Mr Hansen Han
Volunteering with RSVP since 2019
I started volunteering in 2015 with Team Nila under ActiveSG as a Sport Result Manager and Liaison Officer at the SEA and PARA games.
In 2016, I become a Silver Generation Ambassador (SGA) where I reached out to the Pioneer and Merdeka Generations to explain the government policy.
I am still working part time for 2 to 3 days a week in the healthcare industry.
My job involves visiting wheelchair bound and seniors with dementia at their homes to help them with simple tasks such as running errands, buying groceries and simple household chores. Before this, I used to work in an electronic manufacturing company as a service engineer where I service and commission machines.
This switch in career path has equipped me with the expertise for me to better help these seniors and contribute back to society. I feel that I can do more for the community and I am motivated to contribute back.
I can relate better to the seniors and want to do something to brighten their lives. Therefore in 2019, I decided to join RSVP Singapore’s Episodic Programmme after surfing the internet. The Episodic Programme provides a variety of volunteering opportunities for me to try out at a flexible pace as I’m still working part time.
Ever since volunteering with RSVP Singapore, I have participated in 15 Episodic volunteering activities. I enjoy befriending seniors and when I see volunteering opportunities at the nursing home, I will surely sign up for the activities if it falls on my days off.
One memorable thing for me is bringing wheelchair bound seniors out for outings to interesting places. Once, we brought them to Changi beach and then to dinner at Changi Village. Another time, we brought them to Maxwell Hawker Centre to eat and then wheel them around Chinatown during Chinese New Year. To an able-bodied person, all these places are very common. But to the wheelchair bound residents, most of the time, their world is confined to the nursing home. So being able to go out is a luxury for them.
Being able to participate in a real kitchen setting like the “Cooking with ex-offenders at HCSA” and the “Cook With Me programme at Society of the Aged Sick” was an eye opener for me! In both sessions, volunteers and the seniors have to prepare a dish to serve the residents. For someone who does not cook, it is a challenge and an achievement for me!
Seeing the beneficiaries happy and their joyful faces certainly make my day!
