Volunteering Journey - Grandma Maria

This has got to be one of the few moments that I choked to fight back tears.

With thanks to The Singapore Eurasians (TSE) for the invitation in having me bring cheer to perform for the children and elderly of the less fortunate, I witnessed many life-changing emotional moments today.

I was in my Satarina costume and Grandma Maria showed immense happiness when I approached her. To my utmost surprise, she held my hands tightly, kissed them and laid her head on my shoulder which I reached out to give her a big hug. She couldn't stop smiling.

Although her voice was not really audible, I managed to make out some of the words as she commented about her liking of my costume.

At one part during a game segment in progress, she turned to me. "I'm happy.. I'm happy. I'm very happy", she said, beaming. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I shared the moment of joy with her.

Before I changed out of my costume, I decided to see her one more time before I called it a day. She smiled as she saw me walking into the room and held my hands again.

We shared a little chat session and she told me how the gold ring on her finger was given to her by a friend. She was such a lovely lady who found joy in everything.

"I'm so full. So full," she suddenly said.

I looked at her stomach and patted it. "Hey! You can be Santa Claus now!" 

She exploded into laughter.

Granted that she might not have a positive family history, but yet she appeared to be one of the most cheerful people I've ever met. 

It was soon time for me to go.

"I want to give you a hug", I said softly. I stood up and wrapped my hands around her. She gave a joyous laugh and returned me with a huge hug and thumbs up. 

"Come and see me Maria always ok? Come and see me...." She patted my hands and gave a hearty laugh. I felt a sting in my eyes and tears welled up. I nodded.

"Good bye", I said. "Please take care and I will see you soon, ok?" 

Grandma Maria nodded and smiled. I stood up and left the room, overwhelmed with emotions.

Sometimes, happiness can be achievable with such simplicity of life. 

I was glad I managed to take many precious photos and videos (but due to protection of their privacy and confidentiality purposes, I will not be posting them online.) 

One thing for sure, they are precious memories to keep and remember by. Grandma Maria, may God bless you always and I'll definitely hope to see you again soon. 

Nursing Home Journey #1 - The Man who was a Karaoke Champion

#NursingHomeJourney Stories #1 (LONG POST AHEAD!)

I was doing my usual ward-to-ward singing at a nursing home when I noticed a wheelchair-bound uncle observing me silently at a corner. Not wanting to make him feel left out, I smiled and waved at him. 

"Will you be coming to level 6?" 

He asked in a low tone during a brief pause of my performance. 

It turned out that he had heard me and wheeled himself down from 6th floor (OH my goodness!) specially just to ask if I would be going up to his ward to sing. I told him I would and he nodded, turned his back around and slowly wheeled himself off. 

Honestly, it wasn't part of the schedule (to enter level 6 ward) with the nursing home but I decided to fulfil him on my own accord. 

As promised, I made my way up after finishing my round at Level 4.

There he was, awaiting me at the ward with the rest of the other residents.

I greeted everyone and started singing. 

Song after song, Uncle was very supportive. He smiled and never failed to give his best clap. Then there came the moment. The moment that HITS me hard. 

He motioned me to come over and presented me with a small 4R-sized photo album. 

With his weak and trembling hands, he flipped the pages. "This was me", he said in a soft tone. I gasped as I looked at the young, energetic and handsome man staring at me right back in the pictures.

And in almost all of the photos, he was seen holding a microphone and were at all sorts of singing competitions. 

"I used to run around Singapore and joined all the competitions. And I was a champion before!" He shared as he continued flipping the pages slowly. In some of the photos, his family members were even seen supporting him at his competitions. He was such a happy man who had such a beautiful wife, too. 

"Wow, you are really handsome! I bet you have a lot of girls wooing you!" I joked.

"Handsome right? Hahaha..That was last time lah..." He gave a shy smile. 

Even though I only knew him for less than an hour, I felt like the time had stood still and I was walking down his memory lane together with him. We may be generations apart, but we connected. 

