Work for a CAUSE - not for APPLAUSE
‘Welcome to 2016!’ Well, what does it actually mean? It means its been more than one year since I commenced volunteering at a local senior retirement home! YAY!
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| A provoking quote I stumbled upon whilst writing this reflection (Image from The Quotepedia) |
For almost every Saturday in the past school year, i.e. during DP1, my friend and I have been volunteering for two hour shifts at Bonifatius. Honestly, its quite incredible to think of all the events we have contributed to make them joyous and successful for the residents of the home, even if our actions were small deeds in comparison. Nevertheless, this does not mean we didn't give it our greatest efforts to pay attention and care to the elderly citizens as well as support our mentors who work dedicatedly to cater beneficial and exciting activities all year round.
Rather than to waffle on about all the hours spent with the elderly, I decided to give you a condensed and summarised list of activities from the past 15 months of volunteering. Most of which we helped to initiate, meaning Learning Outcome ③ was successfully achieved! I’ve categorised the groups of activities in terms of the three aspects of CAS: Creativity, Action and Service.
- Supported the elderly in crafting and creating their own stain pictures, christmas decorations, pot and watercolour paintings.
- Baked christmas cookies in winter, strawberry pastries in spring, muffins for Easter and apple mousse in the autumn among many other delicious treats!
- Encouraged sing-alongs to christmas carols, folk and even Schlager songs.
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| Nina & Mrs Kaiser made their first strawberry & jam tart together! |
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| After making the strawberry and jam tarts - it's time to serve it up with a good cup of coffee! |
Action:
- Lead gymnastic exercises in larger groups of residents.
- Baking various treats that trained body coordination such as peeling and chopping huge amounts of apples for the apple mouse or other types of fruits to make a fruit salad as well as decorating cookies which required precision and concentration.
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| A peaceful sing-along on the St. Martin's Day celebration! |
Service:
- Narrated short fables and old folk tales, and contributed in discussion rounds regarding cultural and traditional topics such as St. Martin, Christmas, Easter and Carnival.
- Engaged in board and cognitive-stimulating games in smaller groups.
- Organised and carried out many rounds of bingo as well as bowling!
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| Playing an exciting game of Mensch ärgere dich nicht! |
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| A round of cognitive-stimulating discussion and mind-boggling puzzles |
In addition to these weekly activities, there were special occasions where we supported the Bonifatius team in festivities of longer shifts. These included Oktoberfests, Christmas celebrations, St. Martin’s Day and Carnival parties (which are essential to the natives of Cologne!)
To this day, I am proud to say I have achieved a total of about 113 hours of volunteering at Bonifatius alone! Although I am very aware that CAS is no hour-counting activity, I have been constantly keeping a record of my regular visits and the time I’ve dedicated to this CAS activity. Please feel free to check out below:
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| All the hours achieved to date on this CAS activity recorded on my Number sheet! |
As you may have noticed, there is a significantly lower amount of visits I’ve done from August 2015 onwards, i.e. from the start of DP2. This is because my friend and I decided that as the heat during our last school year is about to escalate with internal and external assessments, cleaning up our Extended Essays and working on other projects: less is more! As a result, we now regularly visit once every fortnight and do our very best to maintain the precious friendships we’ve built with the elderly and our colleagues at the retirement home.
In order to bring forth a fresh new reflection on this activity, I will attempt to address some of my main points and concerns from the previous reflection post and evaluate them accordingly. If you haven't already read it, please do not hesitate to do so HERE!
“I believe volunteer work requires a ceaseless amount of effort and energy”
Aber selbstverständlich! This statement was written prior to much hours of experience and I must say, even ceaseless can be an understatement. I’ve learned that volunteering doesn't just mean pumping in and keeping up all your effort and energy you can manage but instead a huge element involves improving the quality of your work in steps! After visits, I try to revise what I have achieved and what I should or shouldn't have done. Occasionally, there are mishaps where I unintentionally knocked the side of the wheel of the tilt-in-space reclining wheelchairs which surprises or even once - caused slight pain to the elderly woman! Or other times where I spoke all too quickly, and made it difficult for the resident to understand my explanation of the game. These are areas of weaknesses which I aim to improve as I continue my service at the retirement home. According to this, it seems I have met Learning Outcome ①!
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| Another round of the addictive board game! |
“I was slightly shy at first” and “I felt more confident to approach them this time however, I did not act as natural as I normally would”
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| Volunteering here has extended my comfort zone! |
This is another aspect which I have learned to control and have fun with at the same time, which ties into Learning Outcome ⑤. I wasn't comfortable to begin with, simply because I was not used to being with people of those ages, especially from an unfamiliar culture. Additionally, there are some generation gaps which you learn about whilst working. For example, most of the residents lived through the Second World War, which means their idea of potatoes is to be eaten and not wasted on arts and crafts, unlike the way we perceive it to be in a potato printing activity.
