Reflection on founder's day CIP

On 21st March(Monday), we went for a CIP program. We brought the old people around the shopping centre and we also had a meal with them. Through the process, we interacted with them, and had a chit-chat session. The old lady that I was in charged of was about seventy years old and had many wrinkles. While walking in the supermarket, I could sense that she was feeling tired as she was constantly sweating in the air-conditioned supermarket. Despite feeling tired, she would just rest a while and then continued walking and exploring the shopping centre. I realised that even though these people might be old and weak, they welcome us and really appreciated our company. Also, they really appreciated whatever things that they had, be it having lunch with us, waking around the shopping centre or even being able to walk! This was unlike many children that I had observed, which are fussy and complains whenever they are unable to get what they wanted. Through the chit-chat session, I realised that although she was not very intelligent as she was suffering from dementia, she was actually very excited about speaking to us and she also demonstrated self control and maintained eye-contact with me. Although at times she will be very anxious or agitated, as long as I remain calm, she will settle down, and everything went well. This is opposed to my perception that people suffering from dementia are stupid and strange. They in fact are very welcoming and appreciative and they are really able to socialise! I also learned about their experiences in life and how they lived. Some of them are sad people without love from their children, they are simply "dumped" into this centre, and they feel lonely and disapointed. I finally understood why it is very important to take care of our parents, to make our parents find joy in their last few decades of their lives, after all, who brought us to this world? We will not be present in this world without our parents, and it is extremely important to take care of them. We should not forget our "root". In conclusion, I have gained many things from this CIP program and I hope to have more of this type of programs organized in the future.