Hope y'all have been having fun during the sems break!
I'm Shermaine and I'm just going to share about the YO! (Young and Old) Forum I attended=)
YO! Forum was held at Singapore Polytechnic on 5th September, jointly organised by NYAAGAHA (Gold Award Holders Alumni) and C3A(Council for 3rd Age), supported by NYAA. The even lasted a whole day from 8.30am-6pm. Though the 9.5hour seems long, the whole day passed in a flash! The events kept the participants intrigued and we learnt a lot from the excursions to the homes and schools and from the dailogue session with Minister Vivan Balakrishnan.
All the participants were assigned to a group, with participants from other schools and organisations. There were students as young as 14 and those above 40. The age range allowed us to communicate and share ideas and opinions regarding the issues of the Young and Old.
My group was to go on and excursion to the YAH! Community College. Unlike other colleges and institutions, YAH! (Young at Heart) Community College accepts students above 50 years of age. That is to say that even your grandmother can attend YAH! This special college aims to actively shape the life of seniors in their golden years. Many seniors were unable to complete their education when they were young due to various reasons. This college helps them fulfill their wish to study. YAH! even has a graduation ceremony for their students after the completion of the course!
Before I went there, I had the impression that the seniors there would be subdued and grumpy, maybe even sickly. However, even before I entered the Community College at Jurong Point, I was greeted by the smiling faces of many seniors, all of them standing at the door, waving to us. I was pleasantly surprise. All thoughts of sad, brooding old people vanished. The videos that they showed us of how the elderly who have attended the school found new meaning in life were really very touching. It is vastly different from the elderly we have always seen at old folks' home, where we use to go for CIP in secondary school.
[The YAH! students teaching us their school song, with YAH! manager, Miss Wang on the right]
[Ice-breaker games led by the YAH! students (in orange) ]
The elderly at YAH! were more enthusiastic than the youths present in singing songs and playing games, so much so that you'd think,"Which is the younger generation here?" These elderly have inquisitive minds that have led them in pursuit of education, not just English lessons and pottery class, but even Magic classes! The Magic class is absolutely fascinating! It is conducted by one of the elderly who teaches tricks he has learnt from magicians to the other seniors. He shared with us that after he has taught the other seniors, they would go back and 'trick' their grandchildren. This bonding makes their grandchildren and themselves happy.
[The magician at YAH!]
I think all of us have this set mindset of the elderly, however the trip down to YAH! that day proved me wrong and I hope that if you do get a chance to head down to YAH! Community College during the holidays, you will think of the elderly in a different light too.
For NYAA Gold participants who have not found an organisation to volunteer at, why not volunteer at YAH! ? Visit the website : http://www.yah.org.sg/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=27&Itemid=86 to find out more!
If you guys are interested in going down to YAH!, you can leave us a comment at the tagboard or email me at tpnyaa.ezh@hotmail.com and if there're loads of y'all, we can all go down together!
Cheers
Shermaine
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