During my visits, I take opportunities to engage with them more profoundly, to understand their opinions on some topics as well as simply learn about their past hobbies and interests. Example: Mr Elfert loved playing football and remains an active fan of the Bundesliga today, whereas Mrs Müller danced a lot when she was younger!
“It is a personal challenge to engage with the senior citizens because it will be in German, my second foreign language”
This is true and, as I mentioned in the last post, I’ve learned to accept my grammar mistakes from time to time because it appeared that the residents themselves did not seem to not mind either, so long as I convey an overall clear message. In fact, it made them interested in my background and sparked interesting conversations. Connecting with the elderly in a manner that was comfortable both for them and myself was not as difficult as I thought it to be!
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| #AltenheimSelfie |
Moreover, as I progress in German B, I have noticed myself correcting mistakes as soon as I speak them out loud! Therefore, I believe that making mistakes can be the a useful form of learning too! With the help of my friend, she corrects my phrases too and informs me on some linguistic meanings which I never knew before until I used them in an everyday context. This aspect of the activity fits with Learning Outcomes ② and ⑧ appropriately.
“Perhaps it broke the ice of feeling awkward around the inhabitants as I grew used to their attitudes and pronunciations too”
Events such as the Oktoberfest and Carnival celebrations gave us more time to spend with the elderly. On such occasions, we usually serve food and drinks as well as sit and chat to them about their well-being and opinions of the fest so far. Although volunteers do not get paid monetarily for what the do, I know now that they are paid nevertheless - through experience, compliments and milestones! This leads to the next point…
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| All the residents from Bonifatius gather in the cafeteria for an Carnival celebration! |
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| The natives of Cologne look forward to an afternoon of singing, dancing and mingling |
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| Most of them also came dressed-up for the festive occasion! |
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| Schlager sing-along! |
“Gaining extra work experience is always rewarding” and “whenever I was able to bring out a smile from them, it felt overwhelmingly rewarding”
Acknowledging how relationships develop and flourish with the elderly made it all the more worth it to continue to devote time into the volunteer work. There have even been times where I’ve randomly received kind compliments unexpectedly (A resident said recently in the christmas celebration that I looked more radiant than the sparking christmas tree!) As with each memorable experience there, they trigger a sense of belonging and purpose in me and slowly but surely, you inevitably notice the significant impact you have on the lives of the individuals you share your time with. These are what volunteers live for - not for the applause but for the cause. The Learning Outcome which best suits this achievement is the ⑥th.
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| A quote which best sums up an important lesson I've learnt (Image from Pinterest) |
“I truly admire social workers who work in retirement homes wherever in the world.”
I have definitely gained a much deeper appreciation for social workers and volunteers after going through a humble part of the volunteering experience myself. Once again, I am aware that what I have achieved is only a small window into the world of social service, however I am nonetheless thankful for how working collaboratively with them has altered and shaped my respect for the people who work tirelessly in this field. This addresses Learning Outcome ④ suitably.
I cannot deny that it is the positivity and success in this CAS activity which keeps my spirit up and motivated to continue forth. Yet I cannot ignore the unfortunate events which make this time spent at the retirement home always special.
When one volunteers for over a period, you build connections and relationships that last a lifetime… Yet we easily forget that, that ‘lifetime’ always ends when people grow old and pass on as an essential part of life. Over the course of the past 15 months, there have certainly been times when my friend and I felt slightly reluctant to spend our time at the retirement home when we could be studying and achieving important academic-related tasks. However, its occurred when are greeted with the regretful news, that an elderly has passed on. Of those names, we lost four, of whom we became so closely acquainted with, to their old age. An example, Mrs Gersch in one of the images from my previous reflection post is no longer with us and Mrs Schere whom we have learned to share so much with.
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| Yours truly helping the late Mrs Schere express her creativity when making Christmas decorations |
These are the moments, when you truly understand that life isn't only about school or only about material… It iss is undeniable that health itself is the single most important factor ruling the lives we wake up to each day. Who cares about all the money you work for, or food you can salvage or cars you can collect when all that governs it, is your health. This is probably one of my top most determining factors as to why I’m passionate about making it into medicine and becoming a game-changer in the medical world. With regards to the Learning Outcomes, I believe I have achieved the final one: ⑦, considering the ethical implications of my actions.
Thank you very much for your kind attention and I hope the following image can summarise what I’ve attempted to say through this post:
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| A thoughtful saying that justly governs my perspective of volunteering (Image from The Quotepedia) |
I hope you enjoyed reading this reflection and I apologise for the length go this post, however this quantity would unfortunately never be able to justify the quality of the experiences I've attained through this CAS activity.
Evita ☺
