Healthworks at Bukit Purmei -Elderly Walk 3
November 21st, 2008
In collaboration with the Radin Mas CC Youth Group and Bukit Purmei Zone ‘A’ RC Senior Citizen’s Club, the NYAA GAHA organised a Youth– Elderly Integration walk on 25 October 2008. We covered historic monuments on the Civic District Trail located at City Hall and also went into the Esplanade. The activity is the third of the walk series under the Health Works @ Bukit Purmei project, and is a follow-up on the fall assessment coupled with hypocount and blood pressure measurements, which was conducted earlier in the year.Aimed at bridging the inter-generational gap between the youths and elderly while allowing both to learn more about the historic monuments and the Esplanade, the walk brought more than 40 senior citizens, aged 60 years and above and 15 youths together. Unlike the first two walks, this walk incorporated a line dancing session which proved to be a hit amongst the elderly, some of whom, it turned out, dance very regularly!The walk began with an introduction of the Sir Stamford Raffles Statue in front of the Singapore River. As we moved on to the Asian Civilisation Museum and Victoria Theatre, it was interesting to learn from the elderly other names (in other dialects) and former uses for these buildings that are not in our history books. It was evident from the smiles captured in the photos that everyone had a thoroughly enjoyable time!
Soon, we reached the Esplanade Park to get a bird’s eye view of the city, before continuing with the other main activity of the day: line dancing.The dance was conducted at the open area beside Tan Kim Seng Fountain. Some basic moves were first taught to the elderly, most of whom grasped the moves almost immediately. When the music was played, it became clear that some of the elderly can dance better than the youths!
On our trail back to our ending point: The Arts House, we passed by the Padang and the Old Supreme Court. The hot weather did not deter the elderly from sharing their experiences with the youths as well as taking photographs of and with the buildings. As the end of the outing, as the elderly and youth volunteers waved goodbye to each other, it was clear that the walk series has been a great learning experience for both the elderly and the youths, and that the memories of the Health works Project and outings which the elderly and youths share are fond and warm memories.
Entry Filed under: Community & Rootedness, Youth Elderly
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