An IT Programme for Senior Citizens

I was the chairman of Tembusu Alumni from March 2003 to April 2005. The alumni was formed by us Life Inspiration award winners a few months after our return from Shanghai in late 2002. (For more details please go to www.tembusu.org )

Soon after the formation, I mooted the idea of setting up an IT centre for senior citizens keen to improve their computer skills and knowledge. I asked CS CDC (Central Singapore Community Development Council) to support Tembusu Alumni in setting up an IT centre. My reason is that the centre will enable senior citizens who have completed IDA's basic computer course ( NITLP) to practise what they have learnt and to continue to improve their IT skills under experienced trainers who are seniors themselves. The centre will also be used to train seniors good at IT to become trainers themselves.

The idea was thought to be a good one, but the request to set up an IT centre at CS CDC's headquarters at Toa Payoh was turned down mainly because of space constraint.. The Alumni also tried but failed to find a community club in Toa Payoh with an IT centre available for Tembusu to run training and practice sessions for seniors..

Though disappointed, I did not give up the idea of finding an IT centre suitable for seniors to practise their computer skills. To cut the story short, some time in May, 2004, we managed to get the manager of Bishan North e-Club to agree to meet up with me to discuss the possibility of conducting weekly learning and pratice sessions for seniors. After holding several meetings with the eClub manager, the board of management and chairman of Bishan North Senior Citizens Executive Committee, I managed to convince them to collaborate with Tembusu to try out the IT project.

After a long delay, the first three-hour learning and practice session was finally launched at Bishan North e-Club at 2.30pm on Thursday 30.09.2004 with 16 participants, 1 trainer and 4 tutors. There were no hitches and the participants were pleased and satisfied with the 3-hour lesson and wanted to come again to learn more. As more seniors came to know of the IT class, another class was opened early December to meet the good response. Since then, the eClub has reserved Thursday afternoons and its two IT rooms for seniors to learn more and practise their computer skills.

Today, nearly one year after the launch, our IT project at Bishan North is still going strong with two classes running at the same time. Our concern now is how to get new trainers. As you know, I and my fellow trainers are not young and cannot go on manning the classes forever. Sooner or later we have to call it a day. And who will take over? It is for this reason that I'm developing a suitable train-the-trainers programme and a 36-hour course for beginners. I plan to train the students who have been learning from us for nearly a year to be helpers and later trainers. And the 36-hour course notes will serve as a guide for the new trainers. In this way the project will go on even without us the first lot of trainers.

Here are some photos showing you some of our activities.

Pix1: Typing in lyrics using Hanyu Pinyin method Pix2: From left: Trainers Messrs Cheah, Baey, Chan, Tan
and Chairman of SCEC Mr Wu

Pix3: Tea Break Pix4: Presentationof certificates by MP
Mr Zainudin Nordin

Memorable Happenings: 1. Wedding 2. Tasmania Tour 3. Shanghai 4.Mother's Day

My Golden Years is exactly one year old today and I have posted only one article. Does it mean there are no happenings worthy of my recording all this time?

There are of course many happenings that I should have recorded, but...but there were also other commitments that took away a lot of my time. Ahh...just excuses, you would say. Maybe you are right!

Here are some happenings I should have written about:

1. My second son got married in September last year and moved out to his own apartment after the wedding. Since then only my wife, I and my second daughter are living in our big and old semi-detached house. OK with me, but my wife missed his presence very much at first but has gradually accepted the reality of life....that children will sooner or later leave you and set up their own homes, and you are lucky if they come to visit you now and them.



2. In February this year, instead of celebrating Chinese New Year in Singapore as usual, we for the first time went overseas during the festival. "We" means my wife, my five children, my two daughters- in-law, one son-in-law and one grandson....altogether 11 of us. We went to Tasmania and toured the island for 12 days. We had a wonderful time on the whole. We enjoyed visiting the Salamanca market in Hobart, and Sorrel Fruit Farm where we picked apples, pears, strawberries and cherries. We had delicious Devonshire tea at a tea house and enjoyed taking pictures at its beautiful gardens. On Chinese New Year Eve , we had a Chinese dinner at a Chinese restaurant in Launceston. Another unforgettable happening happened on our way from Launceston to a lavender farm. On our way there we went into the wrong road because the road map we had did not show the roads clearly for that area, and so we ended up in a pine forest valley with lumberjacks and huge trucks carrying logs of timber. We couldn't find our way out and in the end had to back track our way for more than half an hour before we were able to get back to the main road that led to the lavender farm. There were anxious moments when we were lost in the woods with rough tracks that have no names! What if one of our cars broke down? Thank God we were able to get back without a hitch except that all the three cars were covered with dust.











3. I went to Shanghai in April with my wife, my cousin Ah Lin and his wife. My intention was to stay at my Shanghai apartment for a few days and to try to sell the apartment if there was a buyer and the price was right. Unfortunately, just as I had decided to sell, the China government started to impose a number of rules to curb property speculation. As a result, the booming property market in Shanghai suddenly stalled with the buyers adopting a wait-and-see attitde. So no buyers!

Anyway my wife and my cousin and his wife had a wonderful time in Shanghai. Compared with Singapore, Shanghai is a much greater shopping paradise. Most of the goods there, such as clothes and shoes, are 4 or 5 times cheaper. Food is also cheap. If you want to read more about my trip to Shanghai, please go to my website www.dbytan.com and look for the link to Recent Happenings.


4. Mother's Day Sunday May 8 2005
Like in previous years, my children asked where we should go to celebrate Mother's Day this year. Which restaurant should we choose this time? And should we go for breakfast, lunch or dinner?
Mother was quite firm when she said, "Don't want to eat outside. What's the point when I can't eat much?"
So I suggested celebrating Mother's Day our way, not swayed by what restaurants' ads wanted us to do. "Have it at home," I said. " All of you come to the house at three, each one bringing something for tea, and we can have an enjoyable time together....easy and free!"
That was exactly what we did, and we had a wonderful Mother's Day get-together at home. Unlike dining at a restaurant in Orchard Road area, we had no traffic jams and car parking problems; and we need not have to confine ourselves to just the one table for one hour or more waiting to be served! We had a variety of food for tea...Chinese, Malay and AngMo types, for the children brought with them different kinds of food. We could move around freely, relax and enjoy our food and drinks at a leisurely pace. We could chat and laugh loudly without worrying about diners at other tables!
So, next year, when Mother's Day comes round, and you want your aged mother to really enjoy herself, don't pressure her to go to a restaurant and make her spend one or two hours confined to a table, eating something she may not find suitable but does not want to say so because you have already ordered it. Ask your mother what she wants on Mother's Day, not what social convention dictates, and NOT what you think your mother should eat on Mother's Day!
Truth is: It is your coming home to see her and talk to her that makes her day.



August 6 2005