I took a short glance at him. It was very difficult to imagine that the man -so FULL of life, hope and dreams in the photos is now beside me in a wheelchair and residing in a nursing home. (While I did wonder about his family members, I did not ask him much as I didn't want to risk triggering any bad memories, if any)

It dawned upon me that my presence had probably brought him some memories of his younger days.

"I would love to hear you sing! How about you sing a song?" I said cheerfully. 

He gave a tiny smile and shook his head. 

"I cannot sing totally in my condition now".

My heart sank. 

He then requested me to sing him a song 午夜的香吻 which I fulfilled.

I looked at the time and my heart sank a second time. It was time for me to go. 

Uncle opened his small cupboard beside his bed and took out a box. "Here, have some cakes". He grabbed 3 packets of the cakes and placed them in my hand. 

I smiled. "Thank you, Uncle"

Despite that he didn't really have much with him, he still wanted to offer me something. To me, these cakes are simply priceless. I held them in my hands and felt a surge of warmth through my heart.

While time may be cruel and leave no man behind, it's inspiring to know how music can still keep one going emotionally. This is why I truly enjoyed doing volunteer work and giving back with music. Each trip to the nursing home always bring me a different experience in an inspiring manner. There are just so many sides of life that I've seen and yet to be seen. 

I will be sharing more of my personal experiences and stories as time goes by. At the same time, I do hope that I can bring a little inspiration to our young generation in coming forward to contribute back to the society. You never know how much your time contribution means to someone. :)

My Volunteering Journey (It's life-changing!)

The activity started as I went to ward after ward, and I sang my usual oldies while trying to engage the patients to clap and sing along. Trust me, I felt like my life was complete at that very instant when some of the patients clapped, gave thumbs up, encouraged and offered me the brightest smiles ever. I was overjoyed that they seemed to be enjoying my presence.

And what truly changed my life was the moment when I was brought to the palliative ward which I was told that the patients might not be able to react to my singing. 

Nonetheless, I was eager to enter the place and pray that music can create miracles for the patients. 

AND OH BOY, SOMEHOW IT DID. Allow me to share a little positive encounter! 

I decided to choose upbeat familiar songs and went to the bedside of a patient. His eyes were open, but he did not really seem responsive when I attempted to interact. Somehow, I knew he could hear me. 

"Tian mi mi... " I started the first verse of a song which I personally love. His lips seemed to be moving in a subtle manner, but obvious enough to make me stop in my tracks. Was I seeing things? I thought it was just my imagination but it was not soon after that I heard a weak, soft but audible voice coming from his direction. 

I could not believe my ears. When I got to the second verse of the song, he was already singing on tune with me (even with the right lyrics!!) I could tell he must have been a very good singer in his younger days. 

I got so emotional and tried hard to control my tears of joy so that I could finish the song with him. When it ended, I looked towards the direction of another volunteer, and walked over to her. 

"Oh my God. He sang. He SANG with me! Let's go on with the next song, I'm going to sing more for him!" I exclaimed in a shaky voice. 

I went back to his bed side. "Uncle, have you heard of this song called "路边的野花不要踩"? Slowly, he started nodding his head. My heart skipped a beat. "I shall sing this song for you okay?" 

And this time, he completed the whole song with me. Yes, his voice was weak but I could hear him clearly. I was overwhelmed. It was not soon after that he could respond to me by nodding his head gently to most of my questions. "You sang really good, Uncle!" I said. 

A tiny smile formed on his lips. 

I couldn't ask for more in this life.

The moment was phenomenal and surreal. You know the feeling when everything felt like a dream but you are actually living the dream? I could feel tears welling up in my eyes even when I am thinking back of the priceless moment. 

Today's experience made me feel so complete and accomplished as a performer - Accomplished in the sense that I am able to light up that little smile on the patients' faces which I never knew I could. Music is wonderful. 

It totally took my perspective of life to another level after today and I would definitely love to do it again and again and again and again, just to shine that little bit of positivity onto the patients' life. 

