My Teochew grandparents were a great part of my life. They took care of me when both my parents were at work and they spent the most time with me outside of school. I can speak Teochew because of them.
One of the ritual I had to perform at their funeral.. Use a pair of chopsticks and place some rice and tofu on their lips and say in Teochew: 你养我大，我养你老 ..it means something like 'you watched me grow up and I watched you grow old(and pass away)'.
At that very moment, many images of my interactions with them actually flashed by in a split second and I suddenly realized again that they are gone forever. You can never imagine the sense of loss I felt.
The only consolation I had was that we did not have to send them away to a home as we had enough manpower in the extended family to care for them.
Of course, the family structure in our society have changed since then and faced with a rapidly greying population and full time working family, sometimes entrusting the care of senior folks to professional caregivers seem to be the only choice that some families have.
Recent news report I read about 53 out of 60 households from Block 861 in Woodlands St 83 petitioning against the setting up of an eldercare centre at the void deck.. Another report 2 days back regarding residents in Toh Yi objecting to plans for studio apartments for old folks in their vicinity..It makes me wonder why has our society evolved to this stage? Senior folks used to be the most respectable group in my granparents' era, so where have all these respect gone to? Is this going to happen all over Singapore as more and more elder facilities are required?
I went on a visit to Lions Home for the Elders organized by WPYW ExCo during the Chinese New Year period. We try as much as possible to donate to their wish list with our limited resources. I got the feeling that having such a facility that provides a great service for families with such a need.
While we were giving out oranges, ang pows, and wishing the residents Happy Chinese New Year, one of the bed-ridden resident held on to my team mates' hands and sobbed uncontrollably.. I think he is unable to speak. My heart was in pain to see this and I could not even speak.
Such eldercare facilities take care of our old folks. I cannot believe that our society today is protesting against such facilities in their vicinity.
Everyone of us will grow old one day. Some of us may have people around us that takes good care of us..some of us may have kids who may send us to an old folks' home..some worse off, may not have anyone to take care of them at all.
Singapore is a small country and we definitely have scared resources in terms of land use..However, the biggest place that you can ever give to our senior folks is right here in your hearts.
One of the ritual I had to perform at their funeral.. Use a pair of chopsticks and place some rice and tofu on their lips and say in Teochew: 你养我大，我养你老 ..it means something like 'you watched me grow up and I watched you grow old(and pass away)'.
At that very moment, many images of my interactions with them actually flashed by in a split second and I suddenly realized again that they are gone forever. You can never imagine the sense of loss I felt.
The only consolation I had was that we did not have to send them away to a home as we had enough manpower in the extended family to care for them.
Of course, the family structure in our society have changed since then and faced with a rapidly greying population and full time working family, sometimes entrusting the care of senior folks to professional caregivers seem to be the only choice that some families have.
Recent news report I read about 53 out of 60 households from Block 861 in Woodlands St 83 petitioning against the setting up of an eldercare centre at the void deck.. Another report 2 days back regarding residents in Toh Yi objecting to plans for studio apartments for old folks in their vicinity..It makes me wonder why has our society evolved to this stage? Senior folks used to be the most respectable group in my granparents' era, so where have all these respect gone to? Is this going to happen all over Singapore as more and more elder facilities are required?
Everyone of us will grow old one day. Some of us may have people around us that takes good care of us..some of us may have kids who may send us to an old folks' home..some worse off, may not have anyone to take care of them at all.
Singapore is a small country and we definitely have scared resources in terms of land use..However, the biggest place that you can ever give to our senior folks is right here in your hearts.
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