First stop, BEDOK NTUC FAIRPRICE SUPERMARKET!

The advance party enthusiastically scrambled for some snacks and drinks. “不可以跟女人一起走supermarket的!” Despite the intolerable noise level that Nickson had made, we managed to accomplish our shopping mission without being chased away by the security guards there. Thank GOD!  Nonetheless, the F&B girls were really responsible in ensuring all items are prepared.

The pre-retreat activity didn’t just stop there. Upon reaching the chalet, while I was finalising the slides and preparing materials for the next day, Golden Bear continued to work on his wonderful video at super wee hours. Willit showcased her hidden talent with posters design while Jojo, Shu Hua, Nickson, Jennifer and Alex lent their help in all sorts of preparation.

How about Ah Chuan? As usual, he went around cracking his ‘GAY’ jokes and finally, he gave up and decided to read his story book. LOL! How about Ah Guan? Also, as usual, be a 24/7 workaholic, even in the toilet. Muahahahaha!

RISE AND SHINE!!! Welcome the unexpected early arrival of the registration girls, Ah Yen & Ah Xian…with our sumptuous breakfasts in their hands. Guess I had delegated the right tasks to the right angels. Efficient and responsible. Hohoho!! Soon after, a simple but heart-warming registration booth was set up to welcome the rest of the angels.

While waiting for other angels’ arrival, Andrea appeared out of nowhere! With more people, our balloons decorations and cute signage were up within an hour!

It was worrying to see no one else reaching when the time is up. 1pm…130pm…230pm… Beads of perspiration started to drip down my back and armpit, and the attendance was far from what I expected. We are at least 1.5 hrs behind time (which means that we might need to eliminate some programme!) Even Jennifer (F&B IC) and Nickson went missing suddenly and failed to come back on time. Tsktsk!

Disappointed initially, but not any more when Gary and Jasmine turned up at the doorsteps. Slowly, Uncle Song arrived with his new video camera like some paparazzi. Forever ‘lost’ S.T.E.L.L.A and Xin Xin who have spent 2 hours circling around Changi Bungalows also arrived shortly after. Followed by Ping Sing, Desment and their cute little baby girl ‘Yu Ai’, and much noises and laughters started to overwhelm the place.

Without any further delay, the retreat commenced with adequate angels in the house. Following my opening speech, we welcomed our new volunteers in joining the Moral Angels Family – Xin Xin, S.T.E.L.L.A and Jasmine. Jing Yi and Rachael were unavailable. Nonetheless, we would like to welcome them aboard too!

The retreat kicked off with an energetic and fun-fulfiling ice-breaking game called ‘2 Truths and 1 Lie’. I am glad that EVERYBODY participated actively and enjoyed themselves throughout the entire game. KUDOS to GAMES IC (Andrea & Alex) for conducting the game. Now we know each others’ little secrets.. some clean.. and some ‘not so’ clean.. Whahahahaha!

This year, I had invited 2 of the most experienced volunteers, Uncle Yeo and Uncle James, to give an inspirational speech for the angels. It was a fruitful talk and served as an encouragement and motivation for us through their real-life anecdotes and enriching experiences as a volunteer!

Throughout my presentation, I was bombarded with outrages comments on the photos used on my slides despite having to explain that it was unintentional but coincidence. Most importantly is that important messages are brought across to the angels such as reiterating of our Angels’ Mission – To bring joy, laughter and happiness to the elderly in Moral Home.

Even though Golden Bear was seen to be doing some last minute editing even on the actual day, the video was of great quality and the product was a great success in bringing much enjoyment to the viewers with weird lion dances and funny bloopers. It is just soooooo him! Tak boleh tahan! Anyway, he had brought us through the series of happening events and fond memories that were worth reminiscing. Despite his hectic work schedule, Golden Bear remained focus and responsible for his video. HUAT AHHHHHH!!

Looking forward, we have our new committee 2012 with new appointments created, such as Chief Eating Officer (CEO), Volunteer Mentor, Emeritus Senior Volunteer and Spokesperson for Moral Home. Due to positive response and feedback received, we decided to carry on with Activity-Based Programme, which was implemented last year by our previous VL, Ms Jojo!!! Deepavali is also incorporated as part of our annual event.

Unfortunately, due to time constraint, we decided to call off the Teambuilding Activities (Sorry Alex!) but FORTUNATELY, the threatening dark clouds hovering above us went off immediately after the group discussions. HUAT AHHHHHH!! BBQ proceeded smoothly thereafter.

