Just came back from Hevina's house :)
Great food and company as always :D
Anyway, went to Old Airport road for the first time today. :)
Seems like there's a lot of good food there. But before that, I went around blocks in Dakota to give out flyers. Interact was giving out flyers to inform the needy families of food distribution which is going to happen on Thursday. It was really an eye-opening experience. The flats were two-room flats.
Most of the elderly live alone. There was this lady who was seated outside her apartment. And when I approached her to ask if she lived there, she said yes and that she can't walk. And I presumed she lived alone. So many things were going through my mind. What happens if she falls? How does she go back into her house? I saw her pointing down(we were on the second floor) when she said she couldn't walk anymore. This reflected her desire to walk again, to go out, and experience everything again.
And she didn't rely on a wheelchair or anything. All she had was this metal walker thing.
She is probably 70-80 years old and she wouldn't have the strength to lift herself up. Yet, this walker thing was all she had. And she was such a nice old lady... Often thanking us. I could feel how genuine she was. This applied to all the families. All of them were so genuine. They kept thanking us, and thanked us with so much sincerity.
Also, I heard a story from Nicola, about an old man who had to crawl his way to the door just to answer it. It really broke my heart. I witnessed something similar as well. Several of the apartments had the elderly seated down. And I felt really bad when they had to walk over to collect the flyer. Some of them were grabbing onto the cabinets near their doors because they could not walk anymore. These elderly have no one to depend on. Only the community. But are we really doing enough to help them? If everyone plays their part, wouldn't the lives of the less fortunate be better?
Through out the flyer distribution, articles from the new paper kept appearing in my head. The articles about old people dying alone in their flats. I know it's bad luck to think of things like this when I'm talking to them. But I was so fearful of that. It's real though. And you wouldn't truly understand unless you see them.
I really hope the community affair would be able to open the eyes of the students, the same way it did to me. There was a moment then when my mind was so clear, knowing that I am impacting the lives of the elderly. And there was no sign of fatigue. Instead, there was a renewed motivation and passion to do more.
Great food and company as always :D
Anyway, went to Old Airport road for the first time today. :)
Seems like there's a lot of good food there. But before that, I went around blocks in Dakota to give out flyers. Interact was giving out flyers to inform the needy families of food distribution which is going to happen on Thursday. It was really an eye-opening experience. The flats were two-room flats.
Most of the elderly live alone. There was this lady who was seated outside her apartment. And when I approached her to ask if she lived there, she said yes and that she can't walk. And I presumed she lived alone. So many things were going through my mind. What happens if she falls? How does she go back into her house? I saw her pointing down(we were on the second floor) when she said she couldn't walk anymore. This reflected her desire to walk again, to go out, and experience everything again.
And she didn't rely on a wheelchair or anything. All she had was this metal walker thing.
She is probably 70-80 years old and she wouldn't have the strength to lift herself up. Yet, this walker thing was all she had. And she was such a nice old lady... Often thanking us. I could feel how genuine she was. This applied to all the families. All of them were so genuine. They kept thanking us, and thanked us with so much sincerity.
Also, I heard a story from Nicola, about an old man who had to crawl his way to the door just to answer it. It really broke my heart. I witnessed something similar as well. Several of the apartments had the elderly seated down. And I felt really bad when they had to walk over to collect the flyer. Some of them were grabbing onto the cabinets near their doors because they could not walk anymore. These elderly have no one to depend on. Only the community. But are we really doing enough to help them? If everyone plays their part, wouldn't the lives of the less fortunate be better?
Through out the flyer distribution, articles from the new paper kept appearing in my head. The articles about old people dying alone in their flats. I know it's bad luck to think of things like this when I'm talking to them. But I was so fearful of that. It's real though. And you wouldn't truly understand unless you see them.
I really hope the community affair would be able to open the eyes of the students, the same way it did to me. There was a moment then when my mind was so clear, knowing that I am impacting the lives of the elderly. And there was no sign of fatigue. Instead, there was a renewed motivation and passion to do more.
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