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BHID 11th Anniversary

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 15:46:23 GMT

Hello Everyone!! (Apologies for the late update!)

Another Semester is near its end, and we have also spent our last day for this semester with the residents of BHID, which coincides with BHID 11^th anniversary. Thus it was celebrated in a grand manner at Macritchie Reservoir. On that day, all the residents of BHID were present along with many other volunteers from other organizations.

The whole Comm had come together several days before the event to plan and prepare activities for the group of residents that we were in charge of that day. Esther and Qian Wei did an amazing job coming up with the ideas on what we will do that day! (*Claps*) It was great to see the whole Comm along with other volunteers coming down to help prepare for the event.

The day started earlier than usual for all of us. Everyone woke up early and irrespective of where we live, reached Macritchie by 7 plus with an outburst of enthusiasm, even though it was a Saturday. (Hey, how many of you have woken so early in recent years, except if u have 8am lectures?)

Initially only the volunteers were present, and preparations started. The funniest part was preparing the small pool (the blown up kind that kids play in) that we set up, to give a more realistic feel of the “under the sea” game. First of all we had to inflate the pool with a small pump, and it took a lot of effort from most of the guys present there, and thanks guys from UPS who helped! However after the pool was inflated we found a leak! To mend the leak, all the experts gathered around the pool. These experts were of course NUS’s prospective engineers, physicists, chemists, and even doctors!

The pool from which rubbish was to be fished out.

and to fill up the pool, some of us had to manually use pails to transport pails of water from a not-that-near tap!

Then the residents started streaming in. With volunteers from other organsiations holding the hands of the residents, the sight was actually very heartwarming. And although we were worried about the weather, the day turned out to be a beautiful sunny day. It was (perhaps too) bright and sunny, but it was better than rain. As beautiful Macritchie Reservoir is by itself, it was more so on that day as it was filled with people dressed in different colours – in green, orange, black (us!), red, blue... groups. It could be seen the faces of the residents as well as all the volunteers, that they were really touched by this huge gathering. Random passers-by could also be seen observing all our activities, and giving us all a pleasant smile.

The events started off with a few formalities. After that, performances were put up by some of the residents, which really touched everyone’s heart. For most of us, it was the first time we see them perform, with so much sincerity and effort too.

Shortly after, the residents were divided among different volunteer groups. Among the residents who joined us, 20 were doing handicrafts under the shade of the trees while the rest joined us for games.

In the handicrafts session, the residents were taught to make a vase and paper flowers using just paper and plastics bottles, courtesy of Esther and Qian Wei.

There 5 other games planned for the residents. “Under the sea” and “recycling” stations were made more realistic, with the help of actual rubbish, actual bins and water! These were two games, which the residents were really fond of, and enjoyed, and today was the last time we were playing these two games. (aww... ) Two other games which was introduced a few weeks back was the aeroplane game and the soccer game, which as well was appreciated by the residents. The last game was a new one, where a pair of residents will hold a handkerchief and a ball on the handkerchief and would have to go from one point to another. This was new, and it helped to residents understand team work. Overall the residents proceeded from one game to the other in teams, accompanied by other volunteers from another organisation and some of their family members as well. Hopefully the residents had also learnt the value of teamwork as it was a mini-competition between the different groups. Under the scorching sun, we should really applaud the residents for their enthusiasm in joining each activity!

After the games, the residents sat down together and gifts were distributed. The different volunteer groups were also presented with a token of appreciation of a photo collage and a bouquet of flowers. We were represented by Xinyi, our chairperson, and it was just like a trophy for most of us volunteers, as soon after it was passed among all us volunteers!

Then it was the long-awaited lunch time, and the volunteers helped the BHID staff in helping the residents have their lunch. Then all of us volunteers had fun of our own while munching on our lunch. (first time that i see there’s ice sherbet in catered lunch heh)

It was soon time to leave, and everyone helped to pack up. We said our goodbyes to the volunteers and residents for now, and headed off home. Though it was tiring, it surely was a lot of fun for all the volunteers, and everyone was smiling when they left. We can’t wait to go back to BHID every sat when all finals are over!