This year’s retreat was a great success, filled with loads of fun, laughter and joy. Our friendships which we have fostered over many years will continue to forge stronger bonds as one knitted family. Your presence, your contribution, your dedication and your participation had made this retreat possible. I look forward to work with every Moral Angels with many opportunities to learn from.

IN LINE WITH OUR MISSION, let us work together to bring greater joy, laughter and happiness to the elderlys in Moral Home. HUAT AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

And so there was a downpour that almost threatened to change plans, but it did not last for long! By the time we got the volunteers registered, paired them to their respective elderlys, and did the briefing for they day’s itinerary and wheelchair handling, the sky was all ready for us to set off!

You never really know how much the senior volunteers (in terms of experience) does until the day you work with them. The things they do without claiming credit, helping in every way they can, providing not only mental but physical strength as well. All these for nothing in return but only a comforting smile on the elderly’s face.

Upon arrival at RWS, we had to walk quite a distance from the bus bay to the building. Fortunately there were many traffic wardens to hold the traffic while we wheel the elderlys. When we were helping the elderlys to alight the bus, there was this ah ma who was waiting for her turn to get off, she spotted another elderly on her wheelchair. Immediately she told us (many of us) that was hers and she can’t share the wheelchair because she has sensitive skin.

Ah ma: 喂！那个是我的轮椅！(hey! That’s my wheelchair!)
Volunteer: 我知道，我们只是要借用一下然后推回来。。(I know, we just need for awhile, after that we will return you)
Ah ma: 没有，那个是人家送给我的， 我有皮肤敏感不可以给别人坐。(no, that is a gift from someone, and I have sensitive skin, so I can’t let anyone else on it)

Tried to pacify her, but she repeated the same thing about her sensitive skin in a very shrilling and high pitch voice. I almost died laughing.

Then it was off for some light snack (min jiang kueh) and drinks before photoshoot. Oh yes, moral home has some world reknown photographers and videographers that never fail to produce award winning/stunning pictures of the volunteers and elderlys. After which they were dispersed for free and easy roaming before heading back to Moral Home.

It was a beautiful and breezy Saturday, all the elderlys were happy and so were the volunteers. On top of that, the sky blessed us with excellent weather throughout the day, and was paid with utmost gratitude with the infamous ‘我问天’ on the journey back to Moral Home; kudos to Gary.

Special thanks to comm. Members:
Chin ling/Jennifer/ping sing for rallying volunteers and grouping them.
Shu hua/yen/ah xian/susan for the food and drinks.
Stuart/sk/xing jian for the photo and videography.
Desmond/uncle song/poh yan for transport.
Adeline/nickson/gary for being the group i/c.
Gary/jojo/susan for providing entertainment during the journey back and forth.

And of course the other volunteers (whom I do not know by name) who has helped out during the event. Thanks a lot!

In Moral Home, we terrorize the elderly’s with our horrible singing, feed them stuff that looks unappetizing, bring them to places where other homes will never bring them, and make them do things against their will. So, DON’T VOLUNTEER AT MORAL HOME.

Love
Andrea

More photos here

It was a pretty threatening weather when I first reached the home as dark clouds were all over the sky. But guess what, the weather turned out to be otherwise and the wonderful weather had definitely contributed to the cheerful spirit of the volunteers and the elderly!! (: Ti Kong Bor Bi (天空保佑）… I’m sure other angels had also helped to pray that it wouldn’t rain… (:

I thought I was the most enthusiastic angel to first reach the home, but there were even more passionate angels who had arrived even earlier than me. They are none other than Christina, Jasmine, Susan, Jennifer and Mr Mok, busy preparing for the stage decoration with many heart-shaped, Swensen’s Happy Mother’s Day balloons all over the table in the room and preparing for the event. HAHA! Anyway, the stage was really beautiful. AWESOME!

Oh no! It was 1pm already but everything was not prepared and the event was supposed to start at 1.30pm. No decoration, no PA system being set-up, songs were not ready. Worst still, I forgot to bring the wire that was needed to play the national songs through my laptop! BUT luckily, thanks to my quick-witted mind (Whahahahahaha), I managed to find a wire and immediately, the lovely national songs were played and the ‘feel’ for national day started to build up. Soon after, Nickson and friends had arrived, and some other ad-hoc volunteers came as well. We were really grateful for their help to get all the games being set-up quickly. 谢谢大家的帮忙！

We invited a very special guest for the event, and he was the most adorable character of the day and that was WINNIE-THE-POOH!! THANK YOU BROTHER SAM FOR SACRIFICING YOURSELF AND GOT DRENCHED BY YOUR OWN PERSPIRATION INSIDE THE CUTE AND CHARMING ‘NAKED’ WINNIE-THE-POOH MASCOT! Bro Sam was trapped inside the mascot for about 2 hours, posing on the stage and taking pictures with the elderly. But don’t worry brother Sam, every drop of water coming out from your body was definitely worth it for you had brought us and the elderly with many laughter and smiles… Your determination is indeed laudable!! (:

