Limping Marathon Runner

Navigating my way to the meeting point, I was right on time. Ooopps. Cyberkinetic not in sight. I suppose that was the gathering point, with lots of people standing around. 'You look familiar.' 'You too.' We exchanged sentences. Someone I know through work, where we once attended a same course in KL. Apparently, TK is one of the regulars here. All of us went in for a short introduction and briefing of purpose of this clean up exercise for the old folks. We were briefly taught on how should we approach the old folks in a way where we have to be sensitive to their feelings. Words to avoid and things we should follow. Swiftly, we grouped into teams based on area and left for the blocks.

I was assigned to another estate with another gentleman (Francis) and another lady (an Aussie-Born-Chinese). "What dialects are you guys proficient in?" For some particular reason, we are all speaking the same dialect. Arrg.... if the old folks are speaking a different dialect and does not utter a single Mandarin word.. We will pointing to the sky, ground and anything that moves when we communicate in sign language. First stop at one of the assigned unit, I start by greeting the senior citizen (Madam Yeong) 'Good morning' in Mandarin. She replied, 'I can't hear you!', in our dialect group. The three of us (volunteers) felt relieved! She is a kind lady who required us to clean two fluorescent tubes and one light cover. We were spared from cleaning her already-clean floors and toilet. My guess .. she did not want to trouble us. We kept asking her if there is anything else we can help her with. But, she just said, she will do the rest on her own because she wants to exercise by doing some simple cleaning on her walls. Madam Yeong even made us coffee. We talked to her more since we figured out most folks need people to talk to. After talking to her for a while, we got reassigned to help other units that require more thorough spring cleaning. I joined TK, JooLeong (another young gentleman) and a lady (whom I do not know her name) in cleaning the unit. They were working at the windows and floors while I made myself useful by clearing the toilet. We ate lunch with the gentleman (senior citizen) who is on walking clutches and did a little more cleaning before leaving around 2 plus in the afternoon. It was a wonderful experience knowing people from different walks of life lending a helping hand. Most of the time, dependents do not require our money. They require care and concern ... our human touch.

I thought of taking pictures of before and after spring cleaning effect. But, I was soon against the idea, since its a respect of their privacy. But, it sure is satisfying to see the results.