So to everyone, a big thank you for showing up and helping out, it was an amazing experience for us and, we hope it was for you too. Good luck on your exams..and JIAYOU...study hard!

Till December, Good bye!!!

(AND pls visit our picassa album to see pictures of YOU!) =P

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:03:34 GMT

Hey Everyone!!

After last weeks extravagant mid autumn festival, it was time to get back to out old routine once again. Its been a few weeks since we conduct our routine station. More importantly this was the end of this semesters routine. So most of us had a quite a nice time doing what we had been doing thoughout the semester for the LAST time.

Here are the volunteers and the residents at the story section.

Here are a few of the residents after they completed their Handicraft work.

And here are the Handicrafts work on display

We never had a routine like this before, and this semester was the first time we had it organized this way. Did you like this routine? Are there any changes you will like? Please do add your comments and let us know.

This was the second last of week of our visits this semester. 24th October would mark the end of our BHID visits this semester, and it will end with a bang. This is the 11th anniversary of BHID, and so they are taking all of the residents to the Maritchie Park close to Bishan Home. This would be a great experience for all of us. We already have loads of games planned. A few, most of the volunteers are already familiar with and a few that are totally new. We are very excited about this next visit and we hope you are too. So volunteers... do come down this Saturday and join us. Do note that this time the meeting place will be a bit different. We will soon be mailing you with the details of the meeting place. Till next Saturday!!!Byee

mid-autumn festival 10 Oct 09

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:58:09 GMT

With our residents recovering from the flu outbreak, we can now resume our activities, this week's being mid-autumn's celebrations. (= Specially brought to u by our our bhid volunteers!

They came really early to prepare for the games, filling up these balloons with air for this very very exciting game...

The game of tying these balloons to your leg and trying to step on your opponent's balloons while your opponents would try to burst yours. Hee... sure you have played that during your secondary school days? Amid the chaos that erupted, we had fun of course, with the residents that were enthusiastically engaging in the game and trying their best to step on other people's balloons. Surely a game not for the faint-hearted haha! =D

Then we had art and crafts, this time making very beautiful lanterns. Kudos to the group which took great pains to pre-cut the patterns of the lanterns! it must have been tiring, to have prepared so many things! *claps claps*

Here are the final products of the hard work our residents put in.

and a close-up!

And story-telling!

And our volunteers having fun themselves!

Finally, have a mooncake to have a sweet-sweet saturday (=

3 Oct 2009 - scribbily scrubby wishy washy

Mon, 05 Oct 2009 09:46:13 GMT

As many residents were still sick from the FLU - beware of flu bugs people - instead of having our usual activities we were doing a mass disinfection of some places in the home. In hope that we would be able to chase the flu bugs away soon and resume our usual activities - that includes our mid-autumn festival special programme for the residents as well. So... let's hope that our disinfection exercise will prove to help in containment of the flu virus, and the residents would be well and hearty again!

(actually, hmm... i miss them... )

Since a picture paints a thousand words...

In the meantime, have a good week ahead - it's e-learning week! and see u next saturday (=

*by the way, this our fourth entry as the new pubs. We haven't introduced ourselves in our previous blogs. So Hello!! This is Taseen and Kai Xin. Hope you like our blogs. Please feel free to drop comments about your views and ideas!!*

26 Sept 2009!

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:35:08 GMT

Hey everyone! We had yet another amazing day at BHID on the 26^th of September. Though the original plan was to go to Bishan Park with the residents, it was cancelled as a significant number of residents caught flu. Nonetheless everyone had a lot of fun, as all that was to be conducted at the park was conducted in the hall inside the home. I think it was the one of most exciting days for all the volunteers.