Of course, not forgetting Poh Yan and Xing Jian, who had brought all their heavy equipments needed for the photoshoot and took many wonderful photos for the elderlys to keep as memento. The booth was so popular that many elderly wanted to go up stage to take photo with the pooh bear! Business was so good such that the price of a photo dropped from $1 to $0… Hahahaha!! It’s free and it’s instant printing for the elderly. Good job to our efficient PPT (Professional Photography Team) and thank you Desmond for lending us your muscles in pushing the elderly up the stage.

Thanks to our beloved SK, Nickson and Ah kiat =p (The Games Committee), for coming out with 5 FUN, INTERACTIVE, WONDERFUL, EXHILARATING games for the elderly… see.. I wasn’t kidding in the email… and of course, the most popular game is still the betting game (BIG SMALL – 大小)… Ah Mas and Ah Gongs just simply love this game, crowding around the table, refusing to leave for other games. Besides, Ping Sing did a great job in making the ambience lively by shouting and being super enthusiastic. She made Ah Gong Ah Ma really excited while playing those games. FAST EYE seems to be the easiest game of all. Although HAMTAM BOLA, HOOK ON FISH and SHOOT ME DOWN are more challenging, I believed Nickson had helped them to win LOTS OF COUPONS for them to buy many things at the MAMA SHOP… Haha! Oh yea, the artistic and lovely posters were drawn by the games committee and Jasmine (who spent 3 hrs drawing out the poster)

After playing a few games and winning some coupons, our Ah Mas and Ah Gongs were getting tired and guess where they were heading to? It was the CHEAPEST MAMA SHOP you could ever find in the world – which was manned by our dear Shu Hua and Eisa! Many elderlys were surrounding the MAMA SHOP CORNER, some buying shirts for $4, some buying drinks and snacks for only $1… and other basic necessities as well at a really low price. Ah Gong Ah Ma really 赚到了！Thanks Uncle Song and Uncle Sam for purchasing the stuffs for the elderlys, and thanks for the help from the MAMAs at the shop… =p

After shopping, Ah Gong Ah Ma must be really really hungry! But don’t worry… We also have the CHEAPEST FOOD FAIR just outside the kitchen! A set of snacks for just only $1… Can you believe it? And it has Chwee kueh, siew mai, together with a cup of soya bean milk! Thanks to the food committee for preparing the food (Ah Yen, Susan and Jennifer), with the help from Joy and Alex in distributing the food! The elderlys had commented that the food was really delicious!! 好吃!

Last but not least, we ended the celebration with a medley of national songs and thanks to many volunteers who sang their heart out on stage with the lyrics and being so patriotic for that half an hour! Oops =X To sum it up, it was an extremely enjoyable and fun-fulfilling event for both the volunteers and the elderly. Most importantly, we have met our objective, which is to experience great fun and bringing smiles to our Ah Gong Ah Ma. It was a great success with the help from all the volunteers, in a way or another. Thank you everyone for your valuable contribution to this event.

Anyway, Hui Quan was the one who got the mascot and poor Ah kiat had to return it back on his behalf! =X

Cheers,
Ah kiat
Co-Co-Cordinator

“Ah Kong Ah Ma lai lai lai…chiek chwee kueh!!”

It’s snack time!! Wow! That’s really nice biggish yummilicious chwee kueh!! Thank you uncle Song for sponsoring and collecting the kuehs and our lovely monthly IC Yen for her assistance. (But think this IC needs special assistance with her walking ) Of course, thank you volunteers (especially Adeline who came to serve the snacks and rushed off for a concert) who are there serving the elderly …and at the same time not failing to gobble up the chwee kuehs too!!) haha

It was indeed another bustling Saturday at Moral Home! Hmm, it’s a rather special Saturday to see many familiar volunteers who have gone MIA for quite some time! Nice to see you Mei Kuen! You look great!! Do come back to visit the elderly whenever free ya? (More so now for Poh Yan’s sake??!!)

Oh oh oh Mrs Yeo, you need to come MH more often with Uncle Meng Huat!! See, ah ma Beng Choo cant even recognize you!! Wait! This girl looked familiar!! Yes U!! Willett!! Great to see u again! Btw, pls remember to produce your MCs/parents letter so as to excuse yourself from MH activity otherwise…..”#@$%^&$”

That’s not all!! Who is that female photographer…??? Gosh! Stop snapping photos of me la Joy!! It’s NOT a JOYful experience to have a ‘bruised’ face taken and posted leh!!! But really, appreciated your bending, squatting, tilting all angles…to take the best shots of the elderly!! Thank you gal!!