Creating miracles through music is something I've always dreamed to do, and I am very honored to be given the opportunity to take that step. My heartfelt thanks to Shaane and his team from St Luke's Hospital (You guys are awesome beyond words!) , and of course not forgetting my dearest friend cum sister, Chloe, for coming along today and supporting the cause. I am very thankful. 感恩。

P/S: I will be preparing more oldies next round and aim to learn songs in different languages to cater to the non-chinese too! I promised a patient that I will prepare her song dedication the next round and I've never felt so motivated in learning it!

Fun with the kids @ AWWA - KOPFS 3rd Anniversary!

Oh God, this is such an overdue entry. But I am still going to post it nonetheless as it sure was a memorable event worth remembering. 

(That is what makes a blog even more important, right? Maybe I will be my own reader someday and read my own old entries while reminiscing the old times. LOL!)

Ah, have I ever mentioned in my blog that I am a proud member of KOPFS? (King Of Pop Fanatics Singapore).

Anyway, it is an official Michael Jackson Fanclub in Singapore (with one of my buddies, Marie, as the President of the club). We would have occasional gatherings, annual charity events, etc.

Having been a Michael Jackson fan for only 3 years, I felt it was more than that. The people and love I have met and received throughout the years were simply amazing. 

It was our 3rd Anniversary this year and we thought we could do something special ... By volunteering our services at AWWA at one of their annual events.

Basically, it was a day of fun with the children from lower privileged families. (Those children are so OMG adorable. You should have seen them!)

Unfortunately, I am unable to post photos of the children due to privacy issues :( 

Was' feeling kinda' disappointed as I had wanted to share on my blog- but I guess I shall respect the unspoken rules.

Pardon the poor quality photos as they are taken off my Facebook:

Marie, the lovely President from KOPFS. She was happily playing with the alphabet puppets that she brought and donated to the centre! :) 

Puppets? The children were thrilled!

After 1-2 hours of fun with the children at the centre - making sandwiches and playing with dress-ups, we set off to our destination of the day - Marina Barrage.

And that's me, busy camwhoring while doing an advertorial for Glampuss :)

(Yes, this beautiful ring is sponsored by them!)

We brought along the sandwiches that we made: (Egg Mayo and Tuna!)

Captured a photo of MBS at a distance. Cool, huh?

I was totally in love with this kid - She is such a darling - and a totally good sport at posing for my camera.

Kissing poses, peace signs, etc... You name it and she had all done it!

Although her face is censored due to privacy issues, but you can still see her expressions. Hahaha.

*Awww*

While the other kids were enjoying themselves flying kites and playing with water, here we were - Having some camwhoring marathon and taking photos of ourselves. LOL:

Different poses, same spot =_=:

And here comes the monkey shot: (Gosh. we were crazy! LOL)

And me trying to act sexy:

*cough* *cough*

I love our expressions from this shot. HAHAHA. I don't know why I am loving this UN-glamorous photo though!

Marie: I'm gonna strangle you!

Cat (me): I'm gonna poke your nostrils!

Miao: Oh wait - I'm flying!

Okay, am gonna post a normal shot of us before anyone submits my blog to the mental hospital:

Children having fun with the water:

(I dared not go near the water as one of the kids had wanted to splash me with it! - and I didn't have another set of clothes to change into!)

It was about to rain and I took this shot - Artistic NOT?!?!

Afraid of getting drenched, we came up with a genius idea of shielding everyone from the rain:

(I thought we looked like some walking pasar-malam! LOL!)

RELUCTANTLY, the day ended as everyone parted ways to head back home.

I am glad that everyone, especially the children had fun nonetheless. (Those smiles from the children will melt your heart anytime, really!)

I would totally do it again if given a chance.

Special thanks to Miao and Marie for being part of this special day as well. :))

If anyone knows of any charity organizations / service centres that wish to collaborate for any future events, etc... Do feel free to let me know!
I am actually considering to sell my art pieces to help the needy. (I had thought of this idea since last year, but didn't have the chance to put this plan into action.)
Seriously, I don't mind exchanging my passion for art to create a difference in someone's life.
Let's spread the love.