At the beginning a few of the volunteers were a bit disappointed when the outing was cancelled due to the flu. However when everyone went up to the hall and saw the residents their helping spirit came back to life. Before the games were to start the volunteers quickly got the residents to stand in an orderly manner. Then the CD player was turned on and it played the “put your Right foot in, put your right foot out” song. Our cheerful chairman Xinyi and programmer Esther, got on the stage and very nicely showed the volunteers and the residents how to dance to the song. Everyone including the volunteers and of course the residents enjoyed the exercise very much.

After the dance we quickly set up the two really games we had prepared. One was making aeroplanes and then flying them and making them land on hula-hoops resting on the floor. Though the volunteers had to show a few of the residents on how to make a paper plane, some of them made well designed paper planes. When it came to the flying part, along with the resident even the volunteers became excited. There were two teams made and the team which were able to get more planes inside the hula-hoops won. As the residents were flying the planes, it was only natural to see some of the volunteers who couldn’t resist the fun, and fly the planes a few times themselves. On the other station, we had Soccer. The residents were divided into two groups again and each was made to stand in a separate lines. They were made to pass a soccer ball from the back of the line to the front and then the person standing on the edge of the line would shoot into the goal post. Here again some of our volunteers being soccer fans couldn’t resist themselves and got involved in the game with the residents as well.

Though all the residents touch our hearts, this Saturday one resident really did inspire me. He was in a wheel chair and he had difficulty moving his limbs. However he was a Manchester United fan and even had a ManU chain on his neck. Seeing the soccer ball he was so very excited to play. Though he had trouble moving, he took his time to shoot, and each and every time he shot, or passed the ball, it went through. Most of the volunteers were amazed by his determination, and I believe was touched as much as I was. These are the moments that making going to Bishan Home all the more worthwhile.

Toward the end of the day, we improvised and played a different version of pillow passing with the residents, where instead of a pillow we passed a ball. And whenever the music stopped the person had to do something by coming to the mid of the circle. The most enjoyable part here was when our Vice Chair Donny showed a little bit of the Chicken dance.

All the volunteers that went, we hope you enjoyed it. The ones, who missed it, come in next week, we sure will have more fun, and we have upcoming outings in the future. The ones, who are interested to join, come over and be a part of this wonderful experience!!!

See you all SOON!!!

19 Sept 2009 (=

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 04:08:27 GMT

Every Saturday it’s great to see new faces entering Bishan Home. For each new face it’s a new beginning just as it was for us, a few weeks ago. The welcome you receive here has the same warmth as the welcome you receive at a friend’s house. A resident would be standing inside the gate with big wide smile and his right hand held out forward for a shake. This sight really wins the heart of most our volunteers. Despite the stress of school work, most volunteers come down to Bishan Home every week to accompany the residents.

With the start of the new academic year, there was a huge influx of new volunteers. Everyone at Bishan Home including the residents was all very excited to see the new faces. Though it takes them some time to become familiar with the new faces, soon they will be chatting, playing, joking, and having a great time with you. However as the new faces did not have much knowledge about the residents and how to take care of them (which is not that tedious though), the social worker at Bishan Home carried out a briefing for us. In this briefing all do’s and don’ts along with the main purpose of the Bishan Home were put forward. It was explained that the intellectually disabled are people just like us, but whose brain development have been hampered during birth or through an accident. We are all here to help the residents learn, so that they can lead better lives. It can be hard sometimes to communicate with them, however once you can get through, the feeling of being able to have been able to connect with them, is simply priceless.

Over the this period of 3 years since Bishan Home regular volunteering project was inaugurated many have come and many have left, but they have taken with them the memories. Many volunteers soon start to miss the residents, if they miss one Saturday. Thus it is very encouraging to see new faces every week, to join our family here at Bishan Home and help us move forward to help even a greater number of residents. So hopefully our new faces would continue to come every week and join us in the long term!

Next week on 26^th September, 2009, we are going to have an outing to Bishan Park. We will be walking with the residents to Bishan Park and playing games there.

It will be an even greater experience, and so old faces be sure to join us, and the new comers out there just drop by to be a part of this amazing experience. See you there.