Hi uncle James! He is there not just to befriend but also to report on his ‘F&B’ progress for our upcoming outing! Excellent! Oooh! Wow! Look who are here…the Koh family-Doris and Giselle busy befriending while Lucas running around playing his drum with his bodyguard Stuart.

“6 ah! 6 ah! 6 ah!” Aeroplanes out! Quick! Kick! Balik kampong ah!! Wa! This Barbie Xian looks so sweet but sure ‘nasty’…trying all kinds of opportunities to kick the poor ah kongs’ aeroplanes home!! Thanks to ‘real sweet’ Ricola who is there to savage the brutal acts. After the gigantic colourful aeroplanes game, Barbie go on to bully the kongs with the Jenga game!! Good job girl!

Hey what’s up at the other side? Poh Yan VS Uncle John at ‘dumb’ game!! (1-1 draw?? Gosh! PY is getting more ‘dumbed’) Ah Kiat VS Chinese Chess King playing Chinese Chess? My poor brother-in-law Kiat… but you’ll sure pick up some Chess skills from him!! Hey, Willett you are good! You managed to get ah kong Lam Sam to play Chess!!! Very impressive!

Yo! What’s at the other end now? Burst ah! Burn ah! The banluck gang has already glued to the table headed by Auntie Molly assisted by Susan! Of course without fail, you bet that the mahjong kakis are there, enjoying the mahjong session with the help of the extra ‘legs’-Chin Ling and Mei Kuen! (FYI, we have increased to 2 mahjong tables due to popular demand!!!)

Not forgetting the energetic Zhengren, Chu Er and Joy entertaining the other group of elderly with the fishing and other all-time favourite games!! Excellent work done!

Last but not least, we have our MH ‘HOT’ M4 aka MAD 4-Mr Mok, Uncle Meng Huat, Stuart and Gary the kiapkiap, giving their best singing to the elderly!!! At times, S1 joined in the lively singing session and she is none other than our Jojo…the SIAO or…SH*T hehe Btw, Poh Yan ever “first time” was given to MH! He finally sang!! (though %^*&^% la) Good try!

Oh ya! We also have a ‘superman’-Nickson flying around doing befriending!!! Fantastic!! Hey, where is SK Lim? There he is, sitting at the dinning table, kept asking for “half bobo, half rice”?!! FON! There there! We have FON’s Primary schoolmate our leader…KLKK hehe making sure all of us are doing something!

The Sat afternoon simply passed by so quickly with the laughter of ah kongs ah mas and the laughter of volunteers…just cant wait for the next Sat to come!

!! WARNING !! Due to sickening weather, volunteers getting sick, cant go MH and the sick elderly get more sick…so volunteers, please drink more water, eat more fruits and vegetables(2+2)!!! Take Care ya!!!

Announcement
Upcoming Outing on 22nd May 2010 to bring Moral Home residents to Hort Park. Selected committee members would have received info from the organizers, Sam and Song. More info will be released soon., mark your calendar.

This Sat (1st May) is art and craft day. Led by Jojo and Chin Ling, we will be making salt bottles with the residents. Make sure to drop by on this Labour Day.

Smile always,
R

Well well… the celebration last sat has in a way helped us mark an end to the Chinese New Year festive season… no more Ban Luck, no more feasting and it’s time to diet, diet and diet…

As early as 1.30pm, many angels were already at the home buzzing around busily with the necessary preparations. Come come, let’s go find out what these angels were busy with…

1. Some angels were busy packing a big carton of mandarin oranges sponsored by the home into paper bags and neatly loading and counting it onto a trolley
2. The décor ladies were decorating the dining area with虎年快乐! Andrea was high up on the chair hanging the words while Caroline was on the ground trying to “balance” the wordings… Nickson quickly went over to rescue the damsels in distress.. keke
3. Our professional group of photographers (Gong2x Poh Yan, Xing Jian & Chin Leng) were walking around capturing the angel’s best shots
4. Our favorite emcees, Uncle Sam and Ping Sing were preparing their scripts
5. Aunty Molly, Rico and Yen were in the kitchen de-boning the “birdies” for dinner
6. Game master Ah Kiat was seated in a corner preparing the stuff for his games…
7. Uncle Mok, Jojo and Gary were testing out the sound system with their beautiful voices
8. A few “muscular” guys were moving the tables to the sides.. haha..
9. Doris and Jasmine were walking around supervising to ensure that everything was in order..
10. Last but not least Cai Sheng Ye Desment dressing up in the room

Soon enuf, the program for the day started…. Our ever wonderful emcees greeted the elderly with well wishes followed by a short hilarious sketch on the mythical legend of Chinese New Year. Hahahaha… a great job by the teachers and students of CCKSS.. the story was indeed very funny..

