CIP activity on Founder's Day

This year's Founder's Day was a totally new experience to me. Last year we did beach cleaning, which was a rather simple job. This year, my class and I treated elderly folks to breakfast and walked around Jurong Point Shopping Centre with them. And the elderly folks had early signs of dementia, thus more care is needed. When my friend and I were introduced to the old folk we were required to take care of, the old folk seemed to be a little uncomfortable about our presence, but I could see that she was forcing out a smile. She told me she felt sorry that we had to use our money to pay for her breakfast, and she repeated that a few times. While eating breakfast at McDonalds, I had to cater to her needs, as she found that the coffee was too bitter, and needed to add some creamer and 3 sticks of sugar, I also helped to wrap her burger so that she could eat it more easily and convenient. As time past, I started to realise that to interact with those elderly folks well, we needed to smile more and speak more to them to make them feel that they are not a burden which bothers us, that we are trying to spend time with them. When walking around with elderly, it is always nice to point out interesting stuff, and laugh a little to make them feel that we both are a little like friends, not just 2 people whom are together for few hours which are totally unenjoyable and boring. We also had to speak and walk at a moderate speed so that they can enjoy their walk and also understand what we are saying, rather than feel that we are just like few bees buzzing in others' ears, we also needed to notice what they were interested as time passed. When we went to the supermarket, she asked the officers from New Horizon Centre if they had brought money to pay for groceries, I guessed she was worried we were paying for whatever they were buying, but the officers said we were just walking around.Well, after the walk, when we returned to New Horizon Centre, the old folk whom I was in charge of went to the toilet, I did not have a chance to say goodbye to her. I guess that was my greatest regret.