The world of Tzu Chi (Vol.109)

TZU CHI 109 19 Thumbs-up for your competent care “It is too cramped. I want better living conditions for my mother since she is getting old. Would you send your elders to a nursing home like this?” Confronted with care recipient Mr Wong’s querulous remarks, the volunteers attempted to ease the simmering tension with patience and kind understanding. By Lee Lay Sim Translated by Choo Suet Fun Photograph by Lee Kwee Yap “I t is all my fault. Otherwise my mother wouldn’t have choked on her food and ended up like this,” lamented a remorseful Mr Wong, blaming himself for causing his late mother to suffer in her lifetime. Volunteer Ong Saw Tin felt sorry for the distraught Mr Wong and consoled him, “It is normal for the bodily functions of the elderly to degenerate, including their ability to ingest food properly. All of us will eventually leave this world in old age. This is life.” In May 2017, the Tzu Chi KL & Selangor branch received a request for help from a man who was searching for a suitable nursing home to accommodate his 89-year-old mother, but was limited by his finances. At that time, his mother was hospitalized due to illness. Volunteers Tan Hooi Poh, Ong Saw Tin, Hong Eng Hwa and Lim So Hwa visited Mr Wong’s mother at the hospital to better understand the plight of the mother-and-son pair. Mr Wong’s mother was all skin and Serve from the Heart Ever eady to