SG Cares volunteers met at the void deck of the beneficiary’s house for a short briefing about the Home Nursing Foundation and the volunteer activity – Home Maintenance. The beneficiary, his wife and daughter lived in a 3-room flat in the eastern part of Singapore. The family had many health concerns such as chronic illnesses and back-aches. Hence, very little household chores were able to be done. As the volunteers stepped into the house, dust and hair clusters could be found in various parts of the house. This was not helped by renovation works carried out nearby which resulted in layers of dust accumulated on the window panes. Without delay, all four SG Cares volunteers split up the tasks and started their mission. Though there were some insects crawling around the kitchen, the volunteers stayed calm and remained focused on their tasks. The dark patches on the kitchen floor slowly but surely began to shine with visible pink tiles after much scrubbing and mopping. Some volunteers also tip-toed on chairs to reach the dust ‘mountains’ on the window panes to allow the sun's rays to enter the house. Some others swept and mopped the floors of the living room, bedroom and bathroom. A salute goes out to the volunteers for going all out - out of their comfort zones, with bare hands and sleeves rolled-up to achieve the common goal of transforming the home into a more comfortable place to live in. It was very heartening to see the “before and after” in the different parts of the house. During the debrief, all four SG Cares volunteers shared that they felt a sense of achievement and found it meaningful to volunteer for this activity. |