14
Location: Bangkok
Yet another crazy and amazing day!
Hey there! So today we went to the Duang Prateep Foundation to volunteer with a senior citizens group from Klong Toey slum. When we arrived we were greeted with roses and taken to our seats, which was very sweet. We then proceeded to play games to help the elders exercise their brains and reflexes. For example we would have our hands in two different positions; one hand holding our nose and one crossed over the other holding the ear. When the leader of the group said switch they would have to swap the position of their hands. If they couldn’t do it, they would have to get up in front of everyone and dance. The elders had such a great attitude about everything. Their youthful spirit really came out when we played the games, and when it was time to dance, they acted like they hadn’t aged a bit. We then performed the Cha-Cha -Slide for them, and afterward we came up with more ideas for dexterity games. First we played Chief, which is a game that involves someone doing a motion and everyone following, except for one person, who has to figure out who is the Chief. The elders were worn out from all the activities so we took a lunch break, and we served them all lunch before siting down ourselves to eat. By this time, some of us began to feel a bit under the weather. After sitting through a prayer session where the elders thanked us for our volunteer work and wished us luck and good fortune, we were taken to a room with A/C for a break. A few us stayed back to rest while the others went around delivering rice, blankets, and milk to the homes of Klong Toey elders who were too ill or physically unable to join us for the fun morning events. We delivered rice directly to their homes and learned more about life in the slums. Once we were all reunited, those of us who stayed back to rest were feeling much better. We then came back to the hotel and decided to have a peaceful night in, so we ordered pizza and watched movies before doing a forum.