“I’ve been working as a Personal Care Worker at the Helping Hand Po Lam Self Care Home for over twelve years. I started off as a cleaner and Helping Hand gave me training opportunities to progress my career. Every morning, I start my day by chatting with and listening to the residents - to find out how they’re feeling, whether they need any special assistance or if they’re feeling unwell in any way. It’s a lot about communication. My work brings me a lot of fulfilment because the residents are so caring and grateful. Since working here, I’ve also picked up caring skills that I can apply to caring for my own elderly parents.

At the Self Care Home, residents are pretty independent and often go out to meet friends and family, go grocery shopping and engage in different activities. We have a good community here and keep our residents very active! There are weekly events like plays, movie nights, karaoke, field trips and birthday parties. Many of our residents have not had others celebrate their birthdays with them before, so these birthday parties mean a lot to them. I hear a lot of interesting life stories. Some people stay with us because they have some family issues, others don’t have a home to go back to. There was a lady whose husband passed away when she was just 29; she had to raise two kids on her own while dealing with grief. Years later, after her son got married, she didn’t get along with her in-laws and decided to leave home and move out herself. Many residents have had life challenges and experienced pain - we want to make them feel happy and comfortable here, to give them a family and a home. 

I’ve learned that stories are the best way to connect with our residents - they always stick. One time, I played the character Chang’e in the story of the Mid-Autumn Festival, and through that story the residents really bonded with me and with each other. In Chinese culture, death is still very much a taboo topic, but here at Helping Hand we organise talks to raise awareness of life and death, and to give the elderly a platform to openly express their thoughts and wishes. We also encourage our residents to share stories and we record interviews with them - to capture their life stories, anecdotes and wishes after death. They sometimes use that as an opportunity to say ‘thank you’ or ‘sorry’ to their family. It’s so meaningful for family members to be able to treasure these memories. Being part of an organisation that helps people in this way brings me a lot of joy!”  

Storytelling by Hong Kong Shifts