participation in this activity taught me a million-dollar lesson that it is essential to maintain fitness every time so as to slow down ageing as well as ensure that by the time you are old you would be fit enough to do anything for yourself.

#LO7: Considering the ethical implications of actions

Although fun, working with seniors, especially those with certain disabilities has never been that easy. There was always so much to take into account, what you say, what you do and so forth. Part of our service, which happens to be crucial,  entails us asking the seniors about their life in general as well as their thoughts of Singapore then record all these stories. I always thought about it for some while and realized that this task is quite easy to do with my age mates or middle-aged people but then a  bit hard and challenging when its old persons, more especially the physically underprivileged ones. For an unclear reason, I thought that it is disrespectful and rude to ask old people about their personal lives and perspectives on various topics. This sometimes made me panic every time I was supposed to interact with the seniors and collect their stories because I was not certain whether it was ethical or not.

I approached this really easily. I constantly reminded myself of what our service is mostly about and sometimes talked to the supervisors to get the assurance that it is ethically right to hold conversations with seniors on sensitive matters.

#LO4: Planning and  initiating activities

#LO2: Undertaken new challenges and developed new skills

Memoirs of the Pioneer generation truly gives me and probably everyone involved in the service the ability to think critically and make sound decisions when dealing with seniors. We mostly played board games and some other simple exercises that the seniors were able to do. I planned and organized this other board game known as Uno Stacko in which I basically just had to stack up blocks with the seniors and then remove them one by one from the platform without letting it collapse.  It was a pretty funny and interesting game. On the other hand, I also became a  bit creative and played a game a card game with the seniors, in which we stacked up cards and strived to make something that looks more like a house or just a simple platform. These games were preferable from my perspective since they did not really require much thinking or anything of that nature.

Despite the fact that the games were interesting, I did encounter some complications working with the seniors which had the tendency to make it difficult for me to execute my plan at some point. Most of them were Chinese and couldn’t really understand English so no matter how simple I tried to put my English they never understood a thing. Nonetheless, we were not alone, we enjoyed the company of the CareGivers at Tampines Home Care. Every time that there was a language barrier between us and the seniors they made sure to intervene and eliminate those barriers obviously because they could speak both English and Chinese well. The critical thinking skills I acquired when working with seniors ensured that I planned out activities that they were capable to play and that I was always mindful to not do anything stupid.

Here is a picture of the games that I planned out during one of the sessions with our service partner:

It is only unfortunate that we are not allowed to take pictures during our service thus the above pictures were sourced from the internet just so I could provide an idea of what kind of games we played with the seniors.

INVESTIGATION

It was after living under the same roof with a person in her early seventies that i got deeply motivated to join Members of the Pioneer Generation. I would never at any  point in my life turn my back on or entirely forget about her given the pleasure and instinctive motherly love that she expressed to me. The funny fact is i do not know how i am related to her but all i am certain of is that she is a mother to my uncle’s wife. She told me various stories, cracked jokes every time i was in a horrible state of boredom and even taught me more about politics. Sometimes we went for a walk together in the mornings after running household errands and guess what, we always bursted into spasms of laughter from the moment we left the house till we arrived back from the walk. The neighbourhood was so astonished by how much we were close and even envied us a lot. I do not at all mean to derail from the topic but that is a brief story of how my heart got attached to the elderly.

In Memoirs of the Pioneer Generation, we deal with seniors (typically aged 65 and above) in Singapore. All we do is formulate effective relationships and facilitate the lives of these people in a wide spectrum of ways to ensure they live an active and meaningful lifestyle. We do these by playing games with them, interviewing them about the history of Singapore, learn more about their life stories and many other ways. During the process we put this information together into documentaries for future references. With the interpersonal skills i learned from interacting very well with my elders as explained in the above brief story, i undoubtedly believe that it will be much easier for me to get along well with seniors and work together effectively and efficiently.

I hope to further extend my interpersonal skills such as Communication, Empathy, Respect, Caring etc. In addition to these i will be able to develop critical thinking and mental flexibility when dealing the elderly with patience coming at the top. Patience will be one of the most prominent personal qualities since seniors are typically underprivileged in terms of memory, fitness and strength. All in all, it is highly paramount that seniors are well taken care of because they are in every way the foundation of the society from we came from. They influenced our lives in numerous ways and thus turning our back on them should never, not even a bit, be our reaction whenever we hear about them. One day i will be in their position and the question i never ceased to ask myself was, ” who will be there to look after me when i am almost at the peak of my life?”.