The selfless work of a group of hawkers, their family members and volunteers has impacted the life of a lonely senior citizen so much that she now considers all of them her own “grandchildren”.
Mummy Yummy, a vegan hawker, has been offering affordable meals for low-income workers and free cooked food for the underprivileged for some years now. The hawker even delivers the free meals straight to the doorsteps of those who need home-cooked meals the most.
The group of four women who started Mummy Yummy have been providing door to door food distribution to rental flats in Singapore since 2013. Since December 2017, they have been distributing free food to at least 142 rental blocks in the whole of Singapore, with the help of their family members and a group of dedicated volunteers.
One of the people Mummy Yummy serves is Grandma Sim – a lonely senior citizen who lives alone. Grandma Sim, who is prone to suffering falls, recently had another fall in the toilet in one of the hospitals where she had been receiving treatment. While the fall did not cause her new injuries, the incident left Grandma Sim bitter about her circumstances.
Mummy Yummy revealed on Facebook this Tuesday (29 Oct) that Grandma Sim was “cursing and swearing in her flat complaining of back pain” when they went to check up on her but a young Mummy Yummy volunteer managed to calm the elderly lady down with her thoughtful words:
“Our young volunteer managed to calm her down and explained to her that accidents do happen, ah Ma don’t like that, don’t scold bad words ok. Next on, we quickly arranged for her to see our regular TCM in the evening and after the treatment, we are relieved that her pain has lessen and able to go to sleep.”
Mummy Yummy’s care towards Grandma Sim touched her so much that she now considers all of them to be her grandchildren and reports her daily movements to the group.
Mummy Yummy meets Grandma Sim every day. Volunteers bring Grandma Sim to her wound dressing appointments on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and take her for Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) massages on Tuesday evenings. On Thursdays, Mummy Yummy’s young volunteers “go to her house and listen to her “grandma stories”.”
Explaining why it is important for them to extend such a level of care to the needy residents they serve, Mummy Yummy wrote:
“This is one good example why we must always emphasis on “Human Touch”. Nobody is going to open up to you if you are not going to open up to them in the first place. Older folks have plenty of experiences in judging people, they feel from how you treat them, talk to them and respect them in a very sensitive way.
“Sometimes they can get unreasonable, sometimes they can be childish but mind you, they are not fools. There are instances old people purposely tests your patience and see if you are able to handle them. Once you “passed” their test, they will regard you as one of his/her kin. It’s as simple as that.
“Volunteering works, everyone can do. Doing it with passion, it will take a lot of determination and hard work. How to build up the passion on this? There’s no shortcuts, you have to physically get involved ON THE GROUND meeting and handling every different cases. See and feel for yourself the importance of your work on them and how it’s helping them to get better on their needs.
“After you have built up your own confidence and put them above you, then your path to volunteering has just started. Hope by sharing this, we can inspire more like minded people to have an idea of what is volunteering all about. It’s not so simple as what it seems to the public perception but definitely not impossible to be a qualified volunteer. All it takes come from your heart. Listen to it and it shall give you guidance for compassion and kindness.”
Mummy Yummy relies partly on donations to keep their public service mission going. To contribute, kindly follow the instructions below:
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