After meeting Xie Xiao Yun, the volunteer coordinator for Ren Ci, I had a clearer picture of what my duties were. My tasks for the 1-week attachment programme were chosen by Xiao Yun for me. My main duty was to assist the occupational therapist in the morning therapy sessions.
Again, I still had no idea what to expect as I had no idea what an occupational therapist was. Upon meeting the two occupation therapists at the centre on the first day, it took any misconception of what a therapist did away.
As most of the people staying in Ren Ci are WheelChair ridden, the amount of day to day interaction with their surroundings is extremely little and without external help, they would eventually lose the ability to carry out the simplest tasks, like taking a cup of water. So occupational therapists have to step in to ensure that all the residents at Ren Ci receive a minimal amount of exercise to essentially allow them to be operational.
My duties were very similar throughout every day of my time there. At 9, we would bring out the designated residents on their wheelchairs to the Activity room, which is an air conditioned room away from the main building. Here, residents would perform a variety of activities like simple interactive games, puzzles and even leg exercises, all under the guidance of the therapists. The therapists also ensure that the residents are not bored or tired of the activities by rotating a different activity everyday of the week. For example, some days there would be a screening of “Liang PoPo”, another day there would be morning exercise or even a cooking exercise. They even have a Wii set for them to try out sports like bowling and tennis safely.
To sum my experience up, it was nothing like I expected from assisting a therapist. There was no medicine, no consultations, just the warmth of human interaction between the therapist and residents.
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