After the sketch, Henry and Yiqing (teachers in charge) lead a group of 30 students from Siglap Secondary School 华乐队 to captivate the elderly with a solid 20 mins of wonderful performance. Thank you all for the effort and time in organizing this program for the elderly, they will love to hear from you again…

Next, loud cheers and claps were heard from the elderly to welcome the Cai Sheng Ye… wow wow this year we got a sexy GOF who were distributing the ang baos and oranges to the elderly in his appeared in his sexy short bermudas, oh well, not to worry his “tou fu” was not being eaten up as he was tightly protected by Uncle Yeo…. Hahaha…

While the GOF was making his rounds, Chinese New Year goodies were being served as snacks to the elderly… gosh the elderly was happily munching the cookies away and a sweet cup of barley drink to soothe their dry throats.. *slurp slurp*

Next came our game master, Ah Kiat, with his whelly whelly good Chinese New Year quiz.. gosh.. you could see that the elderly loved this game ya .. after each question, they could be seen waving their “选我” flag frantically in the air trying very hard to catch the attention of Ah Kiat and Uncle Sam… Actions were not good enuf, macho Nickson even went to the extend of attracting the judges with his sexy voice….. ooooh that was really power man!! Thanks to him, a couple of elderly managed to win some prizes.

Some were lucky but some were unlucky… thanks to Gary’s 西瓜, Gong Gong Robert was not able to win any of the prizes … why lehz? It is because when the question “which fruit do we used to 拜年?? Gary gave him the answer 西瓜… diao diao!! This was so funny… and due to this game, poor ah kiat nearly got tore into half with the ladies pulling him and there… kekeeke.. heng ah he is still intact.. oops =D

Next came the lion dance performance by the Koon San Lion Dance Troupe. The lion was challenged to cai qing from a great height.. hahaha thanks to Hui Hui’s idea of tying the vege to the ceiling… Besides the stunts by the lions, the lions also went round befriending the elderly. Most of the elderly got rather happy when the lions got up, close and personal with them.

After which, the elderly and volunteers LOU LOU LOU their way to good health, more wealth and happiness… !!

Roast ducks, roast chickens, char siew and ice cream were served to the elderly as extra toppings to their dinner.. while they were slowly enjoying their meal, our once very famous chopsticks sisters mesmerized the elderly with their lovely tunes.

3 cheers to the success of this celebration… Hip hip hooray!!! We the organizers wanna say a big THANK YOU to all the angels who made this event successful… without you, this will not be possible… thank u
With special thanks to

• Poh Yan – for contributing the Ang Baos
• Uncle Song – for sponsoring the Roast ducks, chickens and BBQ pork
• Chin Ling – for sponsoring the yusheng and ice cream
• Fiona – for the snacks and drinks
• HQ – for the lion dance troupe
• F& B Comm – for the organizing of the snacks and sumptuous dinner for the elderly
• Décor Comm – for the decorations put up
• Games Comm – for the wonderful games planned
• Entertainment Comm – for the lovely songs sang
• Lovely emcees for the wonderful hosting
• Desment – for being our cute cute GOF
• All angels who contributed their unopened cookies to the home
• All angels who are present at the event – Xiaoxuan, Fuji, Adeline, Jenn, Simon, Nickson, Rico’s ex students, Andrea’s friends, Bee Lian, Ben and many many more.. pardon me if I have left any of you out.

A happy new year 2010 to everyone! It’s a brand new year and we shall welcome theTiger year (not woods) with a shopping trip!

On 23rd Jan 2010 we will be bringing 20 elderly of Moral Home to a pre Chinese New Year shopping trip at Giant Tampines. We need volunteers to help the elderly with the travelling and the shopping.

After the shopping we will proceed to Changi Airport T3 for some sightseeing before heading back to the Home.

The outing is on the 23rd Jan 2009 (Sat) 1pm to 6pm. We will be needing 35 volunteers and since it’s less than 3 weeks away, we need your response fast. So hurry and sign up with our volunteer coordinator Josephine at crystaljose1985 [a] gmail.com.

We had so much in our last shopping outing in 2007 (wow… 3 yr already). Check it out at: 2007 CNY Shopping And photos too.

Hope to see you all!

Cheers
Moral Angels Volunteer Group
http://moralangels.com