community service trip to RCHD

at 9am, we assembled to head to the Red Cross Home for the Disabled, for a community service trip. the chartered bus came to fetch us back to school at 1.30pm.

the RCHD houses residents with cerebral palsy, muscular distrophy, Down's syndrome, epilepsy, among the common diseases.

from 9.30am to 12pm, we interacted with the residents, reading them stories, and using toys to play with them.

i never knew it would be so hard to garner a response from them. even the boy who the caregivers said were among the most responsive just ignored me to continue rolling his head.

after many failed attempts, a 47 year old lady with cerebral palsy finally smiled at me.

the joy that smile brought me gave me the courage to continue approaching other residents, and the next lady i tried to play with also gave me a positive response!

riding on this positivity, i gained the confidence to play with the resident "collector", a young boy with Down syndrome who loves to hog the toys and books.

i started off gentle and wary, but some actions of his irked me, and i decided on a rougher approach. to my surprise, this warmed him up to me and i became his favourite volunteer out of the dozen odd of us there!

from noon till we left, it was lunch time, so we all had a hand at feeding them. i salute the nurses and caregivers there for having the patience to go through this process on a daily basis, with so many special cases to take note of.

i look forward to the next community service trip planned by SP's Red Cross, and am anticipating the smiles and comfort we will bring to other beneficiaries next.

Mabel.

21/6/11.