By the way, we will all be meeting at the Bishan MRT by 920am this week due to the outing. Just an Heads up!!

Friday, September 18, 2009

Fri, 18 Sep 2009 15:12:47 GMT

Visit on 12 September

It’s great to see a group of like-minded people gathering on a Sat morning at BHID! Kudos to especially those who have to travel far and wide across the island to reach here =D Hopefully everyone of us here would continue to wake early early to spend some time with the residents every Saturday!

Today’s theme for the moral education station was “protecting yourself”, with a few of us putting up a skit for the residents. Consisting of our Red Riding Hood donning a very very cute red hat, her mummy, our sinister big bad wolf and our ah ma (who got eaten by our big bad wolf!) So we were trying to put across the message of not telling strangers too much about ourselves and putting ourselves at risk. It was indeed heartening to see residents responding enthusiastically to the skit by telling our red riding hood not to tell the big bad wolf where her ah ma stays!

mummy telling red riding hood to go ah ma's house...

red riding hood met with the big bad wolf...

And the residents made oranges from just paper materials! It’s really not easy to make, thanks to our volunteers for guiding our residents in making these oranges (= And of course, if u have any ideas for these programmes, do tell us =D

And we have our usual “Under-the-sea” and “Recycling” Game!

In the meantime…

See you next week! =D

AY08/09 Pub Greetings

Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:10:00 GMT

Thank you Yung Lok and Xinyi for giving Pub the opportunity to take charge of publicity in the RVP, and thanks to all volunteers for the support and for being around, for posing for the pictures; for dodging the camera (so that we can catch one of the most prized candid shots of life); for commenting in the blog's chatboxes; for being the occasional freelance photographer; and for acceding to Pub's random requests like quote contributions, or for simply being there at every visit and outing to liven up the atmosphere...in every possible way, you are important! Thanks for being so spontaneous to always make publicity work only fun, and more fun!

We hope that each and every single one of you is updated with the spirit behind volunteerism, and that group morale is boosted knowing that everyone cherishes each moment shared! Looking forward to wonderful initiatives in BHID RVP blog and other publicity channels by our new publicity representatives Kai Xin and Taseen! It's a new beginning to greater excitement!

Visit on 5 Sep 09

Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:19:30 GMT

It's so heartening to see so many new as well as familiar faces at BHID for another fun-filled saturday morning!! =)

Apart from our usual Under-the-sea and Recycling games, the residents created their own little chickens and mice today at the Handicraft station.

“From now on, I'll connect the dots my own way.”

- Calvin & Hobbes

Residents were guided to join the dots and fill in the colours.

TAH-DAAHH... Here's many of their proud art pieces...Lovely? Amazing that the residents can bring these cute animals to life given the short amount of time!

For our Moral Education station, the theme was "Saying Thank You" to teach and reinforce the concept of using "Thank You" to express their gratitude.

Thank You, is a simple yet powerful phrase. Simple. Sweet. Heart-warming. Little wonder why people list 'Thank you' as one of the magic words in their vocabulary. When it comes from the bottom of the heart, it'll magically makes people happy. The main objective of the station is to inculcate the correct moral values, knowledge and skills in the residents, hoping that this would help them to integrate better into the society.

Not forgetting... A bigThank You to all volunteers for your enthusiastic participation. If not for you all, the programmes would not run as smoothly as it did. Thank you for being so spontaneous, especially those who helped in story-telling, even without knowing the stories beforehand. THANK YOU!!! Hope you all had as much joy as we did while sharing the knowledge. =)

For the next few sessions, we hope to involve more volunteers in the moral education session as well. So do look out for more opportunities to share with our residents. =)

Till then, Take care

Lots of Love,
Pub

Perspective: THE small PURPOSE

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:24:31 GMT

Let the movie walk the talk...

(Pictures taken from latest visits in the current semester.)

Can't view the video? Click this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/bishan.home2/Movies#5